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District highlights community learning centers, UTA on‑demand ridership and family partnerships under strategic plan
Summary
District staff and the Salt Lake Education Foundation presented a Pillar 3 update showing increased family engagement activities, stronger community partnerships and robust use of Community Learning Center services and UTA on‑demand transit for students and families.
Salt Lake City School District staff and the Salt Lake Education Foundation presented a progress update on Pillar 3 of the district strategic plan, focusing on family partnerships, community partnerships and public perception.
District staff described local school-level family-engagement activities — reading events, family literacy nights and school celebrations — and outlined two goals for the coming year: implement a district-specific family‑school partnership model and create family‑school partnership teams in each school.
James Yapias, director of the Salt Lake Education Foundation, described community partnerships and detailed results from the district’s Community Learning Centers (CLCs). He said the foundation invested $120,000 to support schools through closure and boundary transitions. The CLC network provides extended learning, food access and health services. Yapias reported 61,700 monthly UTA on‑demand trips and roughly 4,300 distinct users for 2024–25 year‑to‑date figures in the district partnership with UTA; trip peaks are concentrated in morning and after‑school hours.
Clinic and CLC service statistics were presented: 8,058 vision screenings (236 new glasses), 470 dental screenings with 143 follow-up dental care episodes, 1,805 clinic visits at West High, 1,126 primary-care visits, 337 sports physicals completed at no cost, and hundreds of behavioral-health visits. District staff contrasted clinic wait times — roughly 16 days from referral to first behavioral-health appointment at the West High clinic — with community averages of months for private therapy and psychiatry.
Staff emphasized the expanded community-school model and called attention to significant volunteer and partner contributions: more than 700 volunteers fingerprinted through district processes, 99 partner organizations and an estimated $166,000 in charity care and more than $432,000 in discounts on medical bills reported through clinic partners.
Communications staff also briefed the board on outreach efforts to elevate the district’s public perception: a redesigned website with prioritized icons, a districtwide rollout of ParentSquare to centralize family communications, and a plan to form a quarterly communications council with community partners to broaden messaging beyond families to the broader Salt Lake community.
Board members thanked staff and partners and asked for follow-up on issues raised during the presentation, including ensuring administrators encourage family events in all schools, addressing translation and accessibility (alt text for social media images) and confirming clinic and partnership legal implications related to recent legislative changes.
District and foundation leaders asked the board to continue support for CLC partnerships and to promote use of ParentSquare and district communications resources.
