Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

On Thursday night, the last of three public open house meetings was held to educate residents on the feasibility study determining if Orem is ready for its own school district.

In a special city council meeting beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the council will address this one item. If four of the seven council members vote in favor, it will be placed on the November ballot.

If it does go to the ballot, then both the city and the ASD have two months to educate the public on the pros and cons of a new district. Both groups will be walking a fine line between giving out educational material and facts, rather than trying to sway or share their opinions one way or the other, which is against the law.

During all of the open house meetings, Orem Mayor Dave Young — a voting member of the council — has been in charge, selecting the public questions that will be answered during the evenings.

He made it clear that those questions, and in some cases statements, will be viewable on the transparency portal on the city’s website.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

According to Pete Wolfley, communications and innovation specialist, there were more than 600 questions offered over the three meetings, but only 140 were answered. He did add that there were some duplicate questions.

Those questions were coming from audiences, ranging from about 150-200 people, and with most of the same people attending each meeting.

For the third time, DEC Services LLC principals Paul McCarty and Michael Wankier presented information from the feasibility study (all of which is on the website), with a few new bits of information Thursday.

A variety of questions on everything from property taxes to test scores were asked. At one point, when questioned on test scores in the schools, McCarty said, “We weren’t given that much time to delve into the test scores.”

A few in the crowd chimed in, saying they didn’t feel the entire study had been given enough time.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

The feasibility study indicates that test scores in Orem’s high schools and junior highs have gone below state averages, but the elementary test scores are above average.

DEC was asked about a timeline, if forming a district was approved by voters. It would look something like this:

• Nov. 8, 2022 – Voters approve new district.
• Jan. 1, 2023 – A transition team is in place to begin determining the assets and liabilities Orem would receive.
• Aug. 1, 2023 – The city council approves the transition team’s recommendations.
• November 2023 – A new school board is voted on.
• Jan. 1, 2024 – The Board and Acting Superintendent begin organizing the district.
• July 1, 2024 – The Orem School District will become a legal education entity in time for the 2024-2025 school year.

Parents who prefer to have their children in a different school district have up to six years to make that change.

Another concern was the number of employed teachers. Wankier said there was $4 million to hire 60 new teachers in the district, to make smaller class sizes. That comes to about 2-to-3 teachers per school.

“The purpose of the study was to find out if it was feasible,” Wankier said. “The cost savings is up to the new school board.”

When questioned on many parts of how the feasibility information would become workable by members of the audience, DEC said that would have to be determined by the new school board.

Wankier and McCarty also told attendees there were no negatives in leaving ASD. Young added that he sees one negative — change. He mentioned that change is often hard.

Of the approximately 46,556 voters in Orem, fewer than 500 attended the meetings, with many attending more than once. For both the city and the school district, that could mean a lot of hard work educating residents, including those who may speak Spanish or other non-English languages.

Many of those non-English speakers have children attending Title 1 schools which are a part of the greater discussion of the study, along with whether schools are seismically safe schools, how the food kitchens might work and much more.

Residents are encouraged to attend the council meeting Tuesday. Special overflow rooms will be set up and available if needed. Young said he will allow 90 minutes of public comment with two minutes per person. They will have two microphones, for people in favor and those opposed, to use. The meeting then will be turned back to the council for discussion and final vote.

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