Parents and staff tell Tooele board portables, overcrowding and behavior escalate safety concerns

A string of public commenters used the board’s allotted time to report facility, safety and staffing problems at Tooele schools. Several speakers connected those operational problems to the district’s broader budget and boundary challenges.

Mary Jo Hammond, a life-skills teacher at Sterling Elementary, detailed multiple safety and facility failures in portables: no working smoke alarms, no sink or drinking fountain, water intrusion that freezes on a metal ramp making access hazardous, limited storage, and frequent interruptions to instruction when classroom doors are checked for safety. She said lack of space forces progress monitoring and interventions into hallways and faculty rooms, which is damaging for students on individualized education plans. Hammond urged the board to recognize the need for additional portables and to account for the full cost of preparing them (site prep, utilities, fire-alarms).

Laurie Fellner (Sterling parent liaison) supplied enrollment and behavior statistics: Sterling’s enrollment was cited as 856 students; the school reported roughly 1,068 office referrals and 1,120 classroom incidents so far this year. Fellner said new apartment complexes (Harris Apartments) would add transient students and worsen overcrowding. She urged immediate relief in boundaries and space planning.

Danielle Gerard and Trish Williams (behavior staff) described daily exposure to violence and trauma among students and the toll on support staff: behavior techs reported insufficient hours to qualify for insurance, chronic safety risks, and pay-structure changes that they said failed to recognize frontline work. Williams asked the board to reconsider recent pay changes and provide resources and support so behavior techs can safely perform their duties.

Board response: members expressed appreciation for the testimony and noted the boundary decision (Option 1B) and the budget process as the venues where relief and resources will be addressed. The superintendent and staff acknowledged portables’ shortcomings and said that budget proposals and the boundary committee’s work would address space allocation and staffing needs; staff were asked to produce concrete options for board review.

What's next: staff will include enrollment maps, portable-count needs, and cost estimates alongside boundary and budget proposals so that the board can more precisely evaluate space, program placement and staffing consequences.