City Council · 2017-05-10

OREM CITY COUNCIL/ALPINE SCHOOL DISTRICT
SPECIALJOINT MEETING
56 North State, Orem, Utah
May 10, 2017
This meeting was for discussion purposes only. No official action was taken.
CONDUCTING Mayor Richard F. Brunst
OREMELECTEDOFFICIALS Councilmembers Debby Lauret, Sam Lentz, Mark
Seastrand, and Brent Sumner
OREMSTAFF Jamie Davison, City Manager; Brenn Bybee,
Assistant City Manager; Steven Downs, Assistant to
the City Manager; Lissy Sarvela, Recreation
Department; and Jackie Lambert, Deputy City
Recorder
ALPINE BOARD OF EDUCATION Mark Clement and Sarah Hacken
ALPINESCHOOLDISTRICTADMIN. Sam Jarman, Superintendent; and Rob Smith,
Assistant Superintendent
ABSENT/EXCUSED Tom Macdonald and David Spencer
INVOCATION Mark Seastrand
Mayor Brunst called the meeting to order at 12:12 p.m.
Items of Common Interest
DISCUSSION -Update on Alpine School District
Mr. Smith said it was a privilege for him to share information from the Alpine School District
stakeholder's report. He distributed a mailer that was sent to all households in the district, and
said he wanted to share some highlights from the report. He said excellence and student learning
were major goals of the district. Alpine School District educators went above and beyond to help
their students succeed. Mr. Smith shared a story of a teacher preparing his students for a
particular advanced placement (AP) test that held extra prep classes even on a Saturday so that
students could come and study and feel prepared to take the test. He said there were so many
stories like that, and looking at graphs and statistics did not always paint the full picture of the
hard work and dedication of teachers, administration, and students alike. The district had strong
support from families and students, and there was phenomenal effort from teachers to know their
students and help them succeed.
Mr. Smith shared information about the number of AP tests 'taken and passed, and how many
credit hours were earned that way. He said AP tests not only helped students. earn college credits,
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - May 10, 2017 (p.1)


but by doing so they helped save on tuition, books, etc. because they were ahead of where they
would typically be.
Superintendent Jarman added that through concurrent enrollment programs, even more students
were earning college credits that would save thousands of dollars in the long term for higher
education costs. It was impressive what the students were doing, and it reflected well on the
community.
Mr. Smith said Alpine School District's graduation rate was as high as 91 percent, even higher
than the State average of 85 percent as well as the nation average of 83 percent. Alpine School
District's high rate included those special education students that would not be able to meet
graduation criteria and the few that truly dropped out, but the graduation rate was high. He
credited both the high schools and the junior high schools for working together to ensure student
success, especially as students transitioned from junior high school to high school.
Mr. Smith said one goal the district was focusing on was to get student reading at grade level by
grade 3. Reading on grade level was a great predictor of success, and a building block for the
future.
said it was a small percentage, but those that were reading at grade level were at least at 85
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interventions in place throughout the tiered system. He said one reading recover teacher had
worked with a student that started her reading at a level 3, which was way behind for her age.
S as goos  pns o s n 'm e au e ss as p s s
The reading teacher worked with her and by end of year that student was reading at level 24 -
just about on grade level. Superintendent Jarman said these accelerated programs were the kind
of programs they did fundraising for.
Mr. Smith said that students who started high school deficient had a much harder time keeping
on track for graduation, so the early intervention programs were so important. He shared a few
more highlights from the mailer and asked for any questions.
Mayor Brunst asked if there was a name selected for the new high school in Eagle Mountain. Mr.
Smith said the school was yet to be named but would be completed Fall of 2019. He said the
Board had a process for naming a school, and the appointed principal would work with the
community to consider factors like the geography and history of the area, the names of the
schools that would feed into the high school, etc. He added that it was not just the name of the
school, but the mascot and school colors that all needed to be determined. They had received
suggestions through social media as well. The Board would follow the process and narrow things
down to 3 choices that they would then vote on.
Mrs. Lauret asked about the causes of the teacher shortage, and what Alpine School District was
doing to handle that. Mr. Smith said that the percentage of students graduating from BYU's
education program was at 50 percent of what it was a few short years ago. BYU was one of the
primary feeder schools to the district for teachers, and now they were only producing half as
many. He also said that education could be a hyper-competitive field where only the very best
made the cut. Alpine School District expected a lot from their teachers, and they often discussed
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - May 10, 2017 (p.2)


