District outlines "boost schools" plan and addresses charter competition and federal funding worries

Granite School District officials told the community forum they have created a Student Achievement Leadership Team (SALT) and a "boost schools" initiative to identify and support the district's lowest-performing schools.

The district said SALT includes every district-level director and will use a three-year average of proficiency to identify schools that need intensive support. "We will take a 3 year average of proficiency with those particular schools. We'll identify which schools need additional support," a district official said, adding the initiative will initially target 10 elementary schools, two junior highs and two high schools. The district described the work as coaching, professional development and in-school leadership support intended to improve "tier 1" classroom instruction and prevent schools from slipping into state- or federally-identified turnaround status.

Parents asked how the program would be paid for and how the district would communicate plans to families. Officials said teachers already receive paid collaboration time under the contract and the district is negotiating additional planning time with the teachers association to strengthen PLCs (professional learning communities) and shared instructional planning. The district acknowledged that cultural and systemic issues in some schools require sustained coaching and, if necessary, staff reassignment: "If they're not getting on board, then I have the authority to move them," a district official said.

Community members also raised broader concerns: some parents asked whether the growing number of charter schools that draw students away affect neighborhood school outcomes; district officials responded that many charters perform in line with their neighborhood demographics and that a small number of charter schools outperform others statewide. Residents also asked about possible federal changes, including proposed reductions in the U.S. Department of Education and the role of the Office for Civil Rights in enforcing protections for students with disabilities. The superintendent said the primary sources for Title I and special education funding come through ESEA and IDEA and that oversight from the federal Office for Civil Rights provides enforcement and complaint investigations; parents said losing that oversight would worry families who rely on federal enforcement to protect special-education services.

The forum also included discussion of professional development and use of one-time federal ESSER funds; parents questioned optics of conferences and travel costs, and district staff said some training was provided locally and that sending teams to PLC training was intended to prepare school grade-level teams to function together and share practices across cohorts.

District officials emphasized that the "boost schools" approach is intended as support rather than punishment and is focused on improving instruction and student outcomes through coaching, collaboration and targeted resources.