Comments about ‘Face of change: New Canyons District presents huge challenges’

Having served on school boards and personally known senior-level administrators and principals--and having had a classroom teacher for a mother--Dr. Doty sounds like exactly the right man for the job. If the NEA and UEA do not like him, then I like him even more.

Being a school superintendent is a no win situation. It's like being an umpire or a referee: one side is for the call you make and the other side is against you...until the next call and then the sides switch.

Quite frankly, the only way to improve education is to get the best teachers in the classrooms and get the bad ones out. That's where the rubber hits the road. If a school has a great drama, music, debate, or math program, it's not the principal or superintendent who are responsible. It's the teacher.

But our profession no longer gets la crme de la crme as it once did because most men can't raise a family on the poor pay offered. So they go to lesser professions which offer higher pay. If we were really serious, we would require uniforms and a longer school day (or year). A multi-level diploma doesn't really improve teaching nor learning and is more like a placebo to calm the troubled waters of public opinion.

Good luck to you, Superintendent Doty. I hope all goes well.

The article gets one fact completely wrong. It says Jordan found itself short $400 per student "having lost the revenue it formerly received from taxes generated by east-side businesses, which are now in Canyons' boundaries."

Um . . . no. We lost revenues from WEST SIDE businesses as well. Canyons gets every dime generated on both sides of the I-15 commercial corridor. Businesses like Ikea, Taipan Trading, and Winco are all west of I-15. They are west side businesses. How many East side residents do you think cross the freeway to do their grocery shopping at Winco on 700 West? Very few. Most of the shoppers in that store come from the west, but all of the revenues - sales and property tax - benefit the east.

What casual_bystander doesn't get is that almost all of the M/O budget (the part that funds salaries, class size, supplies, etc.) is equalized by the state. True they don't get as much for buildings (which they need, but are getting a lot from the other Salt Lake Co. districts now), since the capital budget is mostly based on local property taxes.

In the near future Jordan S.D. will probably have more tax base than Canyons. They already have more than Alpine, Davis, Cache, Nebo, and Weber school districts!

I commend Dr. Doty. He seems like the right man for the job.

I don't commend the media for joining Jordan S.D. administrators in continuing to try to paint the most significant educational reform in nearly 100 years in a negative light.

Opinions are changing for the better as time goes on. Those who oppose this will be forgotten, while those who make it work will be revered.

The official paper of the Canyons District has spoken. Now lets end this 9-page novel with a prayer and some jello salad! Who brought the kool-aid?

We are fortunate to have someone with the capacity and talent of Dr. Doty leading our district. His commitment is commendable and we are the beneficiaries of his drive and vision.

As a charter school located in the district, I want to go on record to say we view ourselves as a partner in public education with the district.

It is my hope that the citizens who are still bitter about the split will turn their energies to building an excellent new district by supporting Dr. Doty. Change can be hard for some, but there is no benefit at this point to withholding your support and continuing to breed negativity.

Let's follow the example of Dr. Doty and do our part to ensure the success of the new Canyons District.

Dr. Doty is doing a fabulous job. I've noticed the following changes under his leadership: all elementary schools are now traditional (so families can have more time together if they have kids in elementary and secondary schools), more nutritious school lunches (more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables), a plan to help get academically prepared for college, calling for a bond on June 22 to fix the safety of school buildings for our kids, and more concern over local issues. The Jordan District only built three elementary schools in Draper, which has a population of about 38,000, and no secondary schools. Our kids have been bussed long distances to secondary schools in neighboring cities for decades. I voted in 2003 for the Jordan Bond, which promised a new middle school in the Southeast Valley, but this never came to pass. We are so happy that they trying to make older buildings earthquake safe and building a new high school so 9th graders can go to high school too. These changes are why we voted for the district split--more local control. We appreciate the vision of the school board and Dr. Doty and support them 100%.