SALT LAKE CITY — Allegations of a "conflict of interest" in Salt Lake City school closures continued at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
Parents are demanding the board restart the study and closure selection process.
"Put a stop to this and at least restart the process," said Qiru Cantua with the Rose Park Brown Berets. "Make this transparent. Make this fair for us."
"What does make me angry is it feels like the district getting away with something sinister here," said Troy Davis, a parent of Hawthorne Elementary School.
They're upset because a chair of the district's boundary option committee is married to a principal of a school that was considered but not chosen to close.
That district official's stepchild attends another school that was once on the chopping block.
"Your board rules plan for this type of situation. When new information is revealed after a vote is complete, a board member of majority vote from Jan. 9 is allowed to ask for reconsideration," said Davis.
Two of the four schools that will close are in board member Mohamed Baayd's precinct. He said parents should accept the decision made in January and not blame an employee's family.
"Please, do not take your frustration on those individuals because I know they're not in any way whatsoever involved in any process of making sure certain schools are selected," Baayd said.
Superintendent Elizabeth Grant released a statement when the allegations first came up weeks ago:
“The recommendation last summer to further study seven schools for possible closure was made by a 13-member Boundary Options Committee, not by a single person," she wrote. "Additionally, the 16 factors analyzed by the committee did not include consideration of the serving principal at any school. As repeatedly explained, each of the seven schools was a valid option for further study for potential closure."
Grant did not acknowledge the subject at Tuesday night's board meeting. Instead, she shared a transition update.
The district started a special open enrollment period for families impacted by the closures. She also said teacher staffing allocation assignments should be done by March 15.
