April 18, 2025 • 27 mins
Each spring, while students count down the days to summer break, Canyons District’s Human Resources team kicks into high gear. That’s because it’s hiring season, and the task of recruiting the best and brightest teachers for a school district the size and caliber of Canyons is nothing short of Herculean.
In the latest episode of Connect Canyons, we explore how school systems like ours manage to hire hundreds of educators each year while balancing student needs, budget realities, and the ever-changing job market. You’ll hear from CSD’s two crack recruiters, Lori Reynolds and Kelly Tauteoli, both former school principals. And we’ll talk to Canyons Human Resources Director Steve Dimond about all the data-crunching and detail-sweating that goes into calculating how many teachers are needed to staff each one of our 47 schools and programs each year.
“Our goal is to always hire the very best candidates that we can, because that's truly where the rubber hits the road is. If our students are going to make growth and be proficient, it starts with the teacher in the classroom,” Dimond said. “All of us have a teacher who made a difference in their life, and we want make certain that we find those teachers for all of our students.”
1:54 — The Scale of Teacher Hiring
The hiring volume at CSD fluctuates significantly from year-to-year—from 300 teachers three years ago to about 100 projected for this year. The recruiting season begins in February with "crunch time" in March when schools receive their teacher allocations
5:35 — Hiring Challenges and Market Shifts
There are signs that the nationwide teacher shortage has abated. Special education, dual language immersion, math, science, and CTE positions remain the most challenging teaching jobs to fill. But local colleges and universities are starting to train more teacher candidates. CSD also has “grow your own” programs to prime the teacher pipeline.
9:25 — Why Teachers Choose Canyons
Canyons has a reputation for supporting teachers with training and adequate resources. The District’s access to the great outdoors and proximity to the urban perks of Salt Lake City are also big draws. In addition, Canyons has invested heavily in growing teacher salaries; the starting teacher salary is currently $61,610.
14:59 — Forecasting Staffing Needs
Forecasting hiring needs from year-to-year is no small feat. It starts with demographic data and enrollment projections, while taking into consideration the unique programmatic needs of each school. Class size targets vary by grade level: K (22.15), grades 1-3 (22.3), grades 4-8 (26.3), and grades 9-12 (27).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, kirsten Stewart,and today we're resuming our
short mini-series examining whatit takes to operate a school
system the size and caliber ofCanyons School District.
Now, every spring, whilestudents count down the days to
summer break, school district HRteams kick into high gear.
That's because it's hiringseason, and the task of
recruiting the best andbrightest teachers for CSD's
(00:50):
classrooms is nothing short ofHerculean.
In this episode, we'll explorehow school systems like ours
manage to hire hundreds ofeducators each year while
balancing student needs, budgetrealities and the ever-changing
job market.
You'll hear from CSD's two crackrecruiters, lori Reynolds and
Kelly Tautioli, both formerschool principals, and we'll
talk to Canyon's Human ResourcesDirector, steve Diamond, about
(01:11):
all the data crunching anddetail sweating that goes into
calculating how many teachersare needed to staff each one of
our 47 schools and programs eachyear.
Now, whether you're an aspiringeducator, a policy wonk or just
curious about how your localschools work, you'll gain an
appreciation for the carefulplanning and people power that
keeps our classrooms humming.
Thanks for being here today,kelly, lori and Steve, thanks
(01:35):
for having us.
Yes, well, okay, let's start bygetting kind of a sense of the
scale and the scope of, you knowour annual hiring push.
So we're a school system.
We have 32,000 students, 6,000employees and, like any employer
, we have turnover as employeesretire, relocate.
So how many teachers do we hirein a typical year?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So I was going to try to think about an average for
kind of over the years.
But I looked and really it kindof varies from year to year.
So I've been in this job threeyears.
The first year we hired 300,last year 200, and this year
we're on track to hire about 100.
And so there are a lot offactors that go into that and I
think we're going to get intomore of that as we go through
(02:16):
the questions.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And Kelly, I know you're specifically over
secondary school, so you'retalking about 100 teachers just
district-wide elementary andsecondary.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yes, and I'll jump in here.
Kelly, this year right now insecondary, new hires, just new
teachers.
