City Council · 2017-01-11

OREM CITY COUNCIL/ALPINESCHOOLDISTRICT
SPECIALJOINTMEETING
56 North State, Orem, Utah
January 11, 2017
This meeting was for discussion purposes only. No official action was taken.
CONDUCTING Mayor Richard F. Brunst
OREM ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmembers Debby Lauret, Sam Lentz, Tom
Macdonald, and Mark Seastrand
OREM STAFF Jamie Davison, City Manager; Brenn Bybee,
Assistant City Manager; Steven Downs, Assistant to
the City Manager;  Karl  Hirst, Recreation
Department Director; and Jackie Lambert, Deputy
City Recorder
Mark Clement, Sarah Hacken, Paula Hill, and
ALPINEBOARDOFEDUCATION
JoDee Sundberg :
..
ALPINESCHOOLDISTRICTADMIN. Sam  Jarman, Superintendent, *Jess Christen,
Administrative Director of Operations.
ABSENT/EXCUSED David Spencer and Brent Sumner:
INVOCATION Tom Macdonald
Mayor Brunst called the meeting to order at 12:08 p.m.
Items of Common Interest
DISCUSSION - District Growth and Construction
Superintendent Jarman said the district had good news about the bond sale. He said the district
was continuing to grow, and gave the example of Sky Ridge High School (SRHS). SRHS had
opened within the last year, and the district had just approved a 16-classroom satellite campus to
accommodate the school's growth. SRHS senior class was approximately 495 students and the
incoming group of 9ih graders was approximately 695 students. The school had started full and
hopefully the additional classrooms would take care of current and some future needs.
Mayor Brunst asked if the district had anything new to report in Vineyard. Superintendent
Jarman said they had purchased some property for an elementary school but were not certain of
the timeline. There was an issue with the charter schools currently in Vineyard and so the district
was waiting to move forward when some of those issues were resolved.
Mrs. Sundberg believed that one of the charter schools in Vineyard would likely be closing soon.
She said the school had followed a less traditional curriculum and had a different philosophy on
Joint Orem City Counci/Alpine School District Minutes - January 11, 2017 (p.1)


what the school would be apart from traditional schools. The idea was that parents and students
had more flexibility but the idea had not been as successful as initially anticipated. There had
been over sixteen transfers from the charter school to Vineyard Elementary in recent months,
which was significant. She imagined that even more had transferred to the other charter school
nearby.
Mr. Macdonald asked what happened in the case of a charter school closing. Mrs. Sundberg said
there would likely be consequences for the owners and investors of the school, not to mention
those that taught and attended at the school. She said it was very different than if a public school
was facing closure.
DISCUSSION - SROs and School Safety
Superintendent Jarman asked Mr. Christen to address the possibility of more School Resource
Officers (SROs) at the junior high level, particularly Canyon View Junior High (CVJH) in Orem.
  q    s        s
Phase 3 of the bonding.
Mr. Christen said safety was always a priority for the district. In light of recent events and
particularly the incident at Mountain View High School, they were accelerating some of the
safety upgrades. These included removing the block glass for regular glass to provide a clear
view of who was entering the building and providing line of sight for increased security. CVJH
was the last school in the area to receive this upgrade. Mr. Christen said parents were
increasingly interested in having SROs at the junior highs, and the district was looking at
expanding that program. He said it would be a different model than at the high schools, and
would have SROs in place for around 4 hours or so a day. The district's Safety Coordinator
would work the district's agencies so that all had a standard response protocol when needed.
They wanted a more system-like approach where everyone was on the same page.
Mayor Brunst asked if there had been any psychological fallout since the incident at MVHS. Mr.
Christen said there had been. The first responders and the crisis team that came to the school
tried to help students that were involved either directly or indirectly by offering counseling. He
said the surprising thing had been the fallout with the adults, and seeing first-hand the Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that some were dealing with. They were working with
Superintendent Jarman said these kinds of things were tough. The community could not just reset
and go back to normal the next day. He said trust levels were affected, and people dealt with the
aftermath in their own time and in their own ways. The district was lucky to have had open
schools that did not feel like fortresses, but that too came at some cost. He appreciated what Mr.
Christen was doing to improve safety across the district.
Mr. Davidson asked if the discussions on additional SROs had taken place with the chiefs of
police in within the district. He thought it would be particularly important to keep the cities in the
loop because additional SROs would need to be accommodated for in the budgeting process. Mr.
Christen said it was his intention to discuss the matter with the chiefs of police within the district.
Joint Orem City Counci/Alpine School District Minutes - January 11, 2017 (p.2)


