General Information

Government Type

Charter School

Entity

Salt Lake Arts Academy

Entity Website

http://www.slarts.org

Public Body

Salt Lake Arts Academy

Notice Information

Add Notice to Calendar

Notice Title

Salt Lake Arts Academy Governing Board Approved Minutes

Notice Tags

Schools

Notice Type(s)

Meeting

Event Start Date & Time

December 11, 2020 03:00 PM

Description/Agenda

Salt Lake Arts Academy Governing Board Meeting Minutes - Approved 1/22/21 December 11, 2020 3:00 p.m. via ZOOM Invitation sent to Board members and interested parties on 12/11/20 Board Members Present Anneliese Booher, Denise Begue, Jennifer Goldman Luthy, John Bakken, Julie Livers, Lon Huntsman, Matt Nelson, Melissa Block, Rob Scott, Stacy Mahan, Tatiana Mixco, Leanne Hawken, Suyin Chong Board Members Excused Staff Present Amy Mautz, Jen Guillory, Jennifer Burrow-Sanchez, Katy Andrews, Markell McCubbin, Moni Schwaersler, Dan Armstrong, Dan Rose, Henry Miller, Holly Winn, Jason Call, Jeni White, Jeremy Theriot, Judson Armstrong, Kathleen Ferdon, Kevin Lee, Lindsay Bayles, Mike Clark, Norma Iglesias, Nate Rickett, Scott Sorensen, Skeet Cooper, Katherine Pioli, Karin Fenn, Ann Simms, Karen Lynne, Lamar Holley, Ben Slivnick Others Present Christina Hesley, Joy Pierce, Jan Nystrom, Lara Haynes, Bobby Flo, Julie, Anne Carson, Angela Smith, Amanda O'Connor, Nadja Durbach, Annie Leys, Rachel Rees, Chris, Meghan Horner, Lara Haynes, Sheri Hohmann, Rob and Kirsten MacIntyre, Scott McLeod, Jennifer Lehmbeck, Dick Baldwin, Elisa Pardo, Christine Grafer, Ben Clark, Jennifer Bowen, Anne Cook, Chris Adams, Shannon Gorman, Mary Paul, Karin Wirthlin, Alyson Eyre, Alexis Rice, Mike and Melissa Brink, Maurena Grossman, Matt Ripperton, Stephanie Cheng, Katherine Allred, Paul Bannister, Michelle Guymon, Katherine Zavodni, Vita Kaplan Note : Attendance of all participants joining during the Zoom meeting may not be recorded above 1. Welcome Lon Huntsman 3:00 Welcome; there has been a flurry of input representing strong passions Rearrange agenda a bit - address business first to leave time for other discussion Lon would like to apologize to Teachers and Parents: We have had leadership and organizational changes; may not have been communicating as well as we would have liked; we value everyone's views; and apologize if anyone has felt uncomfortable. Please listen with open ears. 2. Approve Minutes of Governing Board Meeting 11/20/20 All 3:05 MOTION : To approve Minutes from 11/20/20 Governing Board Meeting Matt Nelson moved to approve John Bakken seconded Motion approved unanimously 3. Nominations to Governing Board - Vote Expected Lon Huntsman 3:10 JenGL - will be effective immediately; new voting members as of today Leanne Hawken MOTION : For Leanne Hawken to join the Salt Lake Arts Academy Governing Board Stacey Mahan moved to approve Jennifer Goldman-Luthy seconded Motion approved unanimously Suyin Chong MOTION : For Suyin Chong to join the Salt Lake Arts Academy Governing Board John Bakken moved to approve Melissa Block seconded Motion approved unanimously Lon - Welcome to the Board! 4. Appointment of Board Secretary - Vote Expected Lon Huntsman 3:15 MOTION : For Anneliese Booher to become Salt Lake Arts Academy Board Secretary Rob Scott moved to approve Matt Nelson seconded Motion approved unanimously 5. Requests to Speak 3:20 Persons requesting to speak to the Governing Board in an open meeting need to sign up prior to the start of the open session of the Board meeting, by emailing Lon Huntsman, chair, at alonzo.huntsman@slarts.org. Resolution of questions or responses to proposals should not be expected at this meeting; staff or others may be asked to research and/or prepare materials and solutions for a later time. Up to fifteen minutes in total will be scheduled for persons requesting to speak. Three minutes will be allotted for individual requests and five minutes will be allotted for group requests. If we receive more requests than the allotted time permits, those requests may be scheduled for the next Board meeting. Your concerns may be submitted in writing to the principal's office for distribution to the Governing Board at any time. Lon - Some communication issues; skepticism about Board action may not be warranted Those who want to speak, please keep to two minutes. Julie - Teachers will likely get vaccine sooner than we thought, maybe January; great news! Scott McLeod (Parent) Thanks everyone at SLArts who has reached out Son struggling online In wait and see mode for back to school plans Would prefer more than two days in person than hybrid schedule allows Yields remaining time Dan Rose (Faculty) Thanks for opportunity to speak about things he's passionate about Thanks to Board - we've been through a lot; you have done a wonderful job and he appreciates their time as volunteers