To our district is secondary 45.
Okay and elementary right nowis 44.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, Thank you, Lori , and being a former school
principal, you're sort ofwell-versed in kind of what
schools need, what they'relooking for right, Like it's
valuable experience to haveright in the hiring and
recruiting role.
Yeah, it is Definitely.
When does a typical hiringseason begin and how long does
it take to fill most positions?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
We hold our annual training for our principals, our
hiring training, in February toprepare them for the first
weeks in March, which weaffectionately call crunch time.
You could ask any of ourprincipals about the crunch bar.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
They actually got a crunch bar.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
They did to remind them of crunch week, and that's
the week where principals gettheir FTE, which Steve will be
talking about later, which istheir teacher allocation for the
fall.
Then we post some early jobsand those are our title schools,
special education positions,secondary math and our CTE
positions.
During that time, that crunchweek, we place our obligatory
(03:28):
transfers from schools who mayhave lost a teacher due to that
FTE process when they get theirstudent enrollment.
Once that's complete, all jobsdistrict-wide are posted and
principals are really on top ofit and want to find the best
teacher candidates for theirschools to bring out the best in
our students, of course.
So our principals are reallymotivated to fill those
(03:51):
vacancies quickly.
So right now we are a littleover a month into our hiring
when our hiring season startedand there are 23 positions only
left in both elementary andsecondary left to fill.
Wow.
So the principals have been onit and hired quickly.
They jump on those candidateswhen they see them.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
For the most part we are filled, yeah and I know that
really like, of all the thingsthat make the most difference
for student achievement, havingthe right teacher in the
classroom is number one, right?
That's why it's so important.
So what are, just kind of totouch on what you mentioned then
, what are some of thesignificant hiring challenges we
face, like?
Are there specific subjectareas or grades that are harder
to recruit than others?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
That's a great follow-up question Of those 23
jobs that I mentioned that arestill open.
Those are our harder-to-fillpositions.
We do have around 10 dual-,dual language, immersion
language teachers that you knowOphelia Wade goes out to recruit
to Spain and Mexico to getthose immersion teachers into
(04:55):
our schools, into our classrooms.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
She's the person for us to oversee some of those
programs, right yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:59):
yeah, and so we have a high number of those in
elementary.
Most of those jobs, too, arespecial education positions,
especially our special programsand our CTE and secondary that
are still left to fill, andthese are also the positions
that I spoke about that areposted early, ok.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And I know that traditionally, like we've had
shortages for special education,we've had shortages for science
, math, and I know that leadingup to the pandemic and afterward
, we were in the throes of apretty significant national
teacher shortage.
How are things looking now?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Are we seeing a shift in the job market?
It's very interesting.
There are a lot of thingsoutside of our school system
that are affecting, I think, ourteacher pipeline, are affecting
a lot of things.
We know that after the pandemic, the number of students
enrolling in our state collegesand universities has declined.
It's been down.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Just overall, not even just those that are
interested in education.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yes, overall and they still have not recovered to
pre-pandemic levels, and thataffected teacher preparation
programs probably like everyother college in a university.
So teacher preparation numbersof students have been down.
Those have been coming back up,but we're not to pre-pandemic
levels yet.
So that's a factor.
(06:16):
However, I think right now inour economy, our economy is very
unsure.
Right now there's a lot ofthings going on and people are
holding on to their jobs.
It looks like Remember I saidwe hired 300, then 200, then 100
, maybe this year and I thinkpeople are not leaving their
jobs at the same rate that theyhave in the past.
(06:37):
They're going to just hang onto a sure thing right now and
maybe not make that move toDelaware or whatever.
The number of our studentspreparing to be teachers is
increasing again, but therearen't as many jobs at the
moment and so we're not feelinga big teacher shortage right now
.
But that could happen.
Things could flip and thatcould change even next year.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Sure, right and I know that I mean there's a lot
that goes into that too right,just even in like K-12
enrollment overall right, thestate right has also had a
decline in enrollment which arelargely driven by the decline in
the birth rate right.
And high housing prices, reallyhigh housing prices right, yeah
(07:20):
, education is kind of thecenter of a community.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I mean we're affected by all the surrounding factors
for sure, Sure.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, I know too that you had mentioned too.
