Board debates CTE wording and a local 'portrait of a graduate' while staff frames timeline

The Salt Lake City School District board spent an extended discussion on proposed revisions to the district’s strategic plan for student achievement, focusing on whether language requiring students to take two Career & Technical Education (CTE) credits could unintentionally exclude International Baccalaureate (IB) students.

Board member Ashley Anderson raised the concern that the strategic plan text—on its face—might require “all students” to complete two CTE credits, which she said would impose a scheduling conflict for some IB students at schools that do not offer appropriate CTE courses. “I don't support an aspect of the strategic plan that would exclude some students when it's meant for all students,” Anderson said, asking staff to adjust wording to avoid unintended exclusion.

District leaders agreed to revisit the language. Deputy and executive staff present — including Dr. Hall and Dr. Ruiz — explained that many of the plan’s metrics (for example, targets such as 75% pathway concentrators) reflected district five‑year stretch goals rather than immediate, unconditional requirements. Dr. Hall noted that the IB program is considered one of the pathways and suggested the board could reword objectives so pathway completion targets are expressed as percentage goals rather than an absolute “all students” mandate.

Board members also pressed staff about a proposed Portrait of a Graduate: whether the district should develop a local portrait and how that effort relates to state efforts. Superintendent Dr. Grant told trustees that staff sent an initial memo to the board to notify them that they intended to begin a multi‑year Portrait of a Graduate process and noted that the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has offered a convening that helped district staff learn an approach for creating a locally tailored portrait. He said full implementation could occur as late as 2028 or be used to inform the 2029 strategic plan update.

Why this matters: the plan will guide district priorities, staffing and resource requests. Wording that implies a universal mandate instead of a five‑year stretch goal could lead to unintended operational pressure, especially for specialized programs like IB or for students with unique education plans.

Board direction and next steps: trustees asked staff to - clarify CTE objective language so it does not read as an absolute requirement for every student, and - return with an operational tracker and resource alignment that shows how implementation teams will pursue the plan’s goals.

Staff noted implementation teams are already meeting and that the strategic plan remains a “living document” with annual adjustments tied to data and resource reviews. The board did not adopt substantive changes at Tuesday’s meeting and asked staff to prepare a revised draft that addresses the IB/CTE concern and provides the operational tracker for the next conversation.