Meeting
City Council · 2015-08-26
City Council meeting
Decisions
0
0 motions in all
Split votes
0
at least one no
Discussion
–
no recording
Residents spoke
–
introduced themselves
Agenda items and what happened
| Item | Outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Year Celebration work session |
discussed only | p.1 |
| Communications work session |
discussed only | p.2 |
| Soccer Scoreboard work session |
discussed only | p.3 |
| Polaris and Summit High Schools work session |
discussed only | p.3 |
| Alpine School District Bond work session |
discussed only | p.4 |
| Hawk Signal at Orchard Elementary work session |
discussed only | p.5 |
| School Security Measures work session |
presented only | p.5 |
| All-Abilities Playground and Dog Park work session |
discussed only | p.6 |
Items and outcomes were extracted from the agenda and minutes by Claude (Anthropic); each links to the minutes page. The minutes are authoritative.
Text extracted from the minutes PDF (scanned pages via OCR). The PDF is the official record.
OREM CITY COUNCIL/ ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT SPECIAL JOINT MEETING 56 North State, Orem, Utah August 26, 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. Brunst, Jr. Couhkilr,nembers • Margaret Black, Tom Maci<;tonald, Mark Seastrand, and Brent Sumner Steven Downs, Assistant to the City Manager; and Jackie Lambert, Deputy City Recorder John Burton,· Paula 'Hill, JoDee Sundberg, and Deborah Taylor Sam Jarman, Superintendent; Rob Smith, Assistant Superintendent Councilmembers Hans Andersen and David Spencer Margaret Black Mayor Brunst called the meeting to order at 12:09 p.m. Items of Common Interest DISCUSSION - 100 Year Celebration Mayor Brunst thanked the Alpine School District for the 100-Year Celebration event with Alpine School District employees. Superintendent Jarman said there were approximately 8,000 employees in the District. He compared that with Vivint, a worldwide organization, which had 12,000 employees. He noted that public school played an important role in the community, with teachers and employees often living in the community, as well as the work the schools did in educating the upcoming generation to be good citizens and good wage earners. He shared a thought he had heard from Governor Herbert that, upon returning from a trip to Europe, he had felt that the United States was a light to the world and Utah was a light to the United States. Superintendent Jarman then said that he sees our communities as a light for the state of Utah. Joint Orem City CounciV Alpine School District Minutes - August 26, 2015 (p. I) I I I . . I I I He said they had had a good start to the school year and he appreciated the help from the City for a variety of things, from crossing guards to supportive families. ' He said that the district was trying to utilize space in the area as efficiently as possible and might be looking to change some elementary school boundaries to alleviate some of the growth issues, especially around Vineyard Elementary, which had 900 students. He said that many of the current schools could house at least 700 students. He said that eventually a school would need to be built in the Vineyard area and the District would appreciate any help to purchase land at a fair value for a school. He said an elementary site was typically 10 acres. Mayor Bruns! said Vineyard had planned for schools. Mrs. Sundberg clarified that they had put that forward, but had not "planned" for them. Superintendent Jarman said that the plans had been removed at the last Planning Commission session. He believed that this would mean the District would have to purchase a number of actual building lots, which would be more expensive than purchasing a designated school site. He had hopes that this situation would improve through continued talks. Mr. Macdonald brought up the possibility of the land being sold as lots but at the price of a school site, with the developer being able to claim the difference as a tax deduction, which has been done in the past. Mrs. Sundberg said the CDA in the Vineyard area had a negative impact on the district in that area. Part of the CDA included residential, so more children would be coming in and a school would have to be built. Superintendent Jarman said they relied on the tax dollars to build the schools and to be a part of the community. He said that he had not intended to bring a Vineyard issue to the Orem Council. Mr. Bybee said that Orem City staff had been meeting with Vineyard for items of common interest, such as a traffic study regarding existing elementary schools. He said that Orem could share with Vineyard things they had learned over many years. Mayor Bruns! said that Orem and Vineyard had a lot of shared interests. Mrs. Black said that Orem could share what they had learned about the need for elementary schools. Mrs. Sundberg said it had been suggested that they build in Orem and bus the kids up. Superintendent Jarman said that would make no sense when a community could have neighborhood schools. DISCUSSION - Communications Superintendent Jarman said the District would like to continue to