Colleges and universities havestruggled to train enough
teachers to meet the demand herein Utah and at one point we
were recruiting up to like 30%,I think, of our new teachers
from outside the state.
I know you two, lori and Kelly,are still out there
crisscrossing the country tofind the best talent, and I know
we've been really successful atfinding talent, especially
people who are willing to movehere to Utah.
(07:49):
Right, I mean, where else canyou find, like the great access
to outdoors, excellent standardof living, footsteps from the
greatest snow on earth?
But are we still recruiting alot from outside Utah?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We're not doing as much this year as we have in the
past and again, I think that'sa unique situation with this
year because and just to yourpoint of declining enrollment in
kind of the greater Salt Lakearea a number of districts
around us have closed schoolsand so those teachers are trying
to find places to teach.
(08:22):
That has increased the numberof candidates, that we have
great candidates for jobs and wehave kind of strong teacher
preparation programs coming into us.
And so we made a strategicdecision this year not to go out
and do as much travel Be costeffective.
Yes, save some money because itdoesn't look like we're going to
(08:43):
need it as much this year.
We have a lot of candidates forour positions, so this year we
haven't done as much, but weknow that again that could just
flip next year and we're backout beating the bushes again.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Well, another thing that just struck my mind that I
didn't consider before is, likeretirements also play a role,
and I think nationally I don'tknow if this tracks for Utah,
but recently I think we reachedpeak baby boomer retirement.
So, like right, we reached thepeak of the most baby boomers
who would be retiring, andthat's a big population boom
right, that group and so I wouldimagine like fewer people are
(09:15):
also retiring, mm-hmm, I don'tknow.
Fascinating stuff.
So what are some of thestrategies that we've used to
attract high-quality teachersand why do teachers choose Utah?
Why do they choose Canyon?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
School District.
Well, I think one of the greatthings that we've done and that
you've been a part of too,kirsten is last year we started
the ACE Scholarship Program inour own district, where our
employees can contribute to getthese scholarships for our
seniors in high school who wantto pursue an avenue in education
and then also our currentemployees who work in the
district to pursue an initialeducation degree.
(09:48):
And what is really importantabout that and the high-quality
teaching aspect of it is that wehave so many paras that work in
our special educationclassrooms that are so
passionate about the studentsand the work that they do, so
becoming a teacher is the next,that's the natural step for them
is what they want to pursue,and I think it speaks volumes to
(10:09):
that positive climate in ourdistrict that so many people
want to continue and search forthat education avenue because
they can see the impact it hason our students and that leads
to that high quality teacheraspect.
I also know that when Kelly andI are on the road, especially
at our universities here in Utah, we hear from the students all
(10:29):
the time when they approach ourbooth that how they have heard
that Canyon supports their newteachers and we really have a
stellar reputation for that.
Many times when they come up toour booth at a fair, we
explicitly ask them what do youknow about Canyons?
Already they're like we want toknow what they know first.
And if they're familiar, it isdefinitely the support that we
(10:51):
give our teachers that they tellus.
And if they don't know anythingabout us, we ask well, what's
most important to you as you arestarting your teaching career?
And almost inevitably they sayit's support.
Like I'm scared to death, I'mstarting this whole new thing
and we need support.
And so that's when Kelly and Iwere like all right, that's our
first talking point, because inCanyons you will find yourself
(11:14):
supported, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
We have instructional coaches at all of our schools,
right and free training,professional development
opportunities throughout theyear.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yes, just continuous, like ongoing professional
development, and that's whatmakes a great teacher right.
Is that desire to keep learning, to be innovative, to keep
doing the next like the nextbest thing that we find is
evidence-based for our students?
I know hiring is just part ofthe equation.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
To your point, like with the ACE, scholarship and
other things and instructionalcoaches, we're making sort of
these longer term investmentsright, so that we're not just
able to recruit but we'reretaining the employees that we
have.
So what are some of theinvestments we've made on that
front?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
First and foremost.
I mean everybody looks atnumbers first when they walk up
to our booth or they call andinquire at our human resources
desk like what's your startingsalary?
And our starting salary incomparison to our surrounding
districts is very competitive.