Superintendent Jarman said he was extremely proud of the work the Crisis Team had been doing
within the district. He said that the only “silver lining" that came from tragedies like those at
MVHS or at Northridge Elementary, where a student had been killed in a vehicle/pedestrian
accident, was that the district would be better prepared in the future.
Mrs. Sundberg added that she was familiar with the family of the assailant from the MVHS
stabbing incident, and that it had been tough for their family. They were still struggling to
understand why it had happened. However, she said you could really see the strength of our
community in the aftermath of these kinds of incidents. People were quick to help and support
one another.
Mr. Christen said that as well as safety concerns, they were seismic concerns, ADA accessibility
concerns for restrooms and entries to school buildings, testing for mold and radon, etc. that
would be addressed as part of Phase 3.
Mr. Lentz said he thought the bond was performing well. He asked if there was a “wish list the
district would try to tackle with the additional money. Superintendent Jarman said they would be
careful with any additional money; they needed to be strategic with how money was spent and
prioritized.
Mr. Davidson added that the construction market was doing well and that made things more
costly. That may be a factor in rebuilding or retrofitting schools. Superintendent Jarman said they
had a plan for which schools would need to be rebuilt and costs would help determine the
timeline.
UPDATE - Orem City Growth
Mrs. Sundberg asked about the growth of apartments and condominiums in Orem. Mayor Brunst
said the Aston at University Place was 100 percent leased, and that Midtown 360 was around 75
percent leased. Other projects like The Parc on Center, The Residences at Monteval, Canyon
View Crossing, and others were also doing well. There was a low unemployment rate and a high
job growth rate. Orem continued to be an incubator for growing small businesses. In response to
a follow up question from Mrs. Sundberg, Mayor Brunst said the tenants of many of these
complexes were single, working professionals and empty nester couples. He said they were
about $1.30 per sq. ft.
Mr. Davidson said the majority of the higher density developments were along key travel
corridors. He said while it seemed like a lot of new growth, these projects had all been approved
             s  n 
a new Master Plan and part of the focus of that plan was getting students onto campus. However,
he said that UVU was not looking to be in the business of housing and no formal plans or
requests had been submitted to the City.
Mrs. Sundberg said her neighborhood was particularly concerned about growth around the UVU
area. Mr. Davidson said the challenge was that developers came in with big ideas that may or
may not make sense for the area. He said the City would collaborate and find the best solutions
for all parties.
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - January 11, 2017 (p.3)


Mrs. Sundberg said the district was not unfamiliar with the rumor mill and concerns from
residents. She referenced a neighborhood meeting for Polaris High School that was one of the
most difficult meetings she had ever gone through because people were so concerned with
having that high school in their area. She was amazed at the vitriolic nature of the comments,
considering that these students were the children and grandchildren of the neighbors.
Mr. Davidson said he understood the concerns of the neighbors and the concerns of property
owners and developers. He believed that things would work out but they needed cooler heads to
prevail.
Superintendent Jarman asked if areas were being abandoned because people we removing to the
new apartments. Mr. Davidson said no, that they had good occupancy rates throughout the city.
He said in the urbanization of an area people wanted their residences to stay close to amenities
and employment and for that to happen, growth needed to start going up, not just out.
UPDATE-UpcomingStateLegislativeSession 2017
Mr. Seastrand asked if there were any legislative issues the district wanted the City to be aware
of.
Superintendent Jarman said a key issue was businesses that wanted to support education, but
wanted to do that through a referendum and have a portion of tax go toward education. He said
the district had some concerns about how that money would then be distributed. They wanted the
money to go toward things like teacher pay, but if funding was collected that way the district
may have little to no say in how the money gets used.
Mrs. Sundberg said the district needed the infusion of money, but they would prefer that it go
through the right channels.
SetDate and TimeforNext
The next meeting was scheduled for March 15, 2017, at noon in the Orem City Council
Chambers.
Adjournment
Mr. Seastrand moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Macdonald seconded the motion. The motion
passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 1:22 p.m.
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - January 11, 2017 (p.4)


smaReawer
Donna R.Weaver, CityRecorder
Approved:January 24,2017
OREM
CITYOFO
CORPORATE
SEAL
JointOremCity Council/AlpineSchoolDistrict Minutes-January11,2017（p.5)