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Orem residents speak up at council meeting on feasibility study

By Genelle Pugmire - | Apr 13, 2022

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

Orem City is shown from above on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

With high emotions surrounding the future of schooling in Orem, residents stressed to the Orem City Council on Tuesday that they are not against a feasibility study being done; they question the validity and expertise of the contracted company doing the study.

During the meeting’s open mic portion, which allows residents to speak for up to three minutes on items not on the agenda, up to 30 people stood in line to comment on the study and the contracted vendor, Discovery Education Consultants.

Some residents desired a new company to do the feasibility study, others spoke of splitting from the Alpine School District before they could put a bond on the ballot, most were just asking for a study that covers all the bases and is done to the highest professional standards.

During the public comment period, Orem resident Cissy Rasmussen presented Mayor Dave Young and the council with a petition seeking a change in vendor. The petition was put on http://change.org on Sunday and by Tuesday’s meeting there were about 1,300 signatures. The petition had over 1,600 by Wednesday evening.

“I stand ready to talk to you about feasibility and the district’s reconfiguration presentations,” said Ada Wilson, an elected Orem representative to the ASD Board of Education. “I am an advocate for Orem families.”

Wilson stood in the back, trying to correct things being said that she was concerned were not completely true. A few residents heckled her during the forum.

Several teachers also shared their concerns about leaving the ASD and the potential consequences. Elizabeth Ludwig teaches at Lakeridge Junior High and says she is not against the study. However, Ludwig said many of her teacher associates would “leave if the split occurred.” She is also concerned, as an Orem resident, on the possible property tax ramifications.

Data shows that when the Canyons School District broke from the Jordan District, property owners in the new district had their property tax increase incrementally year to year, now up to 40% more than before the split. Jordan District property owners have seen a 20% increase since the separation was done nearly 10 years ago.

Some non-residents also spoke, adamant that Orem must drop from the ASD before the district puts a new bond on the ballot.

“The (ASD) board has not taken action to place a bond on the ballot in November,” said Rob Smith, ASD business administrator. “If the board decided to take that action, they must do so prior to Aug. 24, 2022, as the resolution must be signed and delivered to the Lieutenant Governor’s office by close of business on Aug. 24.”

One person proclaimed with no evidence that the alleged bond would be $500 million. Smith, though, explained to the council and crowd the financing structure of any possible bond.

“If the board did determine a bond is needed and acted to place it on the ballot in November (if approved by voters), we would structure the financing in such a way to keep the impact to taxpayers within the current debt service tax rate or less. This is what we have strived to do with each bond since the 2000 bond,” Smith said.

Kay Clark, a retired teacher living in Orem, noted that taxes would be raised significantly if there was a split. She added that Orem’s school populations have been trending downward for the past 20 years and don’t appear to be moving up anytime soon, thus causing a need for Orem students to stay under the larger school district that offers programs which could be lost or diminished with a smaller district.

Orem resident Scott Swain called for the split, saying that ASD was “arrogant.”

Following the open mic period, Young readdressed a press release that came out earlier and featured the biographical information on the men who created Discovery Education Consultants. Young also indicated that some information being spread is based on non-truths and are not accurate.

Young made it clear that if a decision was made to split, it would be made by the voters of Orem — not the mayor or city council.

The information on Discovery Education Consultants indicates that educational and financial backgrounds of the company founders brings together nearly 100 years of experience. Paul McCarty is the key figure in the company.

McCarty is also leading a group of individuals in Draper that is seeking to break away from the Canyons School District to form a Draper School District.

At about the same time the Orem City Council was meeting, the Draper City Council and Draper Mayor Troy K. Walker issued its own statement on McCarty’s group during its meeting. It is the second time the Draper officials have put out a statement on the group and the issue of splitting from Canyons District.

“For several months a group of Draper residents has been pursuing the creation of a new school district that would be exclusively within the Draper city boundaries and which would require a separation from the Canyons School District,” the statement said. “Although the mayor and council have met with this group at their request, neither Draper City nor its elected officials have been involved with the conception of this proposal, nor with the attempt to move the process forward. At this time, the Mayor and Council do not support a split from the Canyons School District.”

Walker offered additional information about the legalities and split responsibilities between a city and school district on the matter.

“Should this group decide to continue down this path, State law provides an alternative path for the creation of a school district. This group is free to pursue a citizens initiative petition process administered by Salt Lake County should they choose to do so,” the statement concludes. It was signed by the mayor and all members of the city council.

McCarty and his group have not formally presented before the Draper Council, according to Linda Peterson, the city’s director of communications.

“I was the first one they contacted,” Walker told the Daily Herald. “They showed me the concept of a school district split and I told them they would have to show overwhelming community support for it.”

Walker met with McCarty for a second time just before Christmas. He also encouraged them to talk to council members. He noted the group was wanting the issue on the ballot later this year.

Even after seeing what Walker and council members said was a pretty simplistic presentation, he told them, “There is just no interest. We think Canyons does a phenomenal job.”

Walker suggested the group look into a charter school if they were concerned about curriculum.

McCarty has told Walker the two main reasons for wanting a smaller district are curriculum control and smaller class sizes.

Walker told them curriculum is determined by the State Board of Education and a better way to achieve the 17-to-a-class plan is to add more buildings and more teachers.

“There are 2,500 Draper kids that go outside Draper for school,” Walker said. Draper is just barely on the cusp of the required 50,000 population to have its own district.

Speaking of McCarty’s group, Walker said, “It’s a solution looking for a problem,” and added that his city has not, and does not, endorse Discovery Education Consultants.

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