work on good communication with the City. He said the District had been caught off guard when the sod was removed from the softball fields by Mt. View and Orem Elementary. He understood the reasons, but he thought comniunication prior to things happening would be helpful. JointOn:m City CounciVAlpine School District Minutes-August 26, 2015 (p.2) Mr. Bybee said he was anticipating a meeting in the near future which would focus on the discussions concerning the land swap. DISCUSSION Soccer Scoreboard Superintendent Jarman said he was grateful to hear of the Timpanogos soccer field scoreboard going in. He was glad the patrons, the boosters, the City and the District could come together to accomplish this. He asked if there was any concern the City might still have concerning the scoreboard. Mr. Bybee said there was none that he knew of, but that he would check. Mr. Seastrand asked if there was any advertising or sponsorship on the board itself. Superintendent Jarman said he had not heard of any. Ms. Taylor said it was an electronic scoreboard and she did not remember an ·advertisement. She said that the guidelines had been followed according to the agreement for joint use of the field. She said the field was used for various uses, beyond just soccer, and that over the last seven years the Timpanogos women's soccer team had won state titles several times and deserved something above and beyond flip cards for keeping score. She expressed gratitude for the City's help. I Superintendent Jarman also expressed appreciation for the improvements to the Orem Fitness I Center. Mayor Bruns! said that three high schools use the center for their swim teams. Mrs. Sundberg said she had spoken with some citizens who were very impressed when they learned that the City and District met together regularly to collaborate. She thought it should be made known that there was a collaborative effort between them and that Orem City was about good education and families. Mayor Brunst said the City appreciated the partnership. He said the District was a big part of the community. DISCUSSION - Polaris and Summit High Schools Mr. Macdonald asked what kind of schools Polaris and Summit high schools were. Superintendent Jarman said they were special purpose schools. He said that Summit High School was for kids who may have gotten into some trouble with the courts, but also for kids who may be wards of the state or living in foster care, whose parents may be serving time. He said that Polaris High School was an alternative school for 11th and 1 z th grade students who were not on track to graduate after 9th or 10th grade. He said more money per student was probably spent at that school than at any other school in the District. He said it was designed to be a small school with small classes to help meet the needs of those students. He said the successful graduation rate was about 68 percent, compared to only 14 percent with the previous model. He said the graduation rate across the whole district was now at about 91 percent. Joint Orem City Council/ Alpine School District Minutes-August 26, 2015 (p.3) I I I I He said that East Shore Online High School was an in-district online school with over 90 percent completion rate of online courses. He said the online school allowed the District to keep the WPU at the school where the student resided. He said these online courses allowed students to complete certain courses independently which then allowed them to fit other courses, such as choir, into their daily school schedules. Mr. Sumner asked how many online students there were. Superintendent Jarman said it was a large number and he would find out what it was. He noted that students might take only one online course and take the rest of their classes at their local high school. He said there were labs in each high school where students could access the online courses through the internet. Mrs. Hill said the schools were impressive and served the whole district. She had taught school and had seen the old model, and she said it was impressive to see how the new model worked. Mr. Macdonald stated that he was not fully aware-of how the home schooling and charter schools worked within the area. He _asked what connection the District had with those groups. Superintendent Jarman said the District had some contact with home school groups. Home schooled elementary students could enroll through the District and the District would provide curricula and computers to help parents who need the help. The District also was part of the original group that put together UCAS. He said that about 70 percent of student enrollment at UCAS came from ASD. Once UCAS was formed it was guided by its charter. In the past there has been an ASD employee on the UCAS board. He said currently there was one representative for all three districts, and the current representative was from Provo District. Superintendent Jarman noted that K-9 students attend ASD schools where they learn the basics, and then some of those same students enter UCAS, which was the number one high school in the state. He said it was important to acknowledge that those students