And again back to that supportonboarding our new teachers at
the start of every school yearwith an entire week dedicated
(12:13):
just to them that peaks weekthat we are all so, so involved
in and we just love.
We want to make our investmentis in people.
We want to make our new peoplefeel welcome in our CSD family.
We want to connect them withtheir colleagues and provide
excellent ongoing professionallearning so they can be
successful in their grade levelor their content area.
(12:35):
And the other thing, aninvestment is retaining our
student teachers has proven tobe very successful for us, oh
great.
So Kelly and I place thosestudent teachers and we are very
intentional about who we placethem with we want those strong,
experienced mentor teachers sothat they have that experience
that's positive and just greatin every way which reaps rewards
(13:00):
for us at the end of their timewith us, because now they know
the Canyons way and then we'vejust set them up for success in
our district and we also havestrong partnerships with those
universities.
Especially well, in-state, andthen notably out-of-state, is
Iowa State University and wehave a lot of kids from Iowa
State because of all thewonderful things that Utah
(13:22):
offers and the beauty like theyjust want to stay here.
They come student teach, theydo their practicums with us and
they want to be in Canyons.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, and I've heard actually great things about that
program.
I mean that is really primingthe pipeline for us.
It is, yeah, and they've beensuch a great addition to our
team.
They have.
And actually, steve, maybe youcan recall too I mean I think I
don't remember what year it wasbut we, the Canyons Board of
Education, really did go out ona limb to try to raise teacher
salaries quite a bit Right, andthat actually started sort of a
(13:50):
salary war across the statewhere other districts had to
bump their salary.
And over the years we'veincreased teacher starting
teacher salary quite a bit Right.
I mean all teacher salaries.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
But oh very much so.
Of it right, I mean all teachersalaries, but oh very much so.
It's been about six years agowhere we increased by almost
$6,000 in one year, bringing thebeginning teaching salary to
$50,000.
And it did cause a little bit ofa war but, what it did is it
(14:20):
caused all other districts toraise the bar to make teaching a
livable wage, and until then,you know we were looking at
maybe $30,000, $40,000, and soit's come a long ways to get to
that $61,000, $61,000 that wecurrently are, and so yeah, so
yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
$61,000 is what we are for starting teacher ranks
in Cair.
So yeah, so six, so yeah, Sixtyone thousand is what we are for
a starting teacher right now inCanyons.
Yeah, that's remarkable.
I think at one point we hadcalculated it was something like
a was a 20 percent increase insix years or something.
I mean it was it's it's prettysubstantial and like consecutive
year after year after year.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Let's talk about forecasting staffing needs.
This is a little bit in theweeds, but it's like so vital
right, like it's one of thosethings that no one really knows,
that happens behind the scenes.
But how do we determine howmany teachers will need each
year to fill our schools, right?
What factors kind of go intothose projections?
Speaker 5 (15:13):
It really starts with the number of students enrolled
in our schools and theprojections, as well as
identified students and schoolneeds.
Fte allocations are determinedby our directors of school
performance.
They're the ones who determineexactly what goes to each school
, but some of the considerationsused in factors are the number
(15:34):
of students in a building, thenumber of multilingual students
attending and their languageproficiency.
We know that there arestruggles and that we need to
provide additional supports.
The number of studentsperforming well below basic in
reading and math, and possibleimpacts of special programs such
as DLI, salta and specialclassrooms.
We also look at studentmobility rates is also a
(15:58):
consideration, because if youhave a large number of students
moving in and out, you've got tobe able to provide more
intensive services for thosestudents.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It sounds like the way you describe it a little
simpler than it really is.
Right, because here's thereality.
Right, we do a really big pushin January to get many students
enrolled as possible early, asearly as possible, right, so
that you have those projectionsand those kind of a rough idea
of who to expect.
But then inevitably, someonemoves into the community later
(16:29):
in the year, or someone didn'thear about it, and they don't
register until August.
You know, prior to the year,that they're going to start.
