School board talks old Blanding elementary building future and revise sick day policy

Members of the San Juan School Board discussed the future of the old Blanding Elementary building, gave staff more flexibility to use sick days, and reviewed bullying survey data at their latest meeting.
Members of the San Juan School Board discussed the future of the current Blanding Elementary School building at their April 8 meeting. With construction of the new Blanding Elementary School on schedule the 2025-2026 school year will likely be the last year the building is used by the San Juan School District. Board members and staff alike shared they’ve heard questions from the community about what the future of the building may be and agreed the timing was right to begin to explore that process for that futures..
During preliminary conversations board members and staff noted the district has had experience with new builds replacing older buildings. Most recently Bluff Elementary’s older building was sold to the Bluff city and Utah Diné Bikéyah. But other schools have been demolished such as the old school in Halchita where the land the building was located on was leased. During conversations it was noted that the district could retain liability for potential injury or damage to trespassers who go inside those older buildings meaning the district is incentivized to demolish buildings that will not be repurposed sooner rather than later.
At the conclusion of the first public discussion of the future of the building members of the board directed district staff to gather more information. District Business Administrator Tyrel Pemberton tasked to expend resources to explore how other districts have gone through similar processes. With another direction be to get an estimated value of the building as well as a value of the land without the building and the potential cost of demolishing the building. Members of the board approved a motion to take those next steps in determining the future for the old Blanding Elementary School building.
Members of the board also received other updates on capital projects from Pemberton including that the new Blanding Elementary School construction is continuing on schedule with framing expected to be completed by the end of April and windows and drywall installation already underway. Other capital projects included repairing the elevator at the district office and updating entryways at several different schools. Pemberton shared that San Juan High and Montezuma Creek Elementary school entryway projects are in progress with bid reviews planned for approval at the board’s May meeting.
Additionally the district received a safety grant that will see upgrades to security cameras across the district as well as roll out a key card access system as schools. “We're really excited and hopeful that that'll be a positive change and give us some insight on who has access to our buildings and when.”
Pemberton shared that upgrade will begin this summer but that it’ll take quite some time to see all schools come online with that system.
Members of the San Juan School Board also approved an update to the district leave policy.
Among the changes included an update to change the definition of immediate family to relative to align with state code. Other changes included adding mental health days, prevention care appointments, and civic responsibilities as allowable uses for sick leave. With the inclusion of mental health days the updated policy also included guidelines for mental health days including limiting consecutive use of mental health days with any more than five mental health days used requiring documentation from a mental health professional. The policy also clarifies that time-off can be taken in quarter-day increments. Pemberton added that the updates to the policy aim to provide employees with more flexibility and promote well-being. The board later approved the revised leave policies.
Members of the board also received an update on bullying prevention efforts with staff reviewing Olweus Survey data. The survey included responses from over 1,600 students grades 3-12 and included responses on prevalence, forms of bullying, locations, reporting and student feelings about school and bullying. Among the most key data points was a decrease in students being bullied two or three times per month for students grades 6th through 12th grade. 31-percent of students 3rd through 5th grade reported being bullied two or three times per month which was a slight increase from 30-percent reported in previous years. Students also reported an overall increase in teacher intervention in bullying situations. Staff shared recommendations from the survey data, noting that while more students are recognizing bullying, education may help encourage students and parents to intervene and prevent bullying where possible with students encouraged to share information with adults.
Members of the board also received extensive reports from assistant superintendents Julie Holt and Derrick Begay.
Holt highlighted the district focus on highly effective instruction in district elementary schools as well as early literacy and math with data showing significant individual student growth in areas including reading and mathematics.
Among challenges highlighted included strengthening systems to support instructional and behavioral development.
Among the highlighted celebrations included Bluff Elementary School leaving a Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) designation based on improvements, retainment of teachers, special education teachers and paraeducators and early literacy and math goals having been met consistently for the past 5 years.
Begay reported on secondary schools progress including data on graduation rates, ACT data and Career and Technical Education (CTE) program statistics. Begay noted a correction in the state’s calculations resulted in Monument Valley and Whitehorse High Schools graduating from TSI status in some categories with Begay noting those improvements related to the success of the schools CTE programs.
Members of the Board also heard a presentation from Ellen Williams representing Kagelia Fine Arts.
Williams shared the organization has partnered with the district for decades bringing fine arts programing to San Juan County. In the past year Kagelia and the district collaborated bringing the Utah Opera and Utah Symphony to the county, as well as the Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore, Shakespeare performances from SUU and BYU’s Vocal Point acapella singing group.
Williams shared a proposal to deepen the partnership with Kagelia proposing free admission to school-age children to their programming in exchange for closer collaboration in planning events and possibly the free use of district auditoriums on evenings where they are available. While a draft agreement is being prepared for board approval; District Superintendent Christine Fitzgerald shared the district is working on an upgrade to district policy for facility use which could allow for the request for free auditorium use. Those potential policy changes and agreements were tentatively planned to come before the board in their May meeting.
Members of the school board also received one written public comment on March 26 from Bill Love.
In his letter Love expressed concerns about federal cuts to department of education and the potential impacts on the district of lost federal funds.
While the board does not respond to public comments at meetings, a response to Love’s concerns was shared with the San Juan Record.
Fitzgerald explained that only congress can legally dissolve the Department of Education, adding that a large portion of the districts funding, Impact Aid, is protected by law and requires congressional action to be altered.
In response to question about the future of federal funds the district shared that while special projects, demonstration or other one-time federal grants might not be renewed they have not received any word about any cuts to ongoing funding the district receives to support everyday education of students.
Additionally the state acts as a pass-through entity for certain federal awards including Title 1 funding and other programs. The district shared the Utah State Board of Education has not provided any notice that the funds they pass on will be cut.
Fitzgerald also shard that with no expectations in a dramatic drop of federal funding the district does not have plans to dramatically change local property tax rates but if significant cuts did happen the district would evaluate revenues and expenditures to find the most fiscally responsible way to address cuts.
Pemberton also reviewed the the annual District Fraud Risk Assessment and Ethics Pledge for the board's review, noting that the assessment remained identical to the previous year
Members of the board also approved School Land Trust Plans for the upcoming academic year as presented by staff.
The district also presented San Juan Sweet Job awards to Karen Lee at Blanding Elementary School and Michelle Bradford of ARL Middle School.