As many of you may already know, after 39 years in public education, I am announcing my retirement. I have especially enjoyed the opportunity to serve these past 14 years as Superintendent of Granite School District. Not only have I loved working with the wonderful students and parents of the district, but my work has placed me among some of the finest professionals I have known during my career.

Although we have experienced several challenging decisions over the years as a district, I believe that we have kept the children as our primary consideration. I appreciate the work all Granite District employees have accomplished on behalf of our students.

Read more about the Superintendent’s retirement in our district newletter, Connections.

Considering the difficult economic and financial circumstances in which we find our state, we are making an unprecedented effort to involve our community and employees in our budget process. Below is some information on Granite District’s budgets and specifically which areas could be impacted. The feedback you provide will help the administration and board make these difficult decisions for our next fiscal year.  We hope that after viewing the budget information, you will be able to provide responses to the following four questions listed on the feedback form:

1.      What district programs and services do you view as critical and oppose reducing if that reduction would change the quality and level of service?

2.      What district programs and services do you view as important, but would support reducing in some manner given the fiscal environment?

3.      What district programs and services do you view as non-essential and are willing to do without?

4.      What specific suggestions do you have for developing the FY 2011 budget?

We have provided a comprehensive spreadsheet of information on programs and services that are funded with unrestricted revenues. Please review the video presentation and, utilizing the feedback form, provide your suggestions and input.

Employees will have an opportunity to provide feedback through their community council represenative or through their respective association. Patron feedback forms should be funneled through the PTA organization or your school’s community council or principal. All responses and suggestions should be sent with a signature of the community council chair and principal from each school. Principals should return the forms in person, via email or district mail to the Superintendent’s Office by Thursday, April 1. Feel free to make additional copies of the feedback form as necessary.

Thank you for your time and commitment to the students of Granite School District.

As 2009 comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable holiday season.  Granite School District, its teachers, staff and students have made a number of outstanding accomplishments this year and we look forward to even more good news in the year to come.

The annual state legislative session will commence in January and we will keep you apprised of any information concerning our district as we head into budget discussions.

Once again, I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

A few weeks ago we sent a memo to our principals about sensitivity to their students and communities during the holiday season. The memo was similar to the message we have sent for many years. A copy of the letter is below.

It is well settled that schools are prohibited “from conveying or attempting to convey a message that religion or a particular religious belief is favored or preferred.” However, in the words of the United States Supreme Court, “Music without sacred music, architecture minus the cathedral, and painting without the scriptural theme would be eccentric and incomplete.”

So, when teaching about holidays, it is absolutely appropriate to include instruction about Christmas — sing the songs and display and explain the symbols — but not to preach Christmas. Teaching that Christians believe that the Savior of the world was born 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem may well fit into the curriculum. Teaching this, or the tenets of any other faith, as doctrine properly takes place in homes and churches. The people of our community are of many and varied beliefs. Schools must cultivate tolerance, appreciation and respect for one another.

Said otherwise, our public schools have the right, and perhaps even more, the responsibility, to teach about religion when meeting the objectives of their classes.

We expect that children will be singing Christmas music like “Silent Night,” Hanukkah music like the “Dreidel Song” and other religious and nonreligious music during this holiday season. We are confident that schools will make crafts and put up displays with various religious themes this month within the context of the curriculum.

We again encourage our employees to be sensitive to their communities and make instructional and activity decisions that will allow all of the public’s children to feel they have equal place within our public schools. This having been said, the word “Christmas” will be spoken, written, sung and otherwise used again, again and again in the Granite School District.

I’m excited to announce that we are making significant progress in organizing our projects as a result of our successful bond election. Projects include rebuilding Hartvigsen school for medically fragile students, air conditioning all district schools, rebuilding five current schools and constructing three new schools. Construction schedules to complete these projects  are outlined below.

Next year, construction on Granger High School (set to open January 2013), a Magna area elementary (open 2011), and Oakwood and Woodstock Elementary Schools (open 2011) will begin. Air condition installation will begin during Summer 2010, as to minimize classroom disruption.

In 2011, construction will begin on Olympus High School (set to open in Fall 2013)  and a West Valley area elementary school (set to open 2012). Additionally, air condition installation projects will also continue during the summer.

In 2012, any remaining air conditioning projects will be completed. Factors for deciding which schools receive air conditing first include schools with the highest temperatures, plumbing/HVAC, retrofitted schools and schools with similar architectural design.

We will continue to update our blog and other publications with construction information throughout the next few years. We thank our patrons and employees who helped to make this bond effort successful.

Thanks to the GEA and PTA whose hard work helped to educate voters regarding the proposed bond. We will begin the process to implement these projects as quickly as possible. Please continue to visit the website and this blog for updates on how the bond projects are proceeding.

1. How can we be sure the Board won’t raise taxes for this bond – like the ballot says they can?

The Board of Education has very publicly committed not to raise taxes to pay for these bonds.  Historically the Board of Education has kept its promises.  To break this promise would significantly compromise the ability of individual board members to be reelected.

2. What is to hold the board to their commitment?

The Board of Education unanimously approved the “project list.”  Historically the Board of Education has kept its promises.  To deviate from that list would significantly compromise the ability of individual board members to be reelected.

3. If we don’t live in the county can we still vote?

 Only residents of Granite School District will be involved in this election.

4. Will only two new elementary schools be needed in the West Valley/Magna area in the next 20 years?

We know the area  needs two right now and the pay-as-you-go strategy is not sufficient to build those.

5. Where did the $17 million come from?

The $17 million comes out of the capital outlay budget.

6. Where will students be located while our school is being rebuilt?

This will need to be evaluated.  It has been our practice to hold school in the existing building for school while the new building is built whenever possible.  Communities are involved in this planning.

7. What would happen if an unseen emergency/catastrophic need arises?

The district is insured for emergencies and catastrophes.  A significant contingency plan has been built into this bond and we are certain that we will be able to complete the list.

8. What schools will be air conditioned first?

As soon as the bond is passed we will develop a strategy for getting all schools air conditioned as quickly as possible.  It is unlikely that any single contractor would be able to do all the schools at once so we will consider multiple contractors and review their suggestions as to how to move most quickly.

9. How were buildings identified for rebuild?

A number of factors go into this identification, including such considerations as instructional appropriateness, age of building, seismic ratings, cost of maintenance, cost of utilities, condition of roof, stable student populations and so on.  Olympus and Granger High schools rose to the top of the list as did Oakwood and Woodstock Elementary schools.

10. Can we use swamp coolers instead of air conditioners?

There are a number of factors that make swamp coolers less desirable instructionally than air conditioning including noise, humidity and dust.