The Park City School District is desirable to some families who live outside its boundaries. At its meeting Tuesday, the Park City School Board discussed how the district has investigated countless instances of people faking local addresses to enroll their children, and even buying addresses to use for paperwork purposes.
Under Utah’s open enrollment law, families can enroll children in any schools they want - unless doing so would unduly strain resources or stretch class sizes too far. Districts set their own policies, such as class size limits, to comply with the law.
Park City tries to limit elementary classrooms to 23 students for education, budgeting and staffing reasons. Using that metric, the schools have long remained closed to students who don’t live within the district, though teachers’ own children have historically been able to attend.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, new business administrator Randy Upton recommended opening its four elementary schools to children who live outside district boundaries.
Upton said secondary schools have 300 to 400 children per grade level. However, elementary schools only have around 200 children in each grade, which he said correlates to statewide birth rates. And that's why he thinks there's room for children outside Park City School District to enroll in its four elementary schools.
But the district spends more money per pupil than it receives from state and federal education funds, so there’s a price tag associated with open enrollment.
In addition, more students require more teachers, and there’s a teacher shortage. Board member Andrew Caplan mentioned Parley’s Park in particular, which is currently down one fifth grade teacher. That’s led to fifth grade class sizes of at least 27 students at Parley’s this year.
That combined with the district’s facilities changes - it’s tearing down Treasure Mountain Junior High and moving those students to Ecker Hill Middle School and Park City High School - make open enrollment too challenging right now, the board decided.
Board members discussed crafting policies in the new year around class sizes, grandfathering students already in the district and prioritizing children of employees who live elsewhere.
Also at the meeting, Chief Operating Officer Mike Tanner gave a construction update. The district is expanding Jeremy Ranch and McPolin elementary schools, Ecker Hill and Park City High School. Tanner said pouring concrete in winter is challenging, but contractor Hughes Construction is well-versed in cold weather procedures.
The meeting was the last one for outgoing president Erin Grady and interim board member Mandy Pomeroy. The meeting began with confetti, balloons and testimonials of appreciation for Grady’s years and Pomeroy’s months of work.
Grady served on the board for five years after being appointed in 2017. Pomeroy was appointed to an interim seat following the death of board member Kara Hendrickson. Both lost election bids in November.