who graduated from UCAS with both a high school diploma and an associate degree received their foundation from the ASD schools. He noted that ASD also offers associate degrees through the high schools. Mr. Macdonald asked about oversight for charter schools. Superintedent Jarman said every school had its own board, and then there was also a state charter board. Superintendent Jarman said the charter schools usually would not have the structure to deal with issues such as the death of a faculty member, and the District would provide them with advice and services in such instances, even though the charter schools wanted to stress their independence. DISCUSSION -Alpine School District Bond Mayor Bruns! asked if the district was looking for a bond next year. Superintendent Jarman said yes. He said they needed to build several schools. He said that, without any kind of tax increase, living within the existing dolhu-s, they could get a $210 million Joint Orem City Council/ AI pine School District Minutes - August 26, 2015 (p.4) bond, but that would not be enough. He said they hoped to get between $230 and $250 million, which would require a slight tax increase but should not be a major impact. He noted that they •• were experiencing tremendous growth. Mrs. Black asked what positive things there would be for Orem residents to know about for the bond, such as other projects it would fund. Superintendent Jarman said they were in the midst of discussions about projects identified for capital needs throughout the district. They were working on that list currently, and they could share that next time they met. He wanted to emphasize that capital projects discussed at this point, as well as any lists of projects, were preliminary and subject to change as projects were continually identified and prioritized during discussions. Ms. Taylor said the bottom line was there was growth that needed to be planned for. She said there was a whole process in preparing for the bond. Mrs. Sundberg said there would be things for Orem and that people would give lots of feedback on how they should use the funding. It was noted that the Orem Junior High ribbon cutting that night. UPDATE -Hawk Signal Mayor Bruns! asked about the hawk signal by Orchard Elementary. Mr. Bybee said the City had received additional feedback from parents in the area. He said the location was determined and they had budget dollars to move toward half.the cost and informally they had talked about this being a shared cost. He said he was not sure that .the funding had been finalized by the District. Superintendent Jarman said he would check with Rob Smith about it. Mr. Bybee said they could begin the bid solicitation process, as long as they were all on the same pagŽ. Superintendent Jarman said they were dealing with issues in American Fork and he was under the impression this one had been reso,lved and taken care of prior to that. He said lie would follow up on that. UPDATE- School Security Measures Mr. Bybee said Orem Police Chief Giles had almost completed an in-depth review of all Orem schools, and had created detailed maps available to his officers, including entrances, exits, windows, etc. He said the chief was taking officers into the schools to do in-persori tours apd get officers in with the administration. He said that response to and proactive safety for schools was a very high priority for Chief Giles. Mayor Bruns! said Orem was ahead of the game by doing this kind of preparation. Joint Orem City CowiciV Alpine School District Minutes -August 26, 2015 (p.5) I I I I I UPDATE - All-abilities Playground Mr. Downs reported that the City was going to build an all abilities playground at the City Center Park. He said the City was working with Kids on the Move and United Way, converting the current playground space. He said they were also coordinating with Teresa at UVU who was working on their new autism center. Mrs. Black asked if there would still be regular playground equipment. Mr. Downs said any child could play on the specialized equipment. Mr. Seastrand the other item of interest to the community was a dog park, and that the preferred location was near Cascade Park and Elementary School. He said he felt the Alpine School District needed to be part of the discussion. He said a key strategy for the city was putting parks near schools, and he had concern about the dog park being near a school. Mr. Sumner asked if there was anything to watch for in the upcoming legislative session. Mrs. Sundberg said she would have that ready for the next meeting. She said Senator Osmond, who was very interested in helping at-risk students, had visited with three schools in the district and had attended the graduation at Polaris High School. She said the biggest thing they were asking for now was that there would be less legislation written for public education. Set Date and Time for Next The next meeting was scheduled for October 28, 2015, at noon in Orem. The meeting adjourned at I: 11 p.m. fJDYAA.fi2• Donna R. Weaver, City Recorder Approved: September 8, 2015 Joint Orem City Council/ Alpine School District Minutes - August 26, 2015 (p.6)