And then, I know, even furthercompounding things or making
things more complicated is thefact that we do have some, you
know, an enrollment decline andeven though as a district, we're
capturing a larger share of theschool age population than we
were, even like two to threeyears ago, which is to say we
(16:52):
are still a destination district, right, I think the headwinds
are such, with the decliningbirth rate, that it's still in
those elementary schools, someof those elementary schools,
declining, and sometimes it'sjust fluctuating even from grade
to grade.
Right, you have a really bigthird grade but maybe a smaller
kindergarten, and so, yeah, howdo you account for all that?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
He's a master.
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
So our IT department uses a program that's called
Davis Demographics to try tohelp identify those things and
it's you looking at communitydata to be able to help try and
project.
And also trends.
What are the trends over thelast five years?
Of the comings and the goings,but it really is, especially for
(17:34):
kindergarten.
I hate to say it, butkindergarten is like a roulette
wheel.
You can do the very best thatyou can on guessing based upon
birth rates for a zip code, butyou don't know if those children
are going to show up and ourelementary numbers are
significantly down.
(17:54):
Our birth rates are down in ourarea and that makes it more
difficult, especially because itwill progress through If you
have a smaller kindergartenclass.
It'll take 12 years to get tothe senior year, but they will
be smaller classes.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, yeah.
And so really, I mean it comesdown to I mean, where do you
start with staffing ratios?
I mean, do you have a targetthat you're trying to reach?
Speaker 5 (18:19):
So the board has allocated or has determined a
staffing and a budgeting ratio.
So, and we've done that sincethe inception of the district
back in 2009.
So for kindergarten, we staffat 22.15 students per class.
That's the goal, but it's neverperfect.
There's always going to be aclass that's a little larger and
a class that's a little smaller.
(18:40):
First through third grade are22.3.
Grades four through eight arestaffed at 26.3.
And grades nine through 12 arestaffed at 27.
And class sizes they trulyrarely align perfectly with the
staffing ratios.
So when this doesn't occur.
Principals make difficultchoices about how the allocation
(19:01):
is distributed within theschool, as well as using
alternative funds available tothem, such as land trust or
advanced placement or concurrentenrollment funds as well play a
part in trying to backfillthose areas.
And for secondary schools,preparation periods also impact
class sizes.
(19:21):
So approximately 30 years ago,high school teachers were given
the opportunity to provide inputregarding having extended
preparation period each day orevery other day when high
schools move to the AB blockschedule, and so teachers voted
for a preparation period eachday, with the understanding that
(19:41):
their class sizes would belarger.
So for high schools on the ABblock schedule, we anticipate
classes to have approximately 36students per class.
Okay, if high schools were tomove to a seven-period day
schedule, we'd anticipate classsizes dropping to approximately
32 students per class, and formiddle schools, because of the
(20:04):
preparation period, it's about31 students per class on a
seven-period day, and weanticipate about 32 students on
the six-period day.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, Interesting, Well and it's yeah.
Students on the sixth periodday yeah, Interesting, Well and
it's yeah.
So much goes into that.
Like we once upon a time did anepisode on how to build a board
, I do not envy that work at theelementary.
I mean the middle of thesecondary school level right,
yes, how many kids can go ineach class and how many teachers
do I need for each class andwhere are they going to be?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
And coming from the elementary world and hearing you
know when Kelly and I workedtogether, and Steve, who has
been a principal in a secondaryschool too, like I can't even
imagine building a board.
So they are just true.
Wow, I don't get it Right Highschool's even harder.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
It's when you surround yourself with an
incredible team because twoheads are much better than one.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The board and the administration have really tried
to preserve funding to where itmatters most right, which is in
our schools and for staffing inour schools and in our
classrooms.
Are there any other innovationsor new tools that we're sort of
exploring to streamline thehiring process or kind of
improve forecasting?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
So for hiring process we use an application called
VidCruiter which allowspotential candidates to
interview 24 hours a day, sevendays a week, from anywhere in
the world.
They just have to have aninternet connection that allows
Lori and Kelly to be able toreview those on a regular basis
(21:32):
and be able to push out thosecandidates to our principals who
have a particular need.
The other awesome thing is itallows our principals to go in
and review those and identifyfour or five candidates that
they feel would be a great fitfor their school to bring in and
do one-on-one interviews withthemselves as well as their team
(21:55):
to try to evaluate Onboarding.
We're always looking at abetter way.
