District Reorganization Update Memo pdf version

Equity Recommendations

Michael Clara Agenda Request

Michael Clara talks with judge Andrew Valdez before being sworn in as a new member of the Salt Lake City School Board at their offices in Salt Lake City Tuesday, January 8, 2013. Clara, who is also a member of the Racially Just Utah coalition, filed a complaint against the Salt Lake School District to federal education managers in June. Brian Nicholson, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal education authorities are looking into allegations of racial discrimination and unfair treatment against minority students in the Salt Lake School District.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will investigate the district in response to a complaint of disproportionate discipline for black, Latino, Polynesian and Native American students in the district, among other issues, according to a Wednesday announcement by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Many of the issues in the complaint are based onresearch by the University of Utah, which reveals a similar problem statewide of a “school-to-prison pipeline” for minority students.

American Indian students, for example, are disciplined six times more than expected based on their proportion of Utah’s student body, according to the university report published last year. Black students are disciplined more than three times as often than expected, and Hispanic students are disciplined 1 ½ times more than expected, the report states.

Students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended multiple times as students without disabilities, according to the report.

Civil liberties advocates say this plays out in academic performance. In 2013, 86 percent of white students in Utah graduated from high school, compared to 70 percent of Latino and black students, and 80 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander students, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The numbers don’t lie,” said Leah Farrell, a staff attorney with ACLU. “We do discipline kids of color at a higher rate in Utah. Looking at some of the causes of that, looking at ways that can be addressed where that shouldn’t be happening, I think, is really important.”

The complaint also claims that having student resource police officers at Northwest and Glendale middle schools are the result of the racial composition of the student body, leading to disproportionate contact with law enforcement for minorities.

Salt Lake City School Board member Michael Clara, who is also a member of the Racially Just Utah coalition, filed the complaint to federal education managers in June.

It’s unclear when the investigation will happen or how long it will take, but Office of Civil Rights officials say the investigation will be “prompt.”

District leaders say they “invite any technical help” in providing a quality education for students, and that they are studying discipline data from the district and the state, as well as meeting with community organizations.

“The Salt Lake City School District welcomes any objective review of our programs and practices,” district spokesman Jason Olsen said in a prepared statement. “Appropriate student discipline is a national issue, which is being reviewed and approached on several fronts.

“We look forward to the Office of Civil Rights review and hopefully learning additional ways to help address any possible inequities for the young people we serve,” he said.

While the investigation is limited solely to the district, Farrell said she hopes it will shed light on similar problems elsewhere, including Utah’s rural districts.

“It’s not uniquely a Salt Lake City problem,” she said. “I think this is a great place to start looking into Salt Lake’s practices, but absolutely the conversation and the lens needs to be focused on many places throughout Utah.”

Contributing: Mary Richards

25 January 2015
Delivered Via Electronic Mail
Mr. Dale Keller – Environmental Health
Salt Lake County Health Department
788 East Woodoak Lane
Murray, Utah 84107

Re: Request for Inspection and Assistance

Dear Mr. Keller,
On behalf of the residents living within the District 2 boundaries of the Salt Lake City School District and in my capacity as an elected official, [1] I am requesting your assistance because I have reason to believe that the Salt Lake City School District is in violation of the following Utah State Office of Education, Rules:

R392-200-2(2): The governing body of the school, shall ensure that the school building and grounds are constructed, operated, and maintained in accordance with this rule.

R392-200-5 School Grounds
(2) Mechanical equipment, electrical transmission lines, poles, transformer boxes, and other electrical equipment shall be located or protected with a barrier to prevent an electrical or other safety hazard. & (8) Playgrounds must be located in areas that maximize safety.

The Salt Lake City School District is poised to allow Verizon Wireless to install a cell tower with multiple antennas on the roof of a school in my neighborhood.[2] The school administration bypassed the notification and approval process of the local School Community Council and the Board of Education. I was only made aware of a cell tower coming into my community because of the vigilance of a couple of parents who noticed it listed on the Salt Lake City Planning Commission agenda.