As a Teacher, all he wants to do is teach and engage Students and make connections with children This year is hard with remote learning, but in his class the connections are still being made Groundwork was laid down through earlier digital learning grants and summer preparation We are doing well, although we could improve Level of stress among Faculty about reentry is tremendous Scared for his own and colleagues' health Please look at the science and Faculty receiving vaccinations (out of time to continue) Anne Cook (Parent) Sent letter to Board and Administration; received outrageous response from chair Please delay return to in-person until we know what the data look like and after vaccine Infection rates are high and hospitals are filling up Now is not the time to go back The first kids to return should be those with IEPs and 504s Arguing for Teachers' and Students' health Anne Carson Thomas (Parent) Proponent of hybrid: son doing in high school in similar size school; working well Their Administration says that they wear masks all day No documented cases of transmission on campus, and they email about other cases Huge social learning component that kids are missing even tho SLarts has done an amazing job Online schooling just isn't as good If trend continues, by the end of January Slarts will be the only school online Doing kids a disservice by not using data from other schools to guide us Elizabeth Wilson (Faculty) Thanks for this moment Wants to share experiences of several Teachers Ben: Has a group of kids doing a project online that would not have been possible last year Several kids with anxiety last year now always use chat feature this year Other Students use chat to communicate sensitive information Has integrated digital learning in ways never used before Leaves class feeling optimistic Elizabeth: Brand new 5th grader, first day last week; jumped right in; 'I love art and Arts Academy!' We are still connecting with community Two famous mural artists as guest speakers; kids engaged, doing own mural space Karen Lynne: Feedback about positive experiences with remote learning, both Teachers and Parents (out of time to continue) Karin Fenn (Faculty) Appreciates Board: Have had tremendous challenges, they are volunteers who work hard to make our school a better place I miss teaching in-person like the other Teachers do, but we need to be careful Hybrid teaching with maybe 40% of Students Zooming in will not be efficacious We have become as good as we can on Zoom We are stressed: New learning model, plus change in Administration - too much! She surveyed Teachers and 96% do not want hybrid A large percentage have health concerns Working hard to provide equitable education - computers, hotspots Coming back in hybrid will not be best model Nate Rickett (Faculty) Thanks for being thoughtful and professional, hearing arguments and take care of community It is hard with loss of charismatic leader Has worked with colleagues for eight years Lots of stuff has happened in that time, but now more stressed than he's ever seen Coming back in person would be a crisis on top of a crisis on top of a crisis Teachers are near front of line for vaccine; two scenarios: Dates for return not considering vaccinating Dates for return considering vaccinations The dates may end up being the same! But first scenario suggests Teachers are expendable In hybrid, many families will still stay remote If we expect them to come, they will leave - too much risk The same goes for Faculty! Terrified for morale of colleagues; can't lose any from illness or despair Thanks for your time Rob MacIntyre (Parent) Son in online school not doing well and struggling Parents were supposed to have choice of all remote or hybrid Depth and breath in classes has not been the same Daughter's previous experience cf son's current experience - not the same Remote learning is great for some, but not for others Parents have spent nine months being the internet police; expect three months more?! Kids are not progressing Fully supporting everyone who wants to return to classroom Michael Clark (Faculty) Teachers have been at SLArts for a long time - they are family He's had Covid and is less concerned, but majority of Faculty is at high risk for selves and/or family He stands united with them It feels like Teachers are being forced to return Not comfortable with Teachers coming back before vaccine If you truly care about us as humans and the people who must pull this off, Please: This is not the way Chris Adams (Parent) Thanks Board, Teachers for thoughtfulness Understand what Faculty have said But kids need to be together Too much stress Can do it safely - look at Granite District He takes Teacher safety very seriously Kids who want to stay home should be able to Teachers can Zoom from home, but have kids