Gov. Herbert says Jordan District split was mistake

WEST JORDAN — As hundreds of students were walking out of Jordan District high schools to protest possible teacher layoffs, Gov. Gary Herbert said the district's current budget problems could have been avoided.

Herbert said Thursday during the taping of his monthly news conference on KUED Ch. 7 that the 2009 split that created the Canyons District is causing "a lot of grief" and never should have happened.

"The split has not worked very well. I think everybody would acknowledge that this split, for one side that was not able to participate in the vote to their disadvantage economically, has really caused a lot of grief," Herbert said. "I don't think they should have split."

The governor said laying off so many teachers and being pushed to not raise taxes is putting district officials "in a double box there."

But he said it may be impossible to make all the parties involved happy. "They're just frustrated that they can't seem to find a way out."

The failed bill that would have shifted some funds back to the district appeared to be a way to help. "I thought it was going to have some traction," Herbert said. "I was surprised it went down so overwhelmingly."

The governor's new commission on excellence in education, set to begin meeting next month with Herbert at the table, will look at statewide equalization of school funds, he said.

Hundreds of students at Copper Hills High School, West Jordan High School, Riverton High School and West Hills Middle School walked out of class Thursday morning in protest of Jordan School District's plan to cut 500 employees to compensate for a $30 million deficit.

At Copper Hills, students, holding signs with slogans like "Save our teachers," "You cut teachers. We cut classes" and "Could you fit us all in one classroom?," rallied in front of Copper Hills High School in West Jordan for almost two hours before a parent, who was helping with the school's 15th anniversary celebration, managed to convince them to go back to class. Students from West Jordan High School headed to the district offices and demanded a meeting with Superintendent Barry Newbold.

"This school district is a business and we are the product," said 16-year-old Teshra Kasteler, a Copper Hills junior who helped organize the rally. "If they move forward with these cuts, the product is going to suffer."

There are already 35 to 40 children in each of Kasteler's classes, she said.

"More kids means less attention from teachers and more distractions," she said. "If our classes get any bigger, we can't learn."

Todd Quarnberg, principal of Copper Hills High School, didn't approve of students skipping class but said he appreciated what they were trying to do.

"I've never felt a time when I was as fearful as I am now," he said of Jordan School District's plan. "The kids feel that, too."

e-mail: estuart@desnews.com, lisa@desnews.com