As a result of this revelation, I asked the Superintendent for a list of other schools in the Salt Lake City School District that currently have cell towers on their property. The Superintendent provided me with a list showing that ten schools in the district are the so called “host” sites for cell towers.[3]

As part of my process of investigating and researching the dangers that cell towers pose to our students, I went to Nibley Park Elementary located at 2785 S. 800 E. and Uintah Elementary located at 1571 E. 1300 S. (both in Salt Lake City) and measured the RF radiation levels in the play grounds of both schools. I utilized an HF35C Meter [4] and it registered RF radiation in excess of 2,000 µW/m² which exceeded the limits of the meter I was using.

As you will note in the attached video, readings in excess of 2,000 microwatts per square meter occurred whenever I pointed the meter in the direction of the cell antennas perched on top of the schools. Based on my observation, I concluded they were the source of the RF radiation that was registering off the scale.

My measurements far exceed the standards set by the BioInitiative 2012 document. [5] I call upon the expertise of your office, as I am not familiar with the application of time, distance, exposure etc…in determining what level of electromagnetic radiation exposure is acceptable for children by the standards utilized by your office. I can say, as a policymaker, the levels I have witnesses are much too for my comfort.

I am deeply troubled that the school administration allowed the installation of these cell towers without any effort on their part to evaluate the risks these towers pose to our students, faculty and surrounding residents.

There doesn’t appear to be any type of monitoring to ensure that the towers do indeed meet FCC guidelines of RF radiation exposure. Who is monitoring the accumulative effect of three different companies installing cell towers on the roof of Uintah Elementary?

In my opinion, one tower is bad enough. It would seem to me that the students and faculty are being exposed to an inordinate amount of radiation on a daily basis, inside and outside of the building due to the accumulative exposure from numerous antennas perched over their heads.

During my tour of schools that have cell towers on their roofs, I noted a series of signs that are blue, yellow, orange and red. Each of these signs displayed cautions and warnings about the “radio frequency fields” exceeding the FCC rules for human exposure.

I have to ask myself, who in their right mind would think that this type of equipment is okay to be installed in the midst of children?

I also noted a recent letter by the U.S. Department of Interior[6], expressing concern that cell towers pose a danger to migratory birds.

The Interior Department accused the Federal government of employing outdated radiation standards set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a Federal agency with no expertise in health.  The standards are no longer applicable because they control only for overheating and do not protect organisms from the adverse effects of exposure to the low-intensity radiation produced by cell towers: “the electromagnetic radiation standards used by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continue to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly 30 years out of date and inapplicable today.”

It boggles my mind to think that the FCC requires warning signage to be placed near the cell towers stating that the antennas on the tower do indeed exceed (outdated) radiation exposure standards. Yet, the school administration did not give it a second thought to install not one, but many towers at one school.

I find it equally perplexing that one agency in the federal government inexplicitly states that

“Impacts from nonionizing electromagnetic radiation emitted by these structures…[has caused] nest site abandonment, plumage deterioration, locomotion problems, reduced survivorship and death”. [7]

In contrast, our board president informed us that the Business Administrator, Janet Roberts has determined that it is safe for children to be in and around all of these cell towers. At the rate that Uintah Elementary is accumulating cell towers, I fear that the school is going to be morphed into some kind of cell tower Disney land.

I am outraged to think that a cell tower is poised to be installed in the heart of my community. My neighbors elected me to ensure a bright future for their children. I instead feel that I have failed them because I have allowed the school bureaucracy to use the school system for a purpose that has nothing to do with education and everything to do with potentially destroying the future of our children’s health. I am saddened to think of the dangers the school district has already exposed students, faculty and resident at the ten school “hosting” existing cell towers.

It is my hope that you can use the full weight of your office to evaluate the threat of RF radiation exposure to the students and faculty to, at the two Elementary schools mentioned above.

I believe that you have the authority and jurisdiction to address these concerns: R392-200-2(3):

However, if the …the Local Health Officer determines that conditions in any school are a threat to the health of persons using the school, the … Local Health Officer may order correction of any condition that impairs or endangers the health or life of those attending schools.

 Shalom,

J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2

Curtis Linton, Archie Archuleta, Michael Clara -Following the 06/05/14 Equity Leadership Team Meeting

This past Thursday (06/05/2014) the Salt Lake City School District held its second Equity Leadership Team Meeting for 2014.

