After many friction-filled meetings, the Salt Lake City School District board conducted a self-evaluation Monday evening in public,\u00a0eschewing earlier thoughts of possibly doing it behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s agenda had labeled the self-evaluation portion of the meeting as \u201cclosed\u201d to give the board the option to go into closed\u00a0session if need be, said board vice president Heather Bennett. But the board never even discussed closing it to the public Monday\u00a0evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like there was a possibility, depending on how this conversation unfolded, we might want to go into closed session at some\u00a0point to try to address those specific issues in private,\u201d Bennett said referring to issues pertaining to individual board members. \u201cAs it\u00a0turned out, this was not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public evaluation followed questioning by some about whether closing it would violate the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act.\u00a0Board member Michael Clara said earlier in the week that he opposed closing the meeting, and a First Amendment attorney\u00a0contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday called the validity of closing such a meeting \u201chighly questionable\u201d in a Monday
\nTribune article.<\/p>\n

Under Utah law, meetings may be closed for \u201cdiscussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of
\nan individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clara, who was not present at the meeting Monday because he was out of town, has often been at the center of the strife that has marked district board meetings.
\nClara and some other board members have clashed during his attempts to discuss dropout rates for Latino students, graduation\u00a0rates, a tax increase and his assertion that too many inexperienced and ineffective teachers work in west-side schools.<\/p>\n

At the district\u2019s meeting last week, Clara, the board\u2019s only Latino member, accused other board members of mistreating him because\u00a0of the color of his skin and avoiding discussions about how to better serve minority students.Board members rebutted those claims during that meeting, saying they saw no discrimination against Clara, just disagreement.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Monday\u2019s meeting, Clara contributed statements that were considered as part of the self-evaluation. The evaluation was a\u00a0two-hour process that proved much tamer than many of the board\u2019s other meetings have been, with almost no argument between members.<\/p>\n

As part of the evaluation, board members were asked to individually choose from a list of items, written by board members,
\ndescribing things the board does well and another list of items describing ways to improve.<\/p>\n

The item that got the most votes for areas to improve was one that read, \u201cI would like all Board Members to show each other\u00a0professionalism, respect both during and after our meetings which should focus on students and the work only the Board can do and\u00a0not on individual viewpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another item that read, \u201cAddress the 50 percent dropout rate of Latino students and the need of our students\u201d got the second most\u00a0votes for areas to improve.
\nThe item that earned the most votes for things done well was one that stated, \u201cThe Board\u2019s Student Achievement Plan is research\u00a0based, data driven, forward thinking, innovative with resources aligned to priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The item that garnered the second most votes for things well-done read, \u201cThe Board and District personnel are not racist and try to\u00a0distribute resources to students who need it and not dependent on whose precinct they are in.\u201d
\nBoard leaders said Monday they felt the evaluation was productive, while acknowledging it wasn\u2019t necessarily designed to solve all\u00a0the board\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what it does is gives us a great starting point to look at some of the commonalities,\u201d said board president Kristi Swett.<\/p>\n

Paul Svendsen, whose son will be entering a district school in the fall, attended the meeting concerned about its possible closure.<\/p>\n

He said he was, \u201cglad the board came to their senses\u201d and kept the meeting open. But he said, \u201cIt seemed to me they glossed over the most important issue, which is the substance of the issues Michael Clara has raised.\u201d<\/p>\n