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SALT LAKE CITY — An unidentified group of parents is calling on the Salt Lake City School District to revoke the board's January decision to close four elementary schools, alleging "serious conflicts and possible ethical violations" throughout the closure process.
A letter sent to the district on Jan. 25 names Brian Conley, the district's director of boundaries and planning who led the district's options committee studying the potential closures, and says "serious conflicts of interest have come to light that raise concerns about the integrity of this process."
Specifically, it alleges Conley's spouse serves as the principal of an elementary school the district studied for closure but that school was removed from the study list and will stay open. It continues, alleging Conley's stepchild attends another elementary school in the district that was removed from the list of seven schools initially recommended for closure and will remain open.
"These circumstances not only create a clear conflict of interest between Mr. Conley's public duties and private interests but also suggest a direct personal economic interest in ensuring the job security of his spouse, all of which undermines public confidence in the district and the school closure process," according to the letter, which was obtained following a public records request.
All 27 elementary schools in the district were included in the population and boundary study, with seven schools — Emerson Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, M. Lynn Bennion Elementary, Mary W. Jackson Elementary, Newman Elementary, Riley Elementary and Wasatch Elementary — presented to the board for further consideration for closure in July.
The district's board of education on Jan. 9 voted to close Riley Elementary, M. Lynn Bennion Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary and Mary W. Jackson Elementary, after a yearslong and often controversial process.
Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Elizabeth Grant defended the decision, saying in a statement that the decision to close the four elementary schools was made by a 13-member boundary options committee and not a single person.
"The 16 factors analyzed by the committee did not include consideration of the serving principal at any school. As repeatedly explained, each of the seven schools was a valid option for further study for potential closure. My recommendation in November to close four schools was made after thoroughly reviewing and analyzing a significant amount of data on all seven schools with my senior leadership team," Grant said.
"I made that recommendation to the board and it was not influenced in any way by personal relationships or improper motivations. The data and rationale clearly explain the basis for the recommendation and the board's ultimate vote. I stand behind the recommendation and the process and have no plans to ask the board to reconsider its decision," she continued.
The process of looking into the potential closures started in July 2022 with the district launching a population and boundary study in the face of a significantly declining elementary student population.
"In the last decade, we've lost about 30% of our elementary population and this year alone, where we have space to educate 15,000 elementary students, we have just over 9,300 kids in our district," said Yándary Chatwin, communications director for the district. "It's clear that we're operating more schools than we need to adequately serve our students and it's time for looking at some changes in our district."
But the letter to the district — which doesn't contain any parents' names and is simply signed "concerned members" of the four elementary school communities — claims the credibility of evaluation for all the elementary schools is "suspect, if not tainted."
"It is now impossible to know if the information upon which the board made its decision is fair and accurate since that information is tainted by Mr. Conley's public duties conflicting with his private interests on several levels. This newly discovered information would give any reasonable person pause and a legitimate reason to reassess matters," the letter says.
It further calls on the district to revoke the board's closure decision during its Feb. 6 board meeting along with taking additional actions that would leave the school closure process in the hands of Grant and a new boundary options committee.
"When there are ethical violations, the entire school closure process is fatally tainted," the letter says.
