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Show i November 2, 1999 | ~ QUESTION” OF THE WEEK What is your favorite holiday memory? ove e Follow Laws In Hiring Practices Equal Employment Opportunity is not only a catch phrase, it is the law. The law _of the United States, the law of the State of Utah and: even though the County Commissioners and the County Attorney tory was questionable arid arguably not anywhere near the most qualified indi_ viduals available for the job. don’t know it, even the law in Wasatch » County. In three if the instances reported in Sam Allen’s “Wasatch Shuffle” story this week not only were the best and brightest not hired, no one else was “Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.” Becca Dunn a even considered. All of these plum county jobs went to WMMs (White Mormon Males) whose previous employment his- All three left previous jobs under a cloud. Mr. Morris resigned his position at Heber Light & Power reputedly in a personnel dispute. Bob Mathis was relieved of his job as County Planner. Ask a commissioner why Mr. Mathis was moved and he will likely blow some smoke your way and say it was time for Bob to use his talents elsewhere. However many people were upset with his job performance. In his Canyon Meadows deposition Mr. Mathis says he was called in front of the Commissioners at their October 19th, 1998 meeting and told “people were angry at them because of my administration and that they wanted some changes, _ wanted the building permits:to go more smoothly”. On February 8th, 1999 the Commission decided that “Bob Mathis would be moved from the planning office. to work on the Olympics”... Dan Matthews was elected to serve a four-year . EDITORIAL continued on page 11 OPINION UDOT Forced to Put Safety First Opinion by Keith Baker, Contributing Columnist “Easter Bunny coming to the tent and leaving tracks while we were camping at Dead Horse Point.” i! | ‘Heidi Hoover UDOT opinions of the Wasatch County Courier. Summit, In a surprising display of common sense and good judgement, the state legisla‘ture made UDOT put the task of fixing the dangerous intersection at US 40 and ‘River Road/Rt 32 a top priority as a result of the legislature’s field trip to the » County a few weeks a0 : } iy That this dangerous intersection ones , Le fixed was obvious to everybody but UDOT, who inexplicably puts safety at the bottom of their priorities. UDOT built one of the most dangerous roads in “The Christmas Day when my daughter was born.” Joe Chenworth the nation a few years ago when they widened the highway between Brigham ‘City and Logan, and then refused to do anything to fix their mistake until 20 people had been killed on this badly has done nothing to fix the incredibly dangerous US 6 over Soldier and left to their own devices, would have done nothing about the dangerous US $3 River Road intersection. Unfortunately, there is a problem with the suggested fix. All the talk is of build- ing an overpass, a big mistake. Those © residents of Wasatch Co. who moved here from out of state will immediately _ understand the problem, but a lot of natives won't get it without some background, so here’s the pee you need. | We spent 20 years iedenclbais around che | west looking for a place to retire where there was spectacular mountain scenery. If you have unlimited money, Jackson Hole. wins. If you aren’t really rich, Ouray, ‘designed road. oe and the Heber a can’t be beat. Heber wins because it’s closer to good skiing. After deciding to retire to Heber, we went house hunting, and were amazed by the large number of houses here that are located on their lot in such a way as to have no view of Timpanogos, so we ~ bought a lot that faced Timp and had a house with a view custom built. We got in discussion about the way most houses ignore Timp with our builder, a- Heber native, who told us two instructive stories. First, he said he builds him- self a new house every few years, and only now, in his latest house, did he pay _ any attention to the view. It took him over 50 years of living here to realize the _ significance of the view of Timp. Second story. He was planning _ BAKER continued vi a new page 7 How’s Your Kids School Doing? Columnist Richard Knight Accountability is not immediately comes something to '’mind when that — you think of the public school system. In fact there is seldom a linkage between what Ha goes into the system and what « comes out. Thus we Have oe soured passion play . between. the teacher’s union and the legislature: low teacher pay; high sponsored by Bth Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering § Buckaroo Fair Friday,November 12 & Saturday, November 13 Feqturi ne Michael Martin Murphy Bar J Wranglers RG 620 eet & cea! ~BO4c00d© student/teacher ratios; low per pupil expenditures; not enough supplies and textbooks, and so on. In an effort to establish a small measure of accountability, the state legislature established a Task Force on Learning Standards and Accountability in Public — Education. During the past month five public meetings were held around the state to take input on their “Utah Student Performance System.” The plan calls for grading school districts based on the of students on a variety of tests. And judging from the ~ Assessment donit A Provo School Board member explained. how her district had been working on its own accountability program for upwards of seven years, and really didn’t think that they needed guidance from the legisla- ture. Last year 31 percent of Provo elementary students tested at below grade level in reading and almost one fifth of Provo High School seniors did not graduate with their class. Is it any wonder that the legislature is interested bility? in accounta- © Unfortunately, there seems to be little interest by anyone in the accountability of administrators. There is, after all, a tremendous superstructure sitting above the classroom teachers. What is it this superstructure does and how effectively is it working? Apparently, as with most government programs, we are supposed to assume that it is performing flawlessly. schools and performance One important function of education achievement_ turn out and _ administration is the allocation of Consider this. The average Utah class numbers about 25 students. The average annual expenditure per student is about $4,000. This means that during a given year we spend upwards of $100,000 per class. Where exactly does the money go? Certainly not to the teacher or to the students. | | It is acceptable to endlessly whine about per pupil expenditures being low, but do you ever see anything about how the money we have is being spent? Not likely. Why is it that school administrations seem to always place the purchase of text- books and supplies last in their priority list? A few years ago the Utah Taxpayers Association did a study on school expenditures. It found that in some districts, less than half of the money spent went to the classroom. How can this be quspified! | ALLEN continued on page m because of the family and the food!” accountability is something they like. Ask yourself “Why is it thatevery year there aren’t enough school supplies and text books for our kids?” Could the answer be poor management? You bet it could! resources. tet “My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, ~ columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Wasatch County Courier. comments from biecieis. ae teachers, administrators and school board members, e088 _ The opinions expressed by our contributing. mane Lee Allen, Contributing LIL SE } } UL Th The opinions expressed by our contributing columnists do not necessarily reflect the |