come to school Vaccine exciting, but should not get in the way of plans to return Summer plan needs to change for right now Michelle McCardell (Parent) Did not attend or unable to connect 6. Return to School Discussion - Action may be taken Katy Andrews / Board 3:40 Lon - Pandemic thinking changes as we learn more about it E.g. sanitizing surfaces isn't as important; Fauci flipping on importance of masks We selected metric in October Doesn't take safety precautions into account Now more metrics - assessing risks at schools Two epidemiologists/Parents visited school who are Parents Safe to bring back kids in 5th and 6th in schools that wear masks and use safety protocols Not zero percent chance, but no more chance of being infected virtually vs. in person Safety protocols would be in our plans Proposes considering holding off going back in person until Teachers feel safe Group including Admin, 3-5 Teachers, Board members, to hammer out details To collectively move forward and make decisions; not just be adamantly opposed Become better informed (including Board) Distressed to hear how stressed Teachers are; sorry if this has caused stressed Katy - Acknowledges Board: All volunteer Parents, want nothing more that to support kids, Faculty, community; open minded, trying to meet everyone's needs - impossible job Past 18 months alone, the Board has done amazing things to put school in a much better position! This is temporary, we will all survive - and hope to survive with intact Faculty and culture Slideshow ( https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ySuiY1kYcR9aT8ohBxRyTEZctyJmrauQXGEml uDkD-0/edit#slide=id.ga83a17f4cf_0_358 ) Lon - Loves it; some data will change; need to be better teaching about risks and messaging to all stakeholders Anneliese - Thanks Teachers; choked up; Mr. Rickett's letter: we are right at the vaccination point - need to have Teachers feel safe; Katy's point: need Faculty buy-in Melissa - Appreciates Lon's apology; beautiful thing about SLArts is support for diverse opinions; do not want to coerce Teachers; we want kids in school, but value Faculty safety Tatianna - Grateful for all input; this meeting shows we all care about community - family, Students, Teachers; what do we hope to accomplish today? not in a position to vote on a plan - Faculty not on Board, we as a community are divided about what we want, want to take time to hear from all Matt - Katy/Admin propose working with Faculty to detail plans to move forward; we should vote to accept their proposal or not; overwhelming majority of Faculty members sent detailed, heartfelt, persuasive letters to Board; guiding principle for Board is to make sure funding priorities are for Teachers first to get best outcome for Students and school; still holds out hope that his 8th grade son can still come back this year, but let's wait for Faculty Leanne - 18-year tenured professor/emeritus at U; now sets up preventions in schools; won't send her Student back even though she has ADHD and Leanne feels done! In Granite district she sees how the stress on Teachers is tremendous; Teachers here are stable; think of their mental health and whether they are equipped to teach both in person and online - it's three jobs; Teachers have already put all in plus over summer Rob - Thanks Teachers - you are what make s the school special; inclined to send kids back but Teacher input is swaying perspective; he met with the doctors; data suggests that schools with masks are safe; confident for middle and high schools (HS problems are after school); if safe to have Teachers and kid in school, the metrics chosen early in year don't matter as much; proposes a panel of Teachers, Board members, Admin to devise new plan, especially if Teachers vaccinated soon; when could we come back? when would we have more consensus? Tatianna : Is an alumnus of SLArts - one of first 7th graders; amazing community and has had some of these Teachers; moved by community and support of each other; we all want it to go back to normal, but she supports the Teachers until they are 100% on board; without Teachers, there IS no Salt Lake Arts Academy JenGL - Thanks for everyone's input; we previously agreed to metrics, but also agreed that change at SLCSD would kick in discussion; despite Teachers' every effort to make it great, Board continues to hear from Parents of Students who are falling behind; as pediatrician, more kids than ever depressed, suicidal, cut off; Parents cannot support, plus financial burden of Parents staying home; fearful of exposure, but does feel she/we can minimize risk; hopes we can come back; McGillis in-person K-8 at and no spread from Students to Teachers; recognize it takes time to plan; wanted to have discussion to start figuring out how to get back to school; advocates plan for quality education