BACKGROUND:
The Equity Leadership Team had its inception in the district, in 2008. The September 1, 2009, School Board meeting the minutes sate the following:

“Kathleen Christy and Curtis Linton, School Improvement Network, told board members tonight’s report would provide a brief history of the Equity Leadership Team. Mr. Linton said the group was formed last year to look for ways to understand and close the racial achievement gap.

 Mr. Linton reported equity in the schools means providing educational opportunities and skills for all students so students can do what they want to do without barriers. He also suggested the district look at the various cultures to make sure all students are represented and included…”

It appears that the Equity Leadership Team fell out of favor with the district and they stopped meeting after 2011.

At our June 3, 2014, School Board meeting, the board president denied knowing anything about this committee’s existence, purpose or function, she also stated that the school board was not aware of the first meeting that was held on May 22, 2014.

Here is the video on that discussion:  School Board Discussion: Utah Consolidated Achievement Plan (video)

FIRST EQUITY LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING (05/22-/14) for 2014

In the January 21, 2014 School Bard meeting, I requested that the district reconvene this group. This request was again made to the district following a community meeting with Rosa Salamanca of the U.S. Department of Justice, last month.

In mid-May of this year an email went out which included members of the school board. I was the only school board member to attend that meeting.

All members of the groups were asked to commit to the Four Agreements of Courageous Conversation:

•             Stay engaged

•             Experience discomfort

•             Speak your truth

•             Expect and accept non-closure

Here is my summary of that meeting:

Associate Superintendent of Educational Equity?

SECOND EQUITY LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING (06/05-/14) for 2014

This meeting was held at Horizonte Alternative High School. The meeting started off oddly enough, with Superintendent McKell Withers stating that he rejected the idea of the district adding an Associate Superintendent of Educational Equity and Diversity within the organization of the district. He went on to recount all of the “good things” the district is doing for students of color.

He stated that those in the community that were calling for an Associate Superintendent of Educational Equity and Diversity were “uninformed” and were damaging their “own creditability”.  He made other critical comments about the idea, but I didn’t hear any support for what he was saying from those in attendance. He answered a couple of questions and then prematurely left the meeting. So he “spoke his truth” but didn’t “stay engaged” and avoided “experiencing discomfort”.

The balance of the meeting revolved around the need to weave equity into all aspects of the district. Several times in the meeting, I pointed out that the deficiencies being discussed are easily solved with the shepherding of an Associate Superintendent of Educational Equity and Diversity.

I for one remain convinced that our district will not see substantive change until changes are made to the organizational structure of the school district. The status quo is simply not working, no matter how much the school superintendent yells from the roof top that all is well.

James Evans, Archie Archuleta, Jennifer Sanchez, Michael Clara

Based on the 2012, Salt Lake City School District enrollment numbers, we can boast that 57% of our student population are children of color!

I recently wrote a blog entry on one way we can meet the demands of a Majority, Minority School District: Associate Superintendent of Educational Equity?

The picture above was a few of the participants of a meeting we had on May 1, 2014 at the Westside Community Learning Center next to Mountainview Elementary. The meeting was facilitated by Rosa Salamanca who is a conciliation specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice out of Denver, Colorado.

The stated purpose of the meeting:

To Identify and address educational access concerns for race and ethnic youth attending the Salt Lake City School District.

From a community standpoint, that meeting turned out to be pivotal. In this meeting with Ms. Salamanca as facilitator, we determined that we need to develop a district-wide approach in which all schools, not just isolated campuses, are places in which children of color experience the same kind of school success that most of their peers have always enjoyed.

“Rather than focusing reform efforts primarily upon the building as the focus of school change, a district-level approach acknowledges the critical role of the central office and school board in making learning improvement. The strategic linking together of many institutional elements can support improved learning outcomes.”
(James Berry and Charles Achilles, 1999)

In this meeting, and in conjunction with the district’s Equity Leadership Team (met on May 22, 2014), we concluded that beliefs in educational equity, no matter how powerful or how compelling, make little difference in the absence of practices that translate those beliefs into day-to-day reality.

To that end, we are recommending that the district elevate the current position of Assistant Superintendent  of Equity and Advocacy (Director I, same level of a high school principal)  to that of an Associate Superintendent of Equity and Diversity. This will then allow for the implementation of focused equity practices throughout the district.

Current Organizational Chart

Proposed Division of Duties