OCR Text |
Show A-lb The Park Record Saturday, January 31, 1998 Introducing i Pendant "SESAM", ear pieces "LANTERNA", all in 18kt gold & diamonds. By Lapponia Jewelry, Helsinki Design: Bjorn Weckstrom The Premier Jewelry Gallery in Park City Featuring Internationally Famous Designers of Jewelry O'bjects 13 'art in Platinum, 18kt & l4kt precious metals enhanced with a variety of exotic gems and diamonds. Full service repair & design facilities on the premises. Three designers on staff. 577 Main Street Park: City 645-9088 Park City Squaw Valley Florham Park New York Growth Issues discussed by school board and commission Joint meeting held regarding development by Stephanie Howell OF THE RECORD STAFF Growth, developers, and how they affect the Park City schools were the subjects discussed at a joint meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27 of The Park City Board of Education and the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission Park City School Board President Colleen Bailey began the meeting by asking, "When you approve a development, what impact does that have on a school district?" Burke Jolley, Business Administrator for the Park City school district, took over from there. He pointed out that in the county there are 2,000 to 3,000 new lots that could be developed any time, and almost 1,000 just waiting to be built in the city. According to Jolley, Park City is the fastest growing school district dis-trict in the state, and has been for ten years. "We're very concerned con-cerned about our ability to keep up with this growth," Jolley said. Jolley pointed out that the elementary schools are already becoming overcrowded, and a new elementary school will be needed soon. Board members said the district is in dire need of a school site between Kimball Junction and Silver Summit. In order to build a new school, a school bond must be passed, and land must be acquired. Suitable land, Jolley said, is hard to come by. "Big, broad, flat land is getting to be a real premi um here," said board member Roger Fulmer. The school district dis-trict currently owns one 22-acre parcel of unbuilt land, which would accommodate a very small elementary school. Most of the parcel, though, is wetlands. Board members hope to acquire a more suitable site within the next six months. According to the school board, the ideal site size for an elementary school is 12 acres. A 25 acre site is best for a middle school, and 50 acres are needed for a high school. These numbers num-bers allow for adequate field space. Long-range plans include acquiring sites for four elementary elemen-tary schools, one or two middle schools, and one high school over the next 10 years. These schools would not necessarily be built in the next 10 years, but the board must acquire the land to accommodate future growth. "We will cross our fingers, and hope that the public will support future bond elections, but that's always a concern," said Jolley. He fears there is not much incentive incen-tive for people to see spending-per-child reduced as a result of growth, while taxes are raised. The board also mentioned that it is nearly impossible to determine how many children will be generated by future development. The estimation formulas are nearly always skewed in Park City, where a family might live year-round in something a developer would label a second home. Commission Chairman David Allen supported this, saying that except in very specific cases the Commission "is not going to buy the argument that these will be second homes." School board member Carol Murphy called it a "myth" that second homes do not affect a school district. "New residential growth doesn't does-n't pay for itself, Jolley stressed. He noted that Park City's low class-size and high teacher compensation com-pensation attracts families to the area, but according to Jolley, a new home must have a tax value of at least $800,000 to support a single student at current Park City rates. It takes second homes and commercial property to balance residential growth. The school board suggested that developers be asked to donate one or two lots in each development to the school district. dis-trict. The district could then sell these and apply the money to future site acquisition, or build affordable housing for teachers and school district employees. The commissioners said that there are limitations on how they can deal with developers, but there is room for negotiation. Commissioner Max Greenhalgh said the commissioners commis-sioners would like to make it their objective to help the school board. He said that now is the time to decide on the best spots for future schools and to help the community acquire these. School board discusses policies Board expresses discomfort with Pathways graduation requirement changes by Stephanie Howell OF THE RECORD STAFF The Park City Board of Education met Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the district office building to discuss several ongoing policy issues. Most were continued for future discussion. Renaissance Class Report Gail McBride reported to the school board oh the success "of "Renaissance," the character education edu-cation class at the high school. Students in the class investigate virtues, integrity, and principled action, and participate in outreach projects. The Red Cross asked for permission to republish and use materials (written in English and Spanish) that students created during their AIDS investigation. Though the class incorporates literature lit-erature and poetry, it is offered as an elective, rather than an English credit. Report on Technology from District-Wide committee Eric Zorr, of the district-wide technology committee discussed the status of computers in the schools. He said there are currently cur-rently no computer programming courses offered in the high school due to lack of student interest. There are certified faculty members mem-bers interested in teaching these courses. The committee is working on solving the problems with the network net-work at the high school, which is unreliable and slow. A centralized database system to cover all schools is being considered. con-sidered. The state offers a free system, but