for both online and in-person learning once Teachers get vaccinated Julie - Principal at Churchill says 100% of Teachers did not want to go back, did not have a choice, now 99% of Teachers are happy to be back; they offered our Teachers the opportunity to walk through to see what they are doing; they have no serious issue with mask compliance - 3 strikes you're out; kids so appreciate being back so mask compliance good John - Thanks everyone; discourse in this meeting is exemplary To Faculty: this was not supposed to be a call to arms, just encouragement to start thinking through steps to be back to school sometime this year; not a threat but moving forward is the only way to ever get somewhere; we can't lose anyone from intimidation of being exposed or from actual exposure; will not push, but please don't dig in - open minds to help find pathway; if you can, try moving your Zoom into classroom to get a feel for safety protocols; will make a difference to Students to see you there To Parents: if your kids are hurting, ask for help! - this Admin is remarkable; also Friday activities Julie - Statement of support for Admin to come up with a plan to provide in-person instruction sometime this year Katy - Admin/Faculty preference to have ability to bring different scenarios to the Board to choose Lon - Board wants to be as supportive as possible JenGL - Full faith in Katy and team to come up with options to address disparate needs and desires Lon - Tremendous faith in Katy and respect for her abilities; has his support; thinks the Board is unanimous Katy - Really appreciates; hidden gems are JenBS, Markell, AmyM, JenG Scott Sorensen - Wanted to put two cents in: Sped director and Parent of Student with IEP and a doctoral Student; family has had Covid; really does not want to get Covid19 again; Sped has five Teachers and four are immunocompromised; cannot ask them to come back into school; my Students struggle and Admin are great at supporting; is spread very thin and if asked to go hybrid won't be able to help Students well, plus risking his life 7. Policies for Board Review - Action may be taken Rob Scott/Anneliese Booher 4:10 Grievance Policy Sexual Harassment Policy Rob - Moving forward, but not prepared to vote today Lon - if Rob and Anneliese need help, just ask Katy - has resources from other schools as templates 8. Committee Updates 4:15 Academic Achievement - Julie Livers/Stacey Mahan Julie - Information has come from Markell and JenBS On back burner for now to address more pressing issues Ball is rolling, will revisit Development and Community Outreach - Katy Andrews, Melissa Block Annual Campaign: Katy - going well, $47,000 so far Huge challenge grant, will announce soon Will be a $25,000 grant if we reach our $75,000 goal Admissions/Enrollment update: 101 applications so far Doing small in-person tours Getting drone footage and interior footage for virtual tour Need to figure out how shadow days will work; had successful Zoom ones last year On track with application numbers Principal Search Committee - Julie Livers/Stacey Mahan Have posted updated job description Goal to receive all applications by January 15th On hiring committee last time and is pretty optimistic Often after a charismatic leader leaves, the next is temporary We already have a number of people interested and she's impressed by them Good candidates, good committee; will keep posted Spread the word MOTION : To table any formal move back to school in person until Administration has proposals for Board to review; to close meeting; and to move into closed session to review personnel issues (positive ones!) Matt Nelson moved to approve Tatianna Mixco seconded Motion approved unanimously 9. Closed Session - Action Expected: Personnel issues 4:25 The Board may move into closed session to discuss items allowed under the Utah Open and Public Meetings Law. A separate Zoom link will be sent to Board members, and the closed session will be recorded per the Open Meetings law. The Board may take Action during the closed session, which will be recorded per the Open Meetings law. Upcoming Meetings January 23, 2021, 3 p.m. via Zoom.

Notice of Special Accommodations (ADA)

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this meeting should notify Jen Guillory at 801-531-1173. .

Notice of Electronic or Telephone Participation

NA

Meeting Information

Meeting Location

844 South 200 East
via Zoom
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Show in Apple Maps Show in Google Maps

Contact Name

Jen Guillory

Contact Email

jeng@slarts.org

Contact Phone

(801)531-1173

Notice Posting Details

Notice Posted On

January 28, 2021 12:42 PM

Notice Last Edited On

January 28, 2021 12:42 PM

Subscribe by Email

Subscription options will send you alerts regarding future notices posted by this Body.