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Park City school board renews superintendent contract

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Ethel Preston KPCW
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Superintendent Jill Gildea
Park City Superintendent Jill Gildea's employment contract was extended to 2024.

The Park City school board has extended Superintendent Jill Gildea’s contract for another two years. The board did not publicly discuss the decision at its meeting Tuesday night.

Every year, the Park City Board of Education reviews the superintendent’s job performance and must notify the superintendent by Feb. 1 whether their employment contract will be renewed.

That decision was made public at the board meeting Tuesday night. The board unanimously supported a two-year contract extension for Superintendent Jill Gildea.

The superintendent’s contract and that of Business Administrator Todd Hauber were approved with no public discussion.

Board President Erin Grady wrote in a prepared statement that the board thinks Dr. Gildea has done an excellent job leading the district through the COVID-19 pandemic and master planning process.

“We are thrilled to renew her contract so she can continue her good work for the students of Park City," Grady wrote.

Gildea is one of the highest-paid superintendents in Utah. Her previously agreed-upon salary for 2023 is about $270,000. The board granted a 2.25% cost-of-living adjustment for 2024, which is a smaller raise than other district employees received.

According to Transparent Utah, which maintains a public employee salary database administered by the State Auditor, the superintendent of the Alpine School District earns about $179,000 in wages. Alpine is the largest district in the state, with about 84,000 students. Park City has about 4,600 students.

Grady said comparing salaries with other districts in Utah shows “only part of the picture.”

“Park City is by far the most expensive district in the state to live in and now one of the most expensive in the entire country," Grady wrote. "… Dr. Gildea’s compensation is inline with other similar communities around the country.”

On Tuesday, a critic of the district attempted to speak about the superintendent during the public comment portion of the meeting. Board Member Andrew Caplan told the speaker she was violating a district policy banning comments about personnel.

In the last few years, members of the school community including school board candidates and some parents and teachers have criticized the district for lacking transparency.

Other complaints center on the district’s enforcement of Summit County’s mask mandate at Parley’s Park Elementary School last fall. The Summit County Attorney investigated the school for allegedly not complying with the mandate. The investigation found that some students were indeed not wearing masks but the district was not intentionally manipulating the situation to avoid having to enforce the mask mandate.

In March, the Summit County Attorney charged the district in criminal court for allegedly failing to report child abuse.

Grady said the decision to renew Dr. Gildea’s contract took into account all facts, including the ongoing legal process.

Alexander joined KPCW in 2021 after two years reporting on Summit County for The Park Record. While there, he won many awards for covering issues ranging from school curriculum to East Side legacy agriculture operations to land-use disputes. He arrived in Utah by way of Madison, Wisconsin, and western Massachusetts, with stints living in other areas across the country and world. When not attending a public meeting or trying to figure out what a PID is, Alexander enjoys skiing, reading and watching the Celtics.