according to Zorr it is a shell of a program. English as a Second Language Stephanie Runyon is in charge of curriculum for the district. She gave an update on the ESL program. pro-gram. A full-time aide has been added at the Kindergarten level at McPolin, and a half-time bilingual education person has been added at the high school. Several curriculum cur-riculum courses are now being taught in Spanish, along with a course that helps students understand under-stand and deal with adjusting to high school in the United States. Monday, Feb. 2 will be the first in a series of seven ESL endorsement endorse-ment classes for teachers. The classes will be taught at McPolin. Participants are eligible for college col-lege credit through Weber State. Forty-three teachers have requested request-ed information on the course. A two-day ESL Aide training session was recently held to educate edu-cate teachers on how to use bilingual bilin-gual aides in the classroom. Forty-seven students were involved in a Diversity Training program. Homework Policies "Why was the homework policy poli-cy developed?" and "How can it be implemented?" were two questions ques-tions addressed by the board. The policy was developed partly part-ly in response to parental requests. It attempts to limit the variation in homework practices between teachers. Board members said the policy supports homework as an appropriate part of education. Guidelines regarding schools being notified of upcoming extended absences were discussed. Board members said the policy would help students because they would receive assignments before they miss school and not be overwhelmed over-whelmed with make-up work upon their return. Copyright materials The policy regarding the use of copyright materials is fairly standard, stan-dard, according to the board. One issue discussed was which grade levels should be allowed to view R-rated material as part of class assignments. At any grade level, parental consent is required. This policy would also limit the use of videos at the elementary and middle school levels. Teachers would no longer be able to use video watching as a reward for students. According the board, this is a legal issue; copyrighted materials can not be used for entertainment in school. Board members agreed, however, that there are valuable uses for these materials, and said that teachers should be encouraged to use excerpts from films and videos as a teaching tool. Graduation Pathways Several school board members t expftj&aa aaamfoft with thl graduation policy changes associated associ-ated with the Graduation Pathways program. In order to allow for additional electives that would define each "Pathway," requirements in Math, Science, and Social Studies would be lowered. low-ered. The total number of credits required would increase by two. Board members expressed concern about this change, noting studies show the key to higher expectations is early and consistent consis-tent exposure to math and science. sci-ence. School Board President Colleen Bailey said the program was "intended to meet more of the needs of the kids in the high school," and not to lower standards. stan-dards. Board members discussed other ways to meet the needs of a diverse student body, such as adjusting course offerings in math and science. Also discussed was whether the program is intended to be a requirement or a guidance tool. Without differentiated diplomas, several board members felt it could not be more than a guidance guid-ance tool. Carol Murphy said that she is not comfortable being asked to meet the deadline for registration regarding this issue. . Superintendent Nancy DeFord said she would meet with the Pathways committee to work toward a compromise that would increase the comfort level of the Board, without dismembering the work done by the committee. Board members agreed that their discomfort is not with the Pathways program itself, but with the graduation requirement changes. Diving meet will open aquatic center Continued from A-1 5 state-of-the-art filtration system, an Olympic-size swimming pool, three diving boards, an instruction pool, new locker rooms, bleachers, water-polo nets, and a hydraulic lift for handicapped access. A scoreboard and timing system is also in place. The filtration system is computerized and completely com-pletely automatically controlled. It uses ozonation to disinfect the water, which according to Meakins is the best disinfectant known to man. It is the system sys-tem used for the pool at Brigham Young University, and is environmentally beneficial because less chlorine chlo-rine can be used. "They spent a lot of money for a good pool," said Olsen. Though he claimed not to know the actual budget, he said it was well over $lmillion, and added that the project came in on budget. The bulk of the money for the center came out of the $31 million dollar school bond, $13 million of which paid for the entire Ecker Hill building. Additional financing came from the Snyderville County Recreation Board, which paid for the half-million half-million dollar locker rooms. The Recreation Board also agreed to build the school's fields so the money earmarked for the fields could be redirected into the pool. Initially there was no seating planned, but money from the Summit County Restaurant Tax enabled bleachers to be installed, and covered the $50,000 for the scoreboard timing system. The swim team raised the money for the record board, a $3,000 item, and has decided to dedicate it to Bill . Witt. The aquatic center will also be used for Excel, Ecker Hill's eighth-period program, for which teachers create the curriculum. Two of the teachers at Ecker Hill were synchronized swimmers in college, col-lege, and Olsen hopes to involve them in the program. pro-gram. Plans for "inner-tube water-polo" and theme parties are also in the works. Meakins and Olsen say they want the pool used for "fun stuff." "One of the visions I have is afterschool activities activi-ties for all grades," said Olsen. The first official use of the pool will be Saturday, Jan. 31, when Ecker Hill will host the 5A state diving div-ing meet. On Feb. 2 and 3 the pool will be used for Region 10 Champion swimming. i |