Candidates running for Park City’s Board of Education shared their views at a candidate forum hosted by KPCW, The Park Record and the Park City Community Foundation Monday night.
District 1 candidate Susan Goldberg, a former nurse educator, and District 2 candidate Eileen Gallagher, a local pediatrician, are running unopposed.
Kathleen Britton and Danny Glasser are vying for the District 3 seat. Britton worked in the district for 22 years as a registered dietitian and later became the Utah director of child nutrition programs. Glasser, the former National Ability Center CEO, has been a Park City resident for more than five years.
The candidates first addressed the district’s response to a federal investigation finding more than 180 incidents of harassment.
Glasser said it’s up to the board and district to involve the community in addressing the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights findings.
“There is an obligation for the school board, the district as a whole, to outreach to the community,” he said. “The Office [for] Civil Rights report was a signal that we have a problem within our schools and within our community for young people. Not just the bullies, but the kids who were involved in the bullying as well. They both need help, need support.”
Goldberg recommended getting help from religious partners, speaking to the numerous instances of antisemitism in the district. Britton pushed for more transparency and training for all district staff.
Gallagher said the board is charged with overseeing the performance of administrators and should have been more involved.
“What we saw with the OCR report was lack of paperwork, lack of record keeping,” she said. “We saw that families were shut down when complaints were made, and that's something that a school board can be involved with by monitoring how administration is functioning.”
The candidates shared support in developing a clear vision for the future before hiring a new superintendent after Superintendent Jill Gildea leaves the district at the end of the year.
Glasser, Goldberg and Britton said transparency is the highest priority when hiring new leadership. Goldberg said she understands the process has not been transparent and should be open to district faculty, parents and the community. Britton added that when the board makes a mistake, it should own up to it.
They also agreed the focus shouldn’t be on compensation; Transparent Utah shows Gildea has the highest superintendent compensation package in the state.
Goldberg said fiscal responsibility is important when hiring new leadership.
“We need to have fiscal responsibility and demonstration of that for our community, that we use the resources very wisely, because they're not unlimited,” she said. “The most involvement that we can have by the most constituents will probably get us to the point that we want to be at.”
However, Gallagher said when hiring new leadership, location may be more important. She said she’d like visible leadership, like teachers and principals, to be seen by kids in the community. But Park City is not an easy place to find housing.
Overall, Britton said the future superintendent needs to bring the district together.
“We shouldn't wave a flag of ‘this is how much we can pay you,’” she said. “These individuals have to be able to be compassionate and have empathy and to understand that they are the leaders for our administrators and our educators and guide them in a positive direction.”
The candidates agreed when Gallagher said the school board should represent a united front and work with the community.
Mail-in ballots were sent out Tuesday ahead of the general election Nov. 5.
