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How to find the petition and contact the school board
If you would like to review the petition Karl Persson and I launched that asks for the school board to not vote on the superintendent’s contract until the new board assumes office in January, it can be found here:
View Petition
If you would like to email the school board to voice your opinion on whether they should vote to renew the superintendents contract before the new board is seated, the email address is:
Thanks for your support.
7 Comments
Parkrag
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7 Comments
Did we not get 63 click votes anomymous as we cannot put our names. What is this 3 man board objective? We the people have directed them to wait until new board is put in place. There have been no formal assessments that 2 board members have seen. Why is Caplan giving us the finger as he goes out? ego? friends?
Ego, probably. He has a history of doubling down on every mistake no matter how trivial (or serious). He sees all negative feedback as a personal attack, as far as I can tell.
That’s probably the worst possible personality trait for a public servant, but c’est la vie. I’ll write him a polite email but I’m sure that will just cement his determination to do the wrong thing yet again.
There are times when people want a new coach, in January the new board may believe we are closing in on that time. With that being said, I think the personal attacks of Dr. Jill Gildea are very unfair. Is she perfect, no, but does she love kids, work incredibly hard and long hours, and care dearly about PCSD, yes, yes she does.
I realize Josh, Karl, Walt and others feel differently, but Dr. Gildea is not a terrible person. In fact, she is caring, kind, and compassionate. She has led our district through the most difficult season of public education (Covid) in recent history. Sure, not everyone agreed with her and the board’s decisions during that time, but in hindsight, it was handled very well. You see Josh, it is very easy to critique a coach from the bleachers, it’s much harder to be the coach. Steve Kerr is being critiqued for who he played and yet the USA men’s basketball team won gold. Dr. Jill Gildea has to make decisions without knowing the outcome, many of which have been good choices. Haters get to wait to see the results and then attack. It’s unfair, it’s become nasty, and it is not going to help attract another super someday.
Given we are in a season of realignment, with hard work being done by educators in our district who have been empowered to continue to improve the education offered to our children, 75 or so employees at TMJH eagerly (and possibly anxiously) awaiting new assignments, and a year out on a few of our major construction projects I believe it is in the best interest of our community to have continuity through these next few years, then re-evaluate.
I also have to point out the significant flaw in the PCSD “Staff” anonymous petition. There is absolutely no ability to verify any of these people actually work for PCSD, and with the visceral hate being spewed by a few in the community I would predict they are clicking the button and many are not PCSD employees. Finally, of the approximately (and conservatively) 8000 PCSD parents and the 25,000+ people living in 84098/84060 a petition with under 500 signatures suggests many people are happy and/or not upset. So maybe, just maybe, look for all the good that has been done in the past 7 years, look at the flourishing graduates, look at the great pay raises for our community’s teachers and staff, look at the expanding preschool and after-school programs, improved RISE and Aspire test scores, increased graduation rate, investment in Social Workers and Nurses, K-3 ELA curriculum, the growth in AP and CE offerings at PCHS, the College 3000 level language classes, TMJH going from an “F” school to an “A” school, our aviation program, PCCAPS, LIA, GSA, Extracurricular program involvement, students positive relationships with their teachers and the list goes on…
If change is needed, let’s get everyone through realignment, let’s thank Dr. Jill for the many good things she has done, and let’s show the next superintendent Park City is a great place to work and not just filled with haters.
That all sounds great, but it *STILL* doesn’t mean the current board should be voting on the contract renewal.
The last board election was a referendum on Dr. Gildea, full stop. The community made their feelings pretty clear at that time, and clearly the lame duck board members didn’t get the message (or more likely don’t care).
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Honestly, that’s why I started the Park Rag over a decade ago. People have different opinions and I wanted a place where people could voice those. I will never claim I am always right and respect other opinions.
You and I likely disagree on Dr. Gildea’s performance. That said, I try not to make things personal. I have only had a one on one conversation with Dr. Gildea once and that was the day she was introduced to the community at a Summit County Council event. She seemed like a friendly person.
As for numbers on the petition, I love the 500 signatures. Five hundred people who are willing to sign up for change.org, provide their email, and sign their actual name is a lot in this town. People don’t have a lot of time and many are afraid of the repercussions. So, a petition publicized by a blog that gets that many signatures is good in my book.
Anyhow, thanks again for taking the time to write a thoughtful comment. I appreciate it.
Whether or not Jill Gildea seems friendly to some people, her performance has led to multiple federal and state investigations, she has lied to me to my face multiple times in multiple meetings, she lies to our community and is condescending to state auditors and teachers.
Of equal measure, our schools are underperforming according to the Utah Board of Education data gateway. For our small district that is wealthy enough to pay her and her cadre of directors millions since 2018, we should see higher student performance, better state rankings, and have a district running like a well-oiled machine.
In Measures of Academic Progress, Ecker Hill Middle School is trending DOWN in all three subjects: math, science and English. Compared to peer schools, Ecker is not competitive.
Treasure Mtn is trending DOWN in math and worse than peer schools.
PCHS is trending DOWN in science and math.
PCHS scores worse than peer schools in english, better in math and science.
PCSD places 10th in statewide ACT scores according to the most recent data (2023).
We have an unacceptable rate of turnover in teachers and staff.
We have an unacceptable level of poor morale among teachers and staff and low trust in leadership internally.
One can debate forever whether or not Jill Gildea is likeable. What is not debatable is that she lacks the skillset needed to improve education, stem the tide of outgoing personnel, improve morale and trust, and communicate without missteps, lies, and condescension.
We can do better. All parents and community members should want better, especially when we are such a small district. It’s not a barge. It’s a dinghy. We deserve someone who knows how to steer it.
One more thought, although I disagree with Josh on this issue (and most of his negative opinions about PCSD) I do very much respect that he puts his name to his opinion and allows others to voice opposing opinions.
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