Weber School District proposes competency‑based Weber Innovation campus, seeks state innovation grant

Weber School District officials on Tuesday described plans to expand programming at the Twelfth Street Weber Innovation site into a combined competency‑based personalized learning high school and a catalyst center that would partner with industry, and said they will apply for a competitive state innovation grant to help pay for capital costs.

Superintendent Gina Butters told the board the district has “received a $5,000,000 grant from Intermountain Health” and plans to apply for what she described as an “innovation grant” from the legislature; she said the legislature has set aside $65,000,000 for that competitive program. Butters said the Twelfth Street site could house a retooled Weber Innovation PCBL (personalized competency‑based learning) high school, an expanded Weber Online program under the Statewide Online Education Program (SOEP), and a catalyst center where students work with industry partners on real projects.

District leaders said the proposal has three linked pieces: convert the current hybrid/part‑time Weber Innovation model into a full‑time PCBL high school emphasizing competency demonstration over seat time; expand innovation online (rebranding from “Weber Online”) and apply to participate in the Utah State Board of Education’s SOEP; and build a catalyst center at Twelfth Street to host work‑based learning and CTE pathways for eleventh and twelfth graders. Butters said the district is exploring whether the catalyst would be an add‑on to the existing Innovation High School building or a separate but connected facility.

The plan would change the Twelfth Street site’s role in the district’s magnet and online offerings. Butters said PCBL would let students “demonstrate competency versus just completing coursework” and described a more flexible model where students “might be working with students in different age levels” and move at different paces. Nick Harris, who the district identified as principal of Weber Innovation and ETNL director, told the board the site currently offers about 12 concurrent‑enrollment classes and that those classes are “fully online as well,” meaning they are accessible across the district.

District staff described expected student flows and outcomes without promising specific enrollment limits. Butters and Harris said competency‑based pacing could allow some students to finish courses or high‑school requirements earlier and then use freed time for concurrent enrollment or catalyst center work. Butters said the district has seen strong outcomes at Innovation: at last year’s WIC graduation, 23 students had already earned an associate’s degree.

On online learning, staff said Weber’s online curriculum is created by Weber teachers rather than purchased from national vendors, and presenters described current Innovation Online enrollment as roughly 60 full‑time seventh‑ and eighth‑grade students and 142 full‑time ninth‑through‑twelfth graders, with a total of about 1,452 students taking at least one online course; the presenters said Innovation programs currently serve “over 2,000 students” districtwide. They said summer enrollment was already rising.

As immediate next steps, district staff asked the board to approve preparing curriculum materials and a school name for the SOEP application, to designate a program administrator and coordinator for SOEP, and to approve posting an opening for a PCBL leadership position (described as either a director or principal) to lead a high‑performing competency‑based site. Butters said the district would open that position in the coming weeks to have the leader start in the next school year. She described the hire as necessary to “hire a leader who has built and maintained a high performing PCBL school.”

No formal action or vote on the proposals happened during the study session; staff presented plans and asked for direction to move forward with application preparation, outreach, and a job posting.

The board’s next formal steps will be to review sample curriculum materials, consider a school name and policy alignment under Policy 6600 for SOEP, and receive a staffing proposal for the PCBL leadership post before any final approvals are requested.