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Show A-11 The Park Record Wed/Thurs/Fri, April 26-28, 2017 New school board president elected Julie Eihausen voted in after Phil Kaplan steps down By BUBBA BROWN The Park Record The Park City Board of Education has a new president after an unexpected resignation from the role. At a public meeting last week, Phil Kaplan stepped down from the presidency fewer than five months after being elected to the position by his fellow board members. Julie Eihausen, who had been serving as vice president, was chosen to replace Kaplan by a vote of 3-2, while J.J. Ehlers was selected as vice president for the second time in her tenure on the board. In an interview, Kaplan, who was elected to his first full term on the board in November after joining it in 2015, said he resigned the position for personal reasons, but declined to elaborate. He stressed that, despite the move, he will remain on the school board for the long-term. “You have to put the students of the district first,” he said. “So at the end of the day, if I felt I wasn’t able to serve 100 percent in the most timedemanding job on the board, and there’s a really capable vice president to hand it off to, it was really not that hard of a decision.” Eihausen, in her third year Continued From A-10 PCHS play earns honors ence, she intends to perform in every school play she can until she graduates. “It’s super amazing that we could do this well,” she said. “Since we’re such a small school, we didn’t expect to be nominated, so it’s amazing that we were put so high.” Tori Kenton, who also played a supporting role, echoed that sentiment and said being part of the play was something on the school board, said her focus is on helping the board navigate a litany of initiatives that will shape the future of the district, such as grade realignment, changing school start times and an upcoming bond campaign that could ask residents for more than $100 million to fund critical new facilities. “We are all equal members, and we all have the responsibility and the opportunity to guide the board,” she said. “The leadership position, in my perspective, is more an organizational-type position, being a contact person but not necessarily driving the direction of the board.” Kaplan said Eihausen, who along with Ehlers is the longest-tenured board member, is the right person to fill that role. “She has 20 years in the district in many different roles,” he said. “She’s a passionate advocate for student achievement.” The move was not unanimous, however. Members Andrew Caplan and Petra Butler urged the board to wait until the next public meeting on May 2 to vote on the position to allow more time to consider who would best fill the vacancy. Both voted against Eihausen, with Butler going as far as nominating Caplan instead. Additionally, the pair abstained from voting for Ehlers as vice president. Eihausen said the district’s legal counsel advised the board to replace Kaplan immediately. “The transition seemed very logical,” she said. “Phil she’ll never forget. “We really got into the characters, and it meant a lot to me that we all could spend that much time together,” she said. “I really got close with people that I didn’t really know at all before the play. It was just a really great experience.” Kimball, who has taught theater at large high schools in Utah and at Salt Lake Community College, said every student who was involved in the production should feel honored by the nominations because all of them contributed in a meaningful way. Despite only having seven weeks to prepare the musical, he knew early on that it would be better than a typical high school production. “I just realized everyone’s commitment level to both the music end of it and the acting side of it were really something Exclusive. Strategic. Refined. A great real estate brand is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Kelly Rogers Global Real Estate Advisor 435-640-7600 KellyRogers.evusa.com | kelly.rogers@evusa.com ©2016 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act. PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO Julie Eihausen was elected as the president of the Park City Board of Education last week after Phil Kaplan resigned from the position. stepped down and I was vice president. Now I’ve become president, and the past vice president is now vice president. To me, it just seemed like it was a very fluid, natural way forward.” special,” he said. “I knew that we had something special. As a director, you see it every day, so you’re like, ‘This is good.’ But people were coming in with fresh eyes and going, ‘OK, this is really good, actually.’” He is hopeful the recognition proves to students like Wilcox -who will get to perform in New York City if she wins Best Actress -- and Riley that they have a future in theater if they want to pursue it. He’s also optimistic it will show other students how rewarding participating in high school plays can be. “At our school, I think there’s a lot of students on the bubble about whether they should do theater or not and if it’s worthwhile,” he said. “This says clearly that it is worthwhile. It’s like, ‘Come right in and you can be part of something great.’” Searching for new things to do? You don’t have to work this hard. Check out the calendar in Scene for local music, events and more! |