City Council · 2015-06-24

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OREM CITY COUNCIL/ ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT 
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING 
56 North State, Orem, Utah 
June 24, 2015 
This meeting was for discussion purposes only. No official action was taken. 
CONDUCTING 
OREM ELECTED OFFICIALS 
OREM STAFF 
ALPINE BOARD OF EDUCATION 
ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMIN. 
ABSENT/EXCUSED 
INVOCATION 
Mayor Richard F. Bruns!, Jr. 
Councilmembers 
Margaret 
Black, 
Mark 
Seastrand, and Brent Sumner 
Steven Downs, Assistant to the City Manager; 
Scott Gurney, Fire Department Director; Gary 
Giles, Police Department Director; and Donna 
Weaver, City Recorder 
PaulaHill, JoDee Sundberg, and Deborah Taylor 
Sam Jarman, Superintendent; 
Rob 
Smith, 
Assistant Superintendent 
Councilmembers Hans Andersen, Tom 
Macdonald, and David Spencer 
Schoolboard member JoDee Sundberg 
Mayor Bruns! called the meeting to order at 12: 11 p.m. 
Items of Common Interest 
Mayor Bruns! welcomed new Superintendent Sam Jarman and invited those in attendance to 
introduce themselves. 
DISCUSSION - Summerfest parade route 
Mrs. Sundberg asked about Orem allowing people to set up blankets a week before the 
Summerfest parade claiming a spot along the parade route. 
Mayor Brunst said they had discussed the issue and found they did not have the staff to police 
people placing blankets along the parade route. They were also concerned about people leaving 
with a bad feeling about the event. He believed there were more people lining the parade route 
than he had seen before. 
DISCUSSION -Candy bomber Gail Halvorsen 
Mr. Downs said the City leĿed about Gail Halvorsen coming to Orem from the Cries of 
Freedom program. He reviewed the plan for the candy drop and the safety precautions that would 
Joint Orem City CounciVAlp_ine School District Minutes -June 24, 2015 (p. l) 



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be in place. He said it was for children ages six through twelve, and there would be veterans in 
the area with bags of candy for any children who may not get one of the parachute candies. 
DISCUSSION - Music at Westmore Elementary 
Mr. Jarman said Westmore Elementary School principal John Shelton will be introducing music 
to the upper grades, 4th through 6th. The program will give all the children an opportunity to play 
a violin. It would be an experience unique to the district. Some elementary schools had some 
unique language programs, and Mr. Shelton was hoping to draw some students for the program. 
The Provo Disirict had a Title I school with a similar program; Westmore Elementary was also a 
Title 1 school. An emphasis in music helps children to succeed in other education areas. The 
program was funding through a grant. 
Mrs. Black asked if the children would own the violins. 
Mr. Jarman said they would not. They would use them for their session and then other children 
would use them. 
DISCUSSION - Mountain View High School summer classes 
Mr. Jarman said Mountain View High School (MVHS) was one .location that offered summer 
classes. He said last year the Alpine School District graduated 90.3 percent of the students, and 
they hoped to improve on that. Five percent of the student could never qualify for a diploma 
because theywere special needs students. Those students would receive a certificate. 
Mayor Bruns! asked !(bout the Alpine Transition and Education Center (ATEC). 
Mr. Jarman said it was a skill center for special needs students to teach them life skills. Another 
similar school was called Horizon to the west. ATEC had approximately 250 students. Once 
students turned twenty-two, they would graduate with a certificate of completion. The Dan 
Peterson School in American Fork, Utah was for children who were confined to their beds, on 
life support, or needing to be strapped into their chairs. Those classes need almost one on one 
help with the students. 
DISCUSSION - Digital Learning 
Mayor Bruns! said he had spoken with a digital learning group who were working with Senator 
, Howard Stephenson to put forward a bill to fund more digital learning. They would like to bring 
in more trained professionals to teach the teachers how to carry out the programs. He asked how 
the Alpine School District planned to use the funding they had already received, and how to get 
more technology in the schools. 
Mrs. Sundberg said the legislation was called a vendor bill and the district did not like them 
because they became prescriptive and money went to the vendors. Vendor bills limited how local 
schools could use the money. The $17 million from S.B. 97 was not part of the vendor bill and 
had anything to do with digital learning. The annual money Alpine School District will receive 
from S.B. 97 will lift the Alpine School District's average up. The district had high growth and 
low funding, and the bill would be a great benefit. 
Mrs. Black asked if the bill was for equalization, and Mrs. Sundberg said that is was and would 
be a great'opportunity for Alpine School District. She also clarified that not all Utah districts 
Joint2 City Council/ Alpine School District Minutes-June 24, 2015 (p2) 
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would benefit from S.B. 97 because some districts did not meet the high growth/low funding 
requirement. 
Mayor Brunst asked how to increase technology in the schools without a vendor bill. 
Mrs. Sundberg clarified that the "vendor" part of the bill was the issue. They hoped the State 
trusted school boards enough to determine how to use those monies. She said it would cost 
approximately $700 million to properly fund technology in every school for every student. 
Mr. Jarman said the first thing was to make sure the infrastructure was in place and then 
educators needed professional development to be familiar with the technology. Once teachers 
had that training they could pass along that knowledge to their students. The goal of using 
technology in the classroom was to help improve learning and create globally prepared students 
and citizens. 
Mayor Bruns! commented that President Holland of Utah Valley University (UVU) was pleased 
with the funding they would receive. He added it was impressive that Alpine School District was 
receiving so much State funding, and Mrs. Sundberg said Alpine School District was twice the 
size ofUVU so it was no surprise. 
DISCUSSION I 00th Anniversary of Alpine School District 
Mr. Jarman gave an overview of some of the 100th Anniversary events, including an all­
empfoyee celebration on August 17, 2015. He said the American system of education fostered 
creativity. Many students came from other countries to attend American colleges for that very 
reason. Alpine School District had a partnership with South Korea, and they had sent a 
representative to observe teachers and learn about the extended school program. He said the 
initial walk through of a high school the Korean representative was amazed at the auditorium in 
the school. Korean students only studied core subjects, and the only way for students to 
participate in extracurricular activities was through private providers. 
Ms. Taylor said Alpine School District was the largest district in the state, but they had split the 
district into "clusters", which gave the district a smaller feel despite its size., There were ten 
clusters within the district, and there were processes in place to allow for people to have input. 
She said the Mountain View cluster had been one of the most innovative in the district. 
Ms. Hill said Utah was unique. She spoke with school district representatives from California 
that were surprised that board members in Utah would visit the schools and were familiar with 
school administrators. 
Mr. Downs said he was in the process of putting together some plans for Orem's 100th 
anniversary and hoped to include information about this history of the Alpine School District. 
Mr. Jarman said there would be two hard-bound books that the district had made specifically to 
give to the City with Alpine School District's history, and they were happy to share any photos 
or videos they had. 
DISCUSSION - 2016 Alpine School District Bond 
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes -June 24, 2015 {p.3) 



