SALT LAKE CITY — Weeks after the Salt Lake City School District voted to close four schools, a group of parents is demanding the decision be revoked due to a potential conflict of interest involving a district official.
The district board voted on Jan. 9 to close Hawthorne, M. Lynn Bennion, Mary W. Jackson, and Riley elementary schools at the end of the current school year.
The controversial vote came after the district said student enrollment had declined severely at the schools, while parents were upset about the lack of transparency during the months-long process.
In a letter Thursday to Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Elizabeth Grant, parents said Brian Conley, the chair of the district's Boundary Options Committee, unlawfully took part in the closure process due to his wife being the principal at a school that was originally considered to be shut down, but not chosen and will remain open.
The letter also claims Conley's stepchild attends another elementary school in the district that was also removed from the list of possible closures.
As chair of the committee, Conley was part of the decision making that led to recommendations on which schools should be closed.
"It now appears there was never a fair or level playing field in closing schools," the letter reads. "The sense of a lack of transparency so often mentioned now appears to have a source. The credibility of evaluations for all elementary schools involving Mr. Conley is now suspect, if not tainted and questionable."
The parent group is asking Grant to revoke the board's decision on the school closures, as well as creating a new process with a new committee chair.
Late Thursday, Grant released a statement defending the district's decision.
“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 added that she stands behind the recommendation and the process, and has no plans to ask the board to reconsider its decision.
