USBE committee creates working group to prioritize capital facility needs for Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind
Loading...
Summary
The committee formed a board working group (appointed by the board chair) including board members, DFCM, USDB superintendency and an advisory-council representative to assess capital facility needs and return recommendations by August to support potential legislative requests.
The Utah State Board of Education’s USDB standing committee voted unanimously to recommend creation of a board working group to study long‑term capital facilities needs for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind (USDB).
Chair Wood moved that the board form a working group of up to seven board members (USDB standing-committee members given the first opportunity to volunteer), a representative from the Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM), representatives from the USDB superintendency, and a member of the USDB advisory council. The working group’s charge is to review existing audits and facility plans — including the OLAG spatialization audit and prior USDB strategic facilities studies (HOK and Dickinson reports referenced in backup) — visit campuses, and prepare recommendations to present to the full board by August so that the board will be prepared for any legislative capital‑funding requests.
Superintendent Nelson summarized OLAG audit recommendations requiring a statewide plan before capital requests and encouraged rigorous planning and data validation before seeking funding. Dr. Michelle Tanner and other members described immediate facility needs: aging buildings (one campus building dates to 1947), modular classrooms in Washington County, noisy HVAC and reverberant spaces that hinder instruction for students relying on hearing, and parking and property‑acquisition issues on the Salt Lake campus. Nelson noted existing property purchases adjacent to the Salt Lake campus and ongoing coordination with DFCM.
Board members discussed logistics for field visits and open‑meeting rules; the board’s general counsel advised that working-group visits could be conducted but recommended recording meetings when the full committee participates. The motion passed unanimously, and the chair will appoint members and coordinate the group’s first meeting.
Next steps include appointing members, scheduling site visits to the four USDB campuses, reviewing the OLAG and strategic‑plan backups, and drafting prioritized recommendations for the full board by August.
