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Board approves resolution asking state to exempt two memorial-service days from 180‑day requirement
Summary
The board voted to send a letter to the Utah State Board of Education requesting exempt status for two days the district canceled to allow staff and students to attend memorial services for two officers killed in the line of duty.
Box Elder School District leaders asked the board Sept. 10 to approve a resolution seeking exempt status from the Utah State Board of Education for two school days canceled to allow students and staff to attend memorial events for two law-enforcement officers killed in late August.
Superintendent Tiffany Summers explained the district canceled school on Aug. 28–29 because a large number of district employees, students and community members planned to attend the services for Sergeant Lee Sorensen and Officer Eric Estrada. Summers said district staff consulted the State Board of Education about options — exempt status, virtual learning or making the days up later — and recommended requesting exempt status so the observance would not be reduced to virtual instruction.
The draft letter to the Utah State Board of Education says the request is for those two days to be exempt from the 180‑day requirement for the 2025–26 school year. Summers read her draft letter into the record and said the request would be submitted to the state board with signatures from the superintendent and the board president; she said she would work with state staff if the state board requested district representation.
A board member moved to approve the resolution to request exempt status; the motion and a second were made and the motion passed by voice vote with no roll-call tally recorded.
Why it matters: A state exemption would allow the district to count those two canceled days as excused for the annual 180‑day requirement rather than extending the school year or substituting virtual instruction. The board said the decision balanced honoring the fallen with instructional requirements and the impracticality of meaningful virtual learning for those observance days.
Next steps: District staff will submit the letter and work with the Utah State Board of Education on any follow-up representation requested by the state.