how they could recruit and retain the best of the best. The most difficult positions to fill were
specialty positions, like special education, particularly severe and profound, speech and language
pathologists, etc. Those positions often went unfilled or the district would have to contract out
for them.
Mrs. Lauret asked if the Board had considered doing what had been done in Granite School
District, which was an 11 percent raise across the board for district employees. Mr. Smith said
Alpine School District had a competitive benefit and salary structure, not just for teachers but for
all district employees. He said the 11 percent raise in the Granite District may not be as sweet as
it sounds, and commented that Granite's starting wages were lower than Alpine. Starting rates
for junior high teachers in ASD was $42,00o, and elementary school teachers in a productivity
school typically started at $39,000. There were other benefits and programs that Alpine School
District offered that other districts did not.
Superintendent Jarman said the district tried to be competitive with market rates. Productivity
school stayed open longer, giving teachers another hour in the day to be teaching. He said
teachers in Alpine School District worked hard but the compensation package was competitive.
They were also working on compensation packages for classified staff.
Mr. Clement added that they wished they could do more, but they did their best. Teacher pay was
always an issue; occupations that required a similar amount of schooling and higher education
were paid 30-40 percent higher than teachers were.
Mrs. Hacken said they were also having difficulty attracting support employees like bus drivers
and cafeteria workers, and keeping them. Not having enough bus drivers meant classes could not
go on field trips or travel for sports. It was more than the daily routes of bringing students to
school.
Mr. Smith said bus drivers were incredibly important to the district. Bus drivers were the first
and last contact of the day from the district, and many were friends with the kids and parents on
their routes. He likened driving a school bus to driving a tank with 50+ kids on it that were
laughing and screaming, all while maintaining daily routes and following traffic laws, watching
the turn radius, stopping distances, etc. They were trying to reach out to young drivers, who
could earn a good wage driving bus while working around their own school schedules.
was hard to recruit and maintain good staff while the job market was so competitive.
Mr. Sumner asked when any changes would roll out. Mrs. Hacken said much was dependent on
the legislature. They wanted to compensate everyone fairly, not just new teachers but long-time
teachers also.
Superintendent Jarman said they were trying to do this with minimal or no tax increases, if
possible. They would do everything they could to not increase taxes unless absolutely necessary.
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DISCUSSION -UVU Center for Autism
Mrs. Lauret mentioned the new Melisa Nellesen Center for Autism at UVU. She asked what new
things that center would bring to the table for the district.
Superintendent Jarman said autism rates in Utah were high, and having a dedicated site to
encourage teachers to specialize in this field would greatly benefit students with autism.
Employees at the Center for Autism would be Alpine School District employees in partnership
with UVU. Students training in this kind of education would work alongside veteran teachers to
run the center.
Mrs. Lauret said the Center would be a great resource for families affected by autism.
FOLLOW-UP-AspenElementary ChineseImmersionProgram
Superintendent Jarman said he wanted to let the City Council know what had happened with the
parents that had attended the last joint meeting who were concerned with the Aspen Elementary
Chinese Immersion Program. He said an extension had been granted, and they were given a
cancelled at Aspen Elementary. They tried to give families that wanted to still be part of a
take advantage of that. He said that Aspen Elementary was a STEM or STEAM school, focusing
on science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. It was difficult to have multiple specialty
focuses in one school.
UPDATE - MVHS Upgrades
upgrades in Phase 2 of the 2016 Bond, but in light of the stabbing incident and ensuing court
issues they were moving some of the upgrades up. They were going to use some of the money to
upgrade the camera system. They were also going to upgrade and completely change the locker
rooms during the summer months, so that those who were involved in the incident were not
haunted by the images of the old locker room. Superintendent Jarman said this had been a tough
issue, and there would continue to be fallout from it.
Mayor Brunst asked if Superintendent Jarman had an update on the victims of that incident.
Superintendent Jarman said they were all back in school, and one student had sustained nerve
damage in the attack that would likely be with him for the rest of his life.
DISCUSSION - MVHS/OFC Parking Issues
Superintendent Jarman said he had heard that Orem was considering changing the entrance to the
Orem Fitness Center (OFC); he thought that would be a good idea. He wondered if they should
open the OFC parking lot to all, instead of trying to constantly monitor that MVHS students and
parents not park there. He also felt that the fencing around the parking lot did not deter the
students, it just created more issues. Orem residents were parking at the OFC to attend Junior
Jazz games at MVHS and receiving tickets, or notices that they should not park there. He said
 Junior Jazz was not a district program, and they should not quibble over parking for these things.
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - May 10, 2017 (p.4)


