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Petition to Not Renew Park City Superintendent’s Contract Until New School Board Assumes Office
On June 20th, KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher asked Park City School Board President Andrew Caplan if he was going to let the new school board decide whether to renew Superintendent Jill Gildea’s contract. Dr. Gildea is one year into a two-year contract, and the board must notify her by February 1, 2025, if they intend to renew it.
Mr. Caplan responded, “No, that’s a decision made by this board and will happen this year.”
I believe that is a mistake. The Park City School Board has five members. School Board President Caplan and Vice President Wendy Crossland are not running for reelection this November. Current board member Anne Peters is running against Susan Goldberg in District 1 (Old Town, Prospector, PC Heights). That means at least two and potentially three board members will be new next term. I believe it is the responsibility of this board to leave the decision on renewing the superintendent until a new board is seated.
This is important for five reasons:
- Respect for Electoral Mandate: The newly elected board members represent the most recent preferences and views of the electorate. Allowing them to have a say in significant decisions like renewing the superintendent’s contract aligns with the democratic process.
- Legitimacy and Trust: Renewing a superintendent’s contract just before new members take office undermines the authority of the incoming board. This can create distrust and a perception of illegitimacy, potentially causing friction and reducing overall effectiveness.
- Fresh Perspectives and New Ideas: New board members bring fresh perspectives and may have different views on the superintendent’s performance or the school district’s direction. Their input could be valuable in making an informed decision about the contract renewal. In fact, Andrew Caplan cited New Ideas as a reason for not running for reelection.
- Accountability: The outgoing board might lack accountability to the electorate for decisions made at the end of their term, particularly if they are not seeking re-election. Allowing the new board to make the decision ensures that those who will be accountable for the outcomes are the ones making the decision.
- Transparency and Fairness: Waiting for the new board members to participate in the decision-making process promotes transparency and fairness. It ensures that all relevant stakeholders have a voice in critical decisions affecting the school district’s future.
With this in mind, Karl Persson and I launched a Petition to ask the current school board to adhere to the existing schedule and let the incoming board decide whether to renew Dr. Gildea’s contract. This petition does not ask the board to reject Dr. Gildea’s renewal. It simply asks for the decision to be made by the next school board—the one that will have to live with that decision.
If you support this idea, please consider signing the petition:
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Comments
10 Comments
I don’t think Karl should have outsized influence in setting school board policy. The press coverage he and his family have recently gotten doesn’t tell an accurate story about who is doing the bullying in the schools and how it can be prevented in the future.
I encourage other people to not sign this petition.
Anonymous-
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I would encourage everyone to look past individual issues and take the right course of action on this topic. Whether you support Dr. Gildea or not, I hope the argument that the new school board deserves the right to set its own course would trump personal animosity in this case.
This a very well-stated comment. There’s danger in the amount of “I believe” statements in this message.
Note that the petition has nothing to do with Karl’s family or their story in the Tribune. It’s about paying our superintendent $415,000 per year – more than superintendents at Utah school districts 20x our size – despite her never having a performance evaluation and having a track record of breaking a surprising number of laws since she was hired AND screwing up our $150 million construction project royally (which cost every taxpayer money), and Andrew Caplan the school board president still wanting to renew her contract early despite all that, maybe with even more money, before his term expires. Note that he was the one who hired her so he may be just a bit sensitive about her embarrassing performance- maybe that’s why he gave her automatic raises every year with no annual review?! Just spitballing.
Anonymous , don’t confuse one subject with the other.
An anonymous post attacking a parent and telling people not to sign a petition that’s about superintendent Gildea’s contract, not the parent? My goodness where in the world could such a comment have come from? Head scratcher!
Please keep comments on topic. The Park Rag is one of the few places where anonymous comments are still allowed. That is because not everyone feels comfortable sharing their name when discussing some topics in the Park City community.
That said, it shouldn’t be used for personal attacks.
If you want to post that this petition is terrible because you feel there wouldn’t be enough time for a new board to get up to speed or you have six reasons why Dr. Gildea is excellent and her contract should be renewed RIGHT NOW…. that’s great. Please do. That adds to the conversation.
My wife (beloved librarian at PPES) and I took our family and left because of Jill Gildea. She’s a cancer in our school system. Caplan will manage to give one last middle finger to the parents of Park City, though, I’m sure, just to add to his illustrious legacy.
Please, people, rally for a NEW Superintendent with a modicum of leadership sense AFTER the new Board members take office.
Please sign the petition!
I agree with the above comment that renewing Gildea’s contract after so many missteps and blatant disregard for students, teachers, parents, and I don’t know,…the LAW, is a middle finger from Caplan, Peters, and Crossland. They all need to go because they are friends, not supervisors of the Superintendent and lost sight of their responsibilities long ago.
Keep in mind that the new board in Jan. has the right to terminate the Superintendent despite a contract renewal, but would have to pay out the rest of her contract AND hire someone new. This would cost taxpayers many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dollars wasted… Keep her contract as is until the new board decides what to do.
Dollars wasted? What does $150 million dollar bond Equate to in terms of waste? Fire her should be on the table, not renewal of contract. PC schools continues on its downward spiral, and the leadership is accountable. Buck stops at the superintendent office, so, recognize original decision of her hire was a bad decision, don’t wait for a new board, clean up your mess. Let new board, find the new hire.
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