Two elections for Park City School Board seats were upended this week when three candidates, two of them incumbents, all withdrew from their races.
The exodus began Monday with current Board President Andrew Caplan, who’s been on the board since January 2017. His decision left pediatrician Dr. Eileen Gallagher and former Park City Historic Preservation Board member Dave McFawn to compete for District 2.
Caplan said he didn’t make his decision lightly, and ultimately decided to step back, confident that Gallagher and McFawn are qualified candidates.
“I believe it is time for new ideas and new enthusiasm for the role,” he said.
“The race has changed so the voters and, more importantly, our students in District 2 have the chance for fresh, new leaders and a brighter future in the Park City School District,” Gallagher said.
Within days of Caplan’s decision, current board Vice President Wendy Crossland dropped out of her race for District 3 representative, leaving former National Ability Center CEO Danny Glasser and Utah Board of Education Child Nutrition Programs Director Kathleen Britton left.
“I respect Wendy’s decision to withdraw and would like to thank her for her service,” Glasser said. “I look forward to engaging in a robust and respectful campaign with Kathleen Britton.”
Britton did not respond to a request for comment.
“It is a completely personal decision based on some changes and new commitments in both my personal and professional life,” Crossland said. “I do not feel that I could give another term the proper focus and time that I believe is necessary to serve on the board.”
And then McFawn also decided to drop out of the District 2 election, leaving Gallagher as the lone remaining candidate in that race.
McFawn has not responded to a request for comment on his decision.
The slew of dropouts this week came about a month and a half after a lengthy report was released by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on 180 cases of student-to-student harassment at Ecker Hill Middle School, Treasure Mountain Junior High School and Park City High School. The report said that school officials had taken some action to curtail the rampant acts of targeted harassment, but not enough to stop it. Since the report came out, board members and others in the district’s leadership have weathered public criticism.
Crossland insisted this had nothing to do with her decision. To future members of the board, she offered some advice: “In this contentious and complicated era, to not lose sight of the students in this community and the staff we employ and ensure we are making decisions aligned with their best interests. Also, I would encourage someone to focus on civility, thoroughness and thoughtfulness in how they communicate and in their service.”
Addressing the report, Caplan said the board is working to curb the harassment and address the needs of students who have been affected.
“One of the things that happens, whether there’s a fight or a bullying or an issue of racism or antisemitism, is that oftentimes the victim feels like there was nothing done to the aggressor,” he said. “That’s just not the case.”
He said one issue the district has faced is being unable to tell students who have faced harassment and their parents about the punishment for the offending students because of privacy restrictions enacted in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The board, he explained, is working to make its policies about discipline more clear to offer harassed students and their families more information about the possible punishments harassers will face even if they can’t give specific information about individual cases.
Beyond the criticism following the civil rights investigation and other controversial board decisions, the district has progressed in other ways under Caplan, Crossland and other current leaders.
This year, the U.S. News and World Report ranked the district fifth in the state and 717th in the country, which puts it in the nation’s top 5%.
Caplan said he was proud of the district largely keeping its schools open through much of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent years have seen pay increases for teachers and significant raises for the district’s numerous paraprofessionals. The district also managed to fund a $150 million expansion project across the district and its facilities, and many of the renovations and add-ons are expected to come online in the next several years.
“Serving on the PCSD Board of Education is an incredible privilege and responsibility,” Crossland said. “The PCSD team is a fabulous group of people dedicated and committed to all students. I am so grateful to be part of this community and district and I am committed to serving out my term through December 2024.”
Now unopposed, Gallagher looks forward to her likely time serving as District 2’s representative.
“I’m excited to work with the members of the board and the administrative team of the school district as well as the teachers and staff and students,” she said. “Of course, there are lots of things to work on. But I think that there’s a really talented team that is now on the board and in the schools.”
She identified her two greatest goals: making sure teachers and staff feel valued, and providing a safe and academically challenging environment for students to learn.
She said the specifics of how she will focus on those goals will come after she has a chance to begin working with the district’s administration and other staff members.
The only incumbent member of the board up for election who remains in the running is District 1’s Anne Peters, who is running against former nurse Susan Goldberg.
Board members Nicholas Hill and Meredith Reed both began their terms last year.
Peters said she plans to stay in the running rather than following the example of her peers.