Mr. Jarman said the district would need to go out for a bond in the next year. He said the bond 
was necessary, and they would make sure it would be an amount that would be reasonable. I
Projects would be identified that would benefit each area of the district. The district would 
typically need a bond every four or five years because of the consistent growth of the district, 
and Ms. Hill added that there were bonds that retired. 
Mr. Seastrand said he remembered a time years ago when there was concern with how to better 
work with the district to meet the needs in Orem. He felt these joint meetings had been beneficial 
for all parties involved. 
Mrs. Sundberg agreed that the collaboration had been beneficial and educational for both sides. 
DISCUSSION - School Security Solutions 
Mayor Brunst said he had invited representatives from a security company that specialized in 
school security to attend but their travel had been delayed. He reviewed how their security 
program would work if there was someone with a gun or knife at a school. 
Mr. Jarman asked if the company representatives understood that Utah tended to be a gun-toting 
state, and Mayor Brunst said he had not mentioned that. 
Ms. Taylor said there were interagency meetings discussing school security, and some schools 
conducted lock-down drills. 
Chief Giles said he had seen school security softwares where teachers had applications on their 
phones where they could contact any active officer in the geographical area in the case of an 
emergency. It would GPS locate the distress call and contact 911 dispatch as well. 
Mr. Jarman said they had not looked into those kinds of products. He said schools had cameras 
in strategic areas, and in some cases law enforcement could potentially access the system. The 
dilemma even that system and those cameras were in need of updates. He also said about 80 
percent of the buses now had cameras, which had helped a lot. 
Chief Giles said he was not aware of Orem officers having authority to access the camera 
systems, and he would be interested in meeting with the district's safety representatives. He said 
officers needed access to the school's floor plans and be provided updates as remodels were 
done. 
Chief Gurney said having access to up-to-date floor plans was vitally important from the fire 
department's perspective. If the use of the room or area changed, they needed to be aware of that 
as well. 
Set Date and Time for Next 
The next meeting was scheduled for August 26, 2015, at noon in Orem. 
The meeting adjourned at I :40 p.m. 
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes-June 24, 2015 (p.4) 
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OREM
CITYOF
CORPORATE
SEAL
LlomaR.Naw
Donna R. Weaver, City Recorder
Approved: August 25,2015
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes -June 24,2015(p.5)