Mr. Davidson said first that Junior Jazz was not a City program either, but a private group using
the high school courts. It was not as though the City was running at program at the high school
and then ticketing those in the city parking lot. He agreed that parking was an issue but opening
the parking lot would not solve all the problems; he was sure they could find a reasonable
solution that was mutually beneficial. He appreciated that the school district was open to the idea
of changing the OFC entrance, which would likely resolve some of the parking problems.
Superintendent Jarman said that they were willing to shift where the bus drop-off areas would be
to accommodate the change. These were discussion they were open to.
DISCUSSION - Proposed Developments and City Speed Limits
Mr. Christen had attended the neighborhood meeting regarding the development. Superintendent
Jarman said the district did not have a dog in the fight; they understood that it would add some
vehicular traffic to the area but the main purpose of having the housing so close to the university
was to create more foot traffic to and from campus and keep cars out of the parking lots. The
district just wanted to stay aware of what was happening in the area.
Mr. Davidson said the City was aware that Mr. Christen had attended that meeting, and they
appreciated the heads up.
Superintendent Jarman said they were not interested in starting a petition or anything like that or
having resident lobby the school district to weigh in on the issue. They saw this as a city issue
and not a district issue.
Mr. Clement wanted the City Council to know that the Board genuinely cared about Orem
schools. He said sometimes it seemed like all the focus was in the high growth areas, but they
were just as focused on Orem schools and their needs. There was a good partnership between the
City and the Board.
Mr. Lentz asked if there had been any further discussions on the speed limit and traffic signal at
the intersection near Vineyard Elementary. Mr. Davidson said they were working with traffic
engineers from Orem and Vineyard, and both sides were at a point where they felt comfortable
raising the speed limit so that the area warranted a traffic calming device. It would also likely
qualify for a crossing guard once the speed limit was raised.
Superintendent Jarman said that sounded like a reasonable compromise and they were glad to see
the issue resolved. Mr. Davidson said this issue of speeds near schools was by no means an
isolated issue; they would need to coordinate with Lindon City and with the district as well.
Mr. Davidson said there was one capital issue he wanted to touch on, which was Cascade
Elementary. He knew there were conversations about whether to retrofit the school to meet
seismic requirements or to rebuild the school. He said the current orientation had the school
facing 800 East but it had been suggested that the school rotate to face 200 North. Mr. Davidson
asked if that were the case to please coordinate with Orem, as they were planning to rebuild 200
North in the near future and wanted to make sure the plans would work for all parties. He was
Joint Orem City Council/Alpine School District Minutes - May 10, 2017 (p.5)


particularly concerned about the infrastructure for utilities being oriented the correct way so as
not todiguptheroadwaymultipletimes.
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conversations to make sure that things were happening simultaneously and in coordination with
each other. They were happy to coordinate and make those things work for both sides. He
believed Cascade Elementary was not scheduled to be worked on until the 4"h bond phase, which
would be in about two or three years, and they would Mr. Davidson's requests in mind going
forward.
DISCUSSION-Odds andEnds
Mrs. Lauret said she worked with Tabitha's Way to help serve the community, and particularly
children had a much harder time focusing in the classroom and learning what they needed to
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Mr. Seastrand asked about the arrangement with the MVHS baseball fields. Superintendent
Jarman said they had heard nothing but praise and thanks for what had been arranged from the
baseball families. Mr. Seastrand asked about the sponsor banners hanging on the outside of the
fence, and if that had been a concern at all. Mr. Davidson said there was a sign ordinance in
place, and there was always push and pull in trying to enforce the ordinance when the
signs/banners benefitted both the City and the school in what they were trying to do. The City
was aware of the issue. Superintendent Jarman said sending a letter to the school would help
mitigate those issues, and they could keep the signs within the park and keep it from being a city
issue.
Mr. Sumner asked about the recent visit by newly appointed United States Secretary of
Education Betsy DeVos to Utah. Mr. Smith said they invited her to visit with Alpine School
District but she visited instead with Granite School District. Mayor Brunst said he admired the
effort Ms. DeVos had already put into her new position, trying to learn more about the public
school system. Superintendent Jarman said they did not agree with her main platform, but had
tried to meet with her while she was in Utah.
Set Date and Time for Next
The next meeting was scheduled for September 20, 2017, at noon in the Orem City Council
Chambers.
Adjournment
Mr. Lentz moved to adjourn the meeting. Mrs. Lauret seconded the motion. The motion passed
unanimously.
Joint OremCityCouncil/AlpineSchoolDistrict Minutes-May10,2017(p.6)


The meeting adjourned at 1:29 p.m.
OREM
CORPORATE
SEAL
alsmaR.dane
Donna R.Weaver, City Recorder
Approved:June13,2017
JointOremCity Council/AlpineSchoolDistrict Minutes-May10,2017（p.7)