Mandy Pomeroy is currently serving as an appointed interim school board member representing the Jeremy Ranch/Kimball Junction neighborhoods through the end of the year. She’d like to win election to fill that seat for an entire term.
Pomeroy received the interim appointment after interviewing for it and beating out two others who applied; Carlos Villar and E.J. Elliot.
Pomeroy told KPCW her experience as a teacher, PTO president at Jeremy Ranch Elementary School, and volunteer with the Park City Education Foundation qualifies her, more than her opponents, to be on the board.
She said having been a teacher gives her insights into policy and budgeting, and that she wants to see communication, trust, and transparency practices improve.
“But there's a big lack of trust between the parents and the educators, the educators and the board, between the administration as well as sort of this universal distrust, and I recognize that with the parents and the community quickly. I'm also hearing it with the teachers. So, my first instinct is how can we help rebuild this trust and also within that needs to be increased transparency.”
The district and board have faced several challenges over the past school year, including two investigations by the Summit County Attorney’s Office and an incident of racial hate speech that sparked a rebooting of the district’s community-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, committee.
Most recently, school board members appeared to disagree over a proposed administrative position to address DEI. However, Pomeroy said all board members support equity in the school district.
“I’m on the committee, the equity coalition working with that position. There needs to be some restructuring of what that position entails, and probably as well; the title and the equity is absolutely something I know the whole board stands behind and thinks is really important. That position needs to be implemented and created with precision. And so, there's definitely some more work to do on that.”
Pomeroy said she supports the current school board and administration despite trust and transparency concerns she hears throughout the community.
“Any organization is going to have issues but again having children gone through this school system, they're doing a lot of things right, and I think that's often clouded by some people who are upset with certain issues, and obviously, there are things to improve on, but again my children have received an excellent education, and I want to support that.”
Pomeroy said she could not discuss the current investigation and misdemeanor charges against the school district, which involve unreported sexual abuse.
The primary election is on June 28.