Parents concerned about Manti High School leadership

EPHRAIM—At the South Sanpete Board meeting in Ephraim on March 11, a group of about 30 parents attended the board meeting to say they were unhappy and had long-standing grievances with Manti High School. Spokesperson Sandra Summers said, “We think no one is listening, and we are losing faith in the school leadership. We cannot ignore these problems. Our students are scared, hopeless, suffocating and afraid to speak up. We want to hold our values, be treated fairly and deserve accountability and respect,” she said.

The board assured her that her issues would be discussed when the board went into their closed session, because the issues could deal with employment and staff confidentiality.

On Tuesday, March 17, Summers said the group of parents were still organizing their concerns, had not yet presented the list to the board, but confirmed they mostly dealt with school leadership.

The board congratulated the Gunnison Valley High School boys state champion swim team. This is a back-to-back state championship for the Bulldogs. Assistant superintendent Trevor Powell said, “The team has performed exceptionally well all year. Coach Jereny Vincent and his assistants have developed a fantastic program, and their hard work truly paid off.”

Also recognized was Manti High School’s Speech and Debate team, who won the Region 13 title. The Templars defeated North Sanpete, Emery, Carbon and Union. The team is now preparing for the State Championship Tournament March 20-21 at Ogden high School. Those in Top-5 at Region events are:

Natalie Dowding took double gold by going undefeated in Lincoln Douglas Debate and first-place in Interpretation.

Caspian Bahlmann tied for gold in Impromptu with his teammate Tom Brooks and tied for silver in Lincoln Douglas Debate.

Tom Brooks tied for gold with Caspian in Impromptu and took undefeated Silver with his partner Alistair Wasden in Public Forum Debate. Wasden also took gold in National Extemp Speaking.

Clara Hales took the silver in Informative Speaking and fourth place in Lincoln Douglas.

Porter Mikesell took the bronze in Informative and fifth place in Lincoln Douglas.

Ethan Barlow and Lola DeFrisco took the bronze in Policy Debate.

Kannon Christiansen took the Bronze in Congress, Alecia King took fourth place, Caleb Maxwell took fifth place and Calvin Western took seventh place.

Calvin also took fourth-place in Impromptu and Caleb took fifth place.

Makenzie Rasmussen took the silver in Foreign Extemp Speaking.

Abby Powell took the bronze in that event and Sadie Sterzik took fourth place. Sophie Walk took fifth place in Interpretation.

The board also heard reports on the trust lands funds, parent guidance report, and a brief legislative report. Superintendent Ralph Squire said it was too early to evaluate what the legislature did, but did mention that 1,021 bills were discussed, 540 were passed, and of those, 213 were education-related. More information will presented at the next board meeting on April 15.