School Community Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2025
3:45 p.m.
Principal King’s Office
Attendance
Present: John Hayden, Kim Panter, Cindy King, Nicole Rubow, Sara Schmalz
Absent: Chad Wallentine, Keisha Pink, Sarah Bodily
Officer roles
The council needed a vice chair and secretary. Sara Schmalz is vice chair and will be the next chair. John is secretary for the full year.
School improvement plan (brief overview only — full discussion pushed to next meeting)
- ELA goal: K-5 students meet/exceed district proficiency average, or beat their prior score by 3% if already above average. Grade levels pick their own assessment (Acadience, RISE, etc.).
- Math goal: same structure — meet/exceed district average or beat prior scores.
- Student wellbeing goal: implement the district's 3-tiered behavior program with fidelity, plus rebuild family involvement and attendance, which have declined.
Reading/Olympics program
The Garth Foundation — the charitable arm of a Utah corporation (tied to Ken Garff) — is sponsoring a new Olympic-themed reading incentive: 200 minutes read = bronze, 300 = silver, 400 = gold, plus a reading project to earn silver/gold. The school was chosen as Cache District's "champion school" for an Olympic opening ceremony — they hosted the torch (from Milan) and a Paralympic and regular athlete who spoke to kids about school and reading values. The sponsor gave the school $1,000 that will be used to provide Olympic-themed shirts for kids who hit reading goals 6 of 9 months.
Character Strong (new district behavior curriculum)
Daily 10-20 minute Tier 1 lessons (currently on "respect," following an intro and "kindness" unit) with intro/connection/practice/exit-ticket structure. A behavioral coach now runs Tier 2 small-group support once or twice a week for kids needing more, and Tier 3 exists at Spring Creek for more severe cases.
Back-to-school / meet-the-teacher format
This year's split format (a daytime "meet the teacher" hot dog event, ~550-600 served, plus a separate evening parent night) drew mixed feedback — the parent night was less attended and some parents were frustrated the daytime event didn't work for working parents. Consensus in the room: drop the separate "meet the teacher" language altogether, keep one evening "back to school night" in week two of school (Monday preferred, fewer conflicts), and just note that anxious or new students can arrange a separate time if needed.
Safe routes to school
The new sidewalk and crosswalk near 800 W and 2200 S are in place with blinking lights. On 2600 the students are enjoying the widened sidewalk but some neighboring homeowners are unhappy about drainage/grading issues from the raised sidewalk. The "no school pickup" signs near there haven't been reinstalled — sign brackets are backordered (~8 more weeks). The group agreed to contact the city (Justin/Chet) directly to push for the no-pickup signage back up.
Class sizes
Third and fourth grade are largest (32-33 kids each) and getting extra in-class support, mainly during core subjects. The kindergarten/first grade split (three teachers due to 60 kids) makes it hard to shift staff to relieve 3rd/4th grade. An enrichment parent volunteer committee was discussed last year but still hasn't been set up.
Meeting ran 3:50-4:32 pm; the school improvement plan funding details and full safe routes update were tabled for next month.
