Eric Olivas and Senator Luz Robles who supports the renaming of Parkview Elementary

TEXT OF LETTER TO BOARD PRESIDENT:

16 September 2014

Delivered Via Electronic Mail
Kristi Swett, President
℅ Board of Education
2256 South King Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 

Re: School Board Agenda Request  

Dear President Swett,

I am requesting that the issue of renaming Parkview Elementary, be placed on the October 7, 2014 School Board meeting action agenda.

As you are aware, Eagle Scout candidate Erick Olivas (East High student) has spent the last year working on his Eagle Project (he started the process in August 2013) to honor the sacrifice of his neighbor, Army Sgt. Rocky Herrera, who died Aug. 28, 2007, in Afghanistan while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.

You will also recall that eight months ago, I asked you to place this issue on the agenda of the March 4, 2014, School Board meeting. Although you refused to do so, Erick and others nevertheless, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting (see attached minutes). Following the public remarks, the School Board authorized the formation of “a committee, chaired by the building administrator, for further input” as set forth in Administrative Procedures G-16 (see attached procedures).

The next steps as outlined in Administrative Procedures G-16 renaming process:

c. The committee to rename a school facility will consist of the SCC, with representation from various attendance areas, and students.

d. The committee will submit a written recommendation, with supporting rationale, to the superintendent and the board of education.

e. The board will consider the committee recommendations and other public input.

f. The board of education will make a final decision.

As indicated in my February 20, 2014, letter to you, Eric has dutifully and faithfully followed the steps outlined in the district’s administrative policy.

Administrative Procedures G-16:

1. Considerations: The name will promote the mission of the district and lend dignity and status to the facility. The following will be considered:

a. The name may reflect a logical association with the facility, such as a location or function;

b. The name may be that of a distinguished person who has made an outstanding contribution to the community, state, or nation;

c. The name may be that of a prominent local geographical feature; or

d. Any other name that promotes the mission of the district as determined by the board.

3. Renaming Process: The process will include opportunities for community input:

a. A written petition may be sent to the board of education to consider the renaming of a district facility.

b. The board may send the request to a committee, chaired by the building administrator, for further input. 

I believe that the committee has had sufficient time to perform the task that they were assigned eight months ago. I am now requesting that this item be placed on the agenda for the October 7^th, School Board meeting so that the Board of Education may deliberate on this most important and vital community desire:

e. The board will consider the committee recommendations and other public input.

f. The board of education will make a final decision.

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2

cc: Senator Luz Robles
Representative Angela Romero
Councilman Kyle LaMalfa
Commissioner Scott Christensen, BSA
Eagle Scout Candidate Erick Olivas

PDF Version of Letter and Attachments

As the Salt Lake City School District hired new principals this spring, it wrongly excluded minority parents from the process, a district board member alleges in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

It’s an allegation district leaders have refuted, saying no policies were violated.

Michael Clara, a member of the school board, sent the complaint Monday after questioning the hiring of new principals at Parkview Elementary and other west-side schools at a board meeting last week.

Clara alleges the district left parents out of the hiring process in violation of its own practices and agreements. In the complaint, he notes that most of the families at the schools he represents are racial minorities.

He claims it’s part of a larger pattern of racism on the part of district leaders toward minority parents and students on the district’s west side. He was the only board member to vote against hiring the principals May 6.

“I attribute that 6-to-1 vote as the result of White dominance on the board,” Clara wrote in the complaint. “In violating their own principal hiring procedures for this particular school, the superintendent and school board have created an environment where the differential or biased treatment of ethnic and racial minority parents within the school district is a common and acceptable
practice.”

But Jason Olsen, a district spokesman, wrote in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune, “We do not believe we have committed any violations.” That’s partly because the schools are participating in a turnaround program that uses a different hiring process.

Board President Kristi Swett and board Vice President Heather Bennett declined to comment on the complaint Tuesday.

Clara points to the district’s practice of shared governance with schools as evidence that district leaders should have included parents and teachers in principal hirings.

Also, in some circumstances, a school-organized selection team can screen, interview and recommend candidates to the superintendent, who may select a principal to be appointed by the board. That process, which can include school parents and employees on the screening teams, is described in a recently updated written understanding between the board and The Salt Lake Association of School Administrators.

Clara said no such team was involved in the hiring of the principal at Parkview and possibly other schools. He said it’s unfair to allow more affluent communities in east-side schools to take part in selecting principals but not those on the west side.

At the previous board meeting, however, district Associate Superintendent Patrick Garcia said district leaders did not have to follow that process at Parkview and some other schools because they are part of a University of Virginia school turnaround program, which the district uses to develop leadership at some of its schools. As part of that program, the district hires principals using a separate process, Garcia said.

Clara also filed a complaint over the matter with the district’s Title I director last week. Clara has filed at least three other civil rights complaints against the district in the past two years on separate matters.

Link to Article

School Board Meeting discussion on the hiring of four new principals

At last night’s school board meeting, the board voted to approve the attached list of new principals. Sadly the bureaucracy bypassed parental, teacher and local staff input as per policy. Chalk this up as another “The Central Office Knows What is Best”. 

This is the text of a letter I submitted to the board. Supporting documentation appears in the PDF version of the letter:

6 May 2014

HAND DELIVERED
Kristi Swett, President
Salt Lake City School Board
2256 South King Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84109

Re: Flawed Principal Selection Process

 Dear President Swett,

I am voting against the May 6, 2014, Human Resources Board Report,[1] because I believe that the names recommended as new principals were selected in violation of the school district’s tenants of shared governance.[2] Any attempts on my part, over the past three weeks, to obtain clarification from the superintendent have been met with silence.[3]

Furthermore, I believe that the process utilized to bring these names forth, omitted school board approval[4] and was in violation of SLASA Written Understanding[5] and SLTA Written Agreement[6].

Moreover, the current selection process was conducted in a manner that robbed the parents, teachers, school staff and local community members of their critical role in helping to choose the most effective leader[7] for their neighborhood school.[8]

I would betray the trust my neighbors placed in me, if I become complicit in excluding our local governing councils from what should have been a collaborative process. I cannot in good conscious offer an affirmative vote for this report.

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára
Board Member

Enclosures (7)

cc: Proceedings of the May 6, 2014, Board of Education Meeting

Link: PDF Version with attachments