The Utah State Legislature met for their Second Special Session of 2021. Of the 12 bills passed, nearly half of them addressed the issue of redistricting Utah's legislative boundaries.
The 2021 on-time high school graduation rate for DCCS members was 93.1% which continues to surpass the rates of Utah and the US. This year's graduation rates show a slight downtick from the record high DCCS rate of 95.8% reported one year ago.
At the Utah State Charter School Board (USCB) meeting on June 10th, 2021, Vanguard Academy was able to respond for the first time publicly to audits triggered by “multiple complaints and media inquiries”. The audits centered on procurement, enrollment & lottery processes.
People from a variety of non-conforming traditions have faced a long history of discrimination. Plural families are no exception, especially when it comes to access to public education.
At the Utah State Charter Board meeting in January, the public comment section included comments by Brooke Anderson. She began to single out the children who are students directly saying “All these college credits earned by Vanguard Academy students; how will they be put to use?"
Grant Samms referred to Otherism as “the single most dangerous idea in the world”. He defined it as: the exclusion of a person based on their perceived diversions from an acceptable norm. Ralph Waldo Emerson used it to describe the process by which an individual is depersonalized, alienated, etc.
Bryan Nelson is an ex-convict with a criminal record for aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child. He is also an anti-polygamy activist. Nelson has a history of committing hate crimes against plural families including physical assaults and preying on a minor.
HB294, a bill that passed the Utah Legislature in the final hours of the 2021 session, puts an end to certain emergency powers invoked during the pandemic. One of the provisions of the bill puts an end to the statewide mask mandate on April 10th.
When people of a specific group or religion are treated differently than their peers, it could be a violation of Federal Civil Rights Statute if done under "color of law" or if an activity being prevented is protected by Federal Law
On Friday February 19, Nate Carlisle, a reporter for Utah’s Fox 13 News, sent a text to a number of individuals stating he had “found about $6 million in pandemic bailout funds that went to Order” [DCCS] businesses.