Resident tells board open‑enrollment changes created 'profoundly inequitable' result, cites Utah code

During public comment, Park City resident Kimberly Gunlock described her experience with the district’s open‑enrollment process and urged the board to treat nonresident applicants consistently.

Gunlock said she followed the district’s published guidance when she declined to place her son in a district fifth‑grade class, expecting that open enrollment would govern middle‑school placement; she said the family later applied for Ever Hill (middle school) enrollment and was denied due to capacity while other out‑of‑boundary students were transitioned in. Citing Utah Code 53G‑6‑43, Gunlock said the code ‘‘explicitly mandates that open‑enrollment procedures be administered fairly and without prejudice to any student or class of student’’ and added, “By completely waving the open enrollment process for preferred class of out‑of‑district students while enforcing a hard barrier against families that applied in good faith, the district has created a profoundly a profoundly inequitable system.”

Board response and status: Board members acknowledged the comment; in the meeting record there was no immediate remedy or corrective action taken and the matter was not resolved during the session.

Why it matters: Open‑enrollment practices affect family decisions, student placement and perceptions of fairness; the speaker invoked state statute to frame her claim as a legal rather than only an administrative grievance.

What’s next: The public comment was entered into the record; the board did not announce a specific follow‑up in the meeting minutes.