The district is going to bemoving to a program called Q and
we're hoping that that willhelp us improve our ability to
onboard more electronically.
Oh, interesting, just tosimplify the process, but it's
(22:16):
still out there.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
And we just work on it every single time we get a
chance.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
And for the uninitiated Q, is the new
version of Skyward, which is ourstudent information system,
correct?
Also our employee financialinformation system, right, so
it's where all the datainformation on payroll and
employees and yeah is kept.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
And students as well.
So we'll be moving thefinancial side here in October
and I think it's a year laterwhere we're moving to the
student system.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So you talked about the initial part of the FTE
process.
What happens come fall, whenwe've done like we don't really
know who's going to be in schooluntil what's our official
October 1 count right, that'sthe count that we send to the
state to draw down theappropriate number of per
student dollars and statefunding.
So what happens come October1st and you're like 11 kids down
in one particular class foryour projections, how many?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
butts are actually in the seats.
That's what we say.
Okay, yeah, butts in seats.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
So we actually start working way before October 1st.
Our goal is is, as principalsare identifying before school
starts what their numbers aregoing to be If they see that
there's a significant reductionin their students.
There's oftentimes well, notoften, but occasionally where
we'll take a teacher and thenmove them to a school where we
(23:31):
know that we see more studentswho are enrolling.
We do what's called a sixth andeleventh day count.
Okay, and so trying to find outon that sixth day, how many
students do we have actuallyshown up?
Sixth day of the school, yeah,yeah, sixth day of school and
also the eleventh, so that wecan try and make adjustments for
that, either through our FTEcushion, which is created
(23:55):
between the staffing and thebudgeting ratio, to give us an
amount that we can hire otherteachers and at the same time
trying to look at do we need tomove a teacher from a school
where their numbers aresignificantly down to another
(24:15):
school?
That would help balance out thenumbers.
So we're trying to avoid largeclass sizes and then very small
class sizes.
Yeah, yeah.
It's a balance.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, not an easy job Outlook for the next few years.
Do we expect staffingchallenges to ease, or are there
sort of some headwinds stiffheadwinds on the horizon for a
while?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
We are starting to see a little bit more of an
increase of students going intoeducation.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
But it takes four years because of them starting
there.
Just like through the ACEprogram, when we increased
salaries, we started to see asmall uptick in the number of
students wanting to go intoeducation.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
I had a young man in my neighborhood who always
wanted to be a teacher, but hesaid I can't do this because
it's not financially viable formyself and my family.
So by doing that, it's givingindividuals an opportunity to go
into education that they wouldlike to, and we have our Apple
program which is for thealternative preparation.
(25:25):
And so we're getting individualswho have this is really their
second career, who always wantedto be a teacher but didn't see
a possibility for that.
So we're seeing those folkscome back and I can't remember I
think it was like six of ourApple teachers were part of our
(25:45):
Teachers of the Year this yearwhich is an incredible thing for
our Apple preparation program,as well as these incredible
individuals who love teaching,love kids and want to make a
difference.
So will there be headwinds?
Yes, our goal is to always hirethe very best candidates that
(26:07):
we can, nationwide, from Utah,anywhere we can find them,
because that's truly where therubber hits the road is.
If our students are going tomake growth and be proficient,
it starts with the teacher inthe classroom.
And you know, I remember, allof us have a teacher who made a
(26:28):
difference in their life.
I don't care who you are,there's at least one teacher who
did, and we want to makecertain that we find those
teachers for all of our students.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, well, amen.
Well said, Steve.
I love that.
I can't think of a better noteto end on.
You've been listening toConnect Canyons.
This is Kirsten Stewart.
If you've liked what you'veheard, give us a shout out, and
if you'd like to hear us coveranything else in particular of
interest, just email us atcommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more.
We meet national experts too.
Learning is about makingconnections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, kirsten Stewart,and today we're resuming our
short mini-series examining whatit takes to operate a school
system the size and caliber ofCanyons School District.
Now, every spring, whilestudents count down the days to
summer break, school district HRteams kick into high gear.
That's because it's hiringseason, and the task of
recruiting the best andbrightest teachers for CSD's
(00:50):
classrooms is nothing short ofHerculean.
