From: Kristi Swett

To: Melissa Ford; Nate Salazar; Joan Andrews

Subject: Fwd: Letter of No Confidence
Date: Monday, May 23, 2022 6:30:54 PM

This was in my spam report, I am assuming it went in everyone’s, but thought a I should
forward it to you three, and then you can forward to board members

Kristi 

Begin forwarded message:

From: l kass
Date: May 23, 2022 at 6:28:21 PM MDT
To: Bryce Williams <Bryce.Williams@slcschools.org>, Jenny Sika
<Jenny.Sika@slcschools.org>, Katherine Kennedy
<Katherine.Kennedy@slcschools.org>, Nate Salazar
<Nate.Salazar@slcschools.org>, Mohamed Baayd
<Mohamed.Baayd@slcschools.org>, Melissa Ford
<Melissa.Ford@slcschools.org>, Kristi Swett <Kristi.Swett@slcschools.org>
Subject: Letter of No Confidence


Dear SLCSD Board Members, 

We write this on behalf of many district and school administrators. It is without

our signatures because of the very real threat of retaliation from this
superintendency.  

Our primary commitment is to meet the mission and vision of the board. As such,
we have always worked to follow the directives of the superintendent who the
board has selected to lead us. Now that we are almost a full year under the
leadership of the current superintendent, we must voice our no confidence in his
leadership and our current direction. 

The past year has seen talented, innovative, highly skilled, and successful leaders
ignored and often stifled. Structures that have taken years to establish have been
dismantled without cause, purpose, or offer of replacement. Institutional
knowledge has been completely devalued or ignored. Disorganization and lack of
communication have become the norm. Building leaders feel unsupported and are
frustrated. Worst of all, so much damage has been done to our organization that
students and families are now suffering the consequences as evidenced by the
chaos of summer school roll-out.

Some specific examples of our concerns:

1) There has been no notable production of work by this superintendent. The

superintendent has been present in this district for one year with no forward
movement. This has never been the case in the past with other superintendents.
Even with the previous interim superintendent, initiatives were implemented and
board goals were supported. 

2) Disregard for students, teachers, principals, and families is palpable across

communities. Morale in the district is very low as evidenced in the employee
survey deployed last winter. Specifically of note were the superintendent’s overall
low approval ratings and the feedback for leadership of the School Leadership and
Performance department. 

3) This superintendent has brought in several people who lack technical skills and
have been released for ethics violations, fraud, or for job performance (Gwen
Johnson-White, Leeson Taylor, and Kimberly Mackey.) Now there is evidence
that two of them, Leeson Taylor and Kimberly Mackey, along with the
superintendent have violated the Utah Public Officers and Employees Ethics law
and that Kimberly Mackey made fraudulent assertions about her educational
credentials. We have also learned that Gwen Johnson-White lost her
administrative license due to ethical violations in Florida and therefore should not
be eligible for licensure in the state of Utah.

The goal of this letter of no confidence is to ask you to act on the issues we have
outlined above. We care deeply about the students and families we serve. We are
committed to the district's vision and mission, yet fear that the lack of skills and
ethics of the current superintendency is inflicting serious damage on our district. 

Respectfully,
District and School Administrators