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WEST JORDAN -- Tuesday night, the Jordan School Board conducted its regular board meeting and addressed a controversial issue: limiting public comment. It ended with a big blow to residents who have been attending in great numbers in recent weeks.
The board voted to limit public comment. Patrons will be able to speak at the end of meetings, but only for 45 minutes at 2 minutes per person. This comes after a meeting two weeks ago got out of hand.
"Our current guidelines don't set a time limit," district spokeswoman Melinda Colton said. "The last meeting we had was three-and-a-half hours of public comment. The board completely suspended its agenda -- no financial statements were approved, no home school applications, the list went on and on."
"I'm not surprised by it. They don't want to know what we want to tell them," says grandparent Jamie Gordon. "They have their opinions, and we have to live with what's taken place in the election."
"This is probably the most important aspect of their role, is to take public comment. They represent us, and that's an important issue," says parent Rod Cantwell.
The real issue at hand: Jordan's budget cuts. The $30 million shortfall could mean 500 layoffs and larger class sizes.
"There's a lot of kids who are kind of nervous and talking about going to different schools to get out of this," says Kalan Cantwell, who attends South Jordan Middle School, "They don't want it happening because they're kind of scared."
"If we don't set some clear guidelines, then we can't conduct business," Colton said. "If the board can't approve certain financial items, the district basically comes to a halt."
It seems the Jordan and Canyons district split has caused an even bigger rift between sides. A Dan Jones Poll for KSL TV and the Deseret News asked Salt Lake Valley residents about just that.
"Is there a class difference between the east and west sides?" the survey asked. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said yes, while 8 percent said no.
What about preferential treatment on things like transportation, schools and infrastructure? Fifty-five percent said there is preferential treatment compared to 33 percent who said no.
Finally, which areas get preferential treatment? Eighty-two percent said the east side does.
Nothing was going to be decided Tuesday night, as far as budget issues. The board says it's still waiting on the Legislature to finish up this week.
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Story compiled with contributions from Nicole Gonzales and Andrew Adams.