In this episode, we'll explorehow school systems like ours
manage to hire hundreds ofeducators each year while
balancing student needs, budgetrealities and the ever-changing
job market.
You'll hear from CSD's two crackrecruiters, lori Reynolds and
Kelly Tautioli, both formerschool principals, and we'll
talk to Canyon's Human ResourcesDirector, steve Diamond, about
(01:11):
all the data crunching anddetail sweating that goes into
calculating how many teachersare needed to staff each one of
our 47 schools and programs eachyear.
Now, whether you're an aspiringeducator, a policy wonk or just
curious about how your localschools work, you'll gain an
appreciation for the carefulplanning and people power that
keeps our classrooms humming.
Thanks for being here today,kelly, lori and Steve, thanks
(01:35):
for having us.
Yes, well, okay, let's start bygetting kind of a sense of the
scale and the scope of, you knowour annual hiring push.
So we're a school system.
We have 32,000 students, 6,000employees and, like any employer
, we have turnover as employeesretire, relocate.
So how many teachers do we hirein a typical year?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So I was going to try to think about an average for
kind of over the years.
But I looked and really it kindof varies from year to year.
So I've been in this job threeyears.
The first year we hired 300,last year 200, and this year
we're on track to hire about 100.
And so there are a lot offactors that go into that and I
think we're going to get intomore of that as we go through
(02:16):
the questions.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And Kelly, I know you're specifically over
secondary school, so you'retalking about 100 teachers just
district-wide elementary andsecondary.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yes, and I'll jump in here.
Kelly, this year right now insecondary, new hires, just new
teachers.
To our district is secondary 45.
Okay and elementary right nowis 44.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, Thank you, Lori , and being a former school
principal, you're sort ofwell-versed in kind of what
schools need, what they'relooking for right, Like it's
valuable experience to haveright in the hiring and
recruiting role.
Yeah, it is Definitely.
When does a typical hiringseason begin and how long does
it take to fill most positions?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
We hold our annual training for our principals, our
hiring training, in February toprepare them for the first
weeks in March, which weaffectionately call crunch time.
You could ask any of ourprincipals about the crunch bar.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
They actually got a crunch bar.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
They did to remind them of crunch week, and that's
the week where principals gettheir FTE, which Steve will be
talking about later, which istheir teacher allocation for the
fall.
Then we post some early jobsand those are our title schools,
special education positions,secondary math and our CTE
positions.
During that time, that crunchweek, we place our obligatory
(03:28):
transfers from schools who mayhave lost a teacher due to that
FTE process when they get theirstudent enrollment.
Once that's complete, all jobsdistrict-wide are posted and
principals are really on top ofit and want to find the best
teacher candidates for theirschools to bring out the best in
our students, of course.
So our principals are reallymotivated to fill those
(03:51):
vacancies quickly.
So right now we are a littleover a month into our hiring
when our hiring season startedand there are 23 positions only
left in both elementary andsecondary left to fill.
Wow.
So the principals have been onit and hired quickly.
They jump on those candidateswhen they see them.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
For the most part we are filled, yeah and I know that
really like, of all the thingsthat make the most difference
for student achievement, havingthe right teacher in the
classroom is number one, right?
That's why it's so important.
So what are, just kind of totouch on what you mentioned then
, what are some of thesignificant hiring challenges we
face, like?
Are there specific subjectareas or grades that are harder
to recruit than others?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
That's a great follow-up question Of those 23
jobs that I mentioned that arestill open.
Those are our harder-to-fillpositions.
We do have around 10 dual-,dual language, immersion
language teachers that you knowOphelia Wade goes out to recruit
to Spain and Mexico to getthose immersion teachers into
(04:55):
our schools, into our classrooms.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
She's the person for us to oversee some of those
programs, right yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:59):
yeah, and so we have a high number of those in
elementary.
Most of those jobs, too, arespecial education positions,
especially our special programsand our CTE and secondary that
are still left to fill, andthese are also the positions
that I spoke about that areposted early, ok.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And I know that traditionally, like we've had
shortages for special education,we've had shortages for science
, math, and I know that leadingup to the pandemic and afterward
, we were in the throes of apretty significant national
teacher shortage.
How are things looking now?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Are we seeing a shift in the job market?
It's very interesting.
There are a lot of thingsoutside of our school system
that are affecting, I think, ourteacher pipeline, are affecting
a lot of things.
We know that after the pandemic, the number of students
enrolling in our state collegesand universities has declined.
It's been down.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Just overall, not even just those that are
interested in education.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yes, overall and they still have not recovered to
pre-pandemic levels, and thataffected teacher preparation
programs probably like everyother college in a university.
So teacher preparation numbersof students have been down.
Those have been coming back up,but we're not to pre-pandemic
levels yet.
So that's a factor.
(06:16):
However, I think right now inour economy, our economy is very
unsure.
Right now there's a lot ofthings going on and people are
holding on to their jobs.
It looks like Remember I saidwe hired 300, then 200, then 100
, maybe this year and I thinkpeople are not leaving their
jobs at the same rate that theyhave in the past.
(06:37):
They're going to just hang onto a sure thing right now and
maybe not make that move toDelaware or whatever.
The number of our studentspreparing to be teachers is
increasing again, but therearen't as many jobs at the
moment and so we're not feelinga big teacher shortage right now
.
But that could happen.
Things could flip and thatcould change even next year.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Sure, right and I know that I mean there's a lot
that goes into that too right,just even in like K-12
enrollment overall right, thestate right has also had a
decline in enrollment which arelargely driven by the decline in
the birth rate right.
And high housing prices, reallyhigh housing prices right, yeah
(07:20):
, education is kind of thecenter of a community.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I mean we're affected by all the surrounding factors
for sure, Sure.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, I know too that you had mentioned too.
Colleges and universities havestruggled to train enough
teachers to meet the demand herein Utah and at one point we
were recruiting up to like 30%,I think, of our new teachers
from outside the state.
I know you two, lori and Kelly,are still out there
crisscrossing the country tofind the best talent, and I know
we've been really successful atfinding talent, especially
people who are willing to movehere to Utah.
(07:49):
Right, I mean, where else canyou find, like the great access
to outdoors, excellent standardof living, footsteps from the
greatest snow on earth?
But are we still recruiting alot from outside Utah?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We're not doing as much this year as we have in the
past and again, I think that'sa unique situation with this
year because and just to yourpoint of declining enrollment in
kind of the greater Salt Lakearea a number of districts
around us have closed schoolsand so those teachers are trying
to find places to teach.
(08:22):
That has increased the numberof candidates, that we have
great candidates for jobs and wehave kind of strong teacher
preparation programs coming into us.
And so we made a strategicdecision this year not to go out
and do as much travel Be costeffective.
Yes, save some money because itdoesn't look like we're going to
(08:43):
need it as much this year.
We have a lot of candidates forour positions, so this year we
haven't done as much, but weknow that again that could just
flip next year and we're backout beating the bushes again.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Well, another thing that just struck my mind that I
didn't consider before is, likeretirements also play a role,
and I think nationally I don'tknow if this tracks for Utah,
but recently I think we reachedpeak baby boomer retirement.
So, like right, we reached thepeak of the most baby boomers
who would be retiring, andthat's a big population boom
right, that group and so I wouldimagine like fewer people are
(09:15):
also retiring, mm-hmm, I don'tknow.
Fascinating stuff.
So what are some of thestrategies that we've used to
attract high-quality teachersand why do teachers choose Utah?
Why do they choose Canyon?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
School District.
Well, I think one of the greatthings that we've done and that
you've been a part of too,kirsten is last year we started
the ACE Scholarship Program inour own district, where our
employees can contribute to getthese scholarships for our
seniors in high school who wantto pursue an avenue in education
and then also our currentemployees who work in the
district to pursue an initialeducation degree.
(09:48):
And what is really importantabout that and the high-quality
teaching aspect of it is that wehave so many paras that work in
our special educationclassrooms that are so
passionate about the studentsand the work that they do, so
becoming a teacher is the next,that's the natural step for them
is what they want to pursue,and I think it speaks volumes to
(10:09):
that positive climate in ourdistrict that so many people
want to continue and search forthat education avenue because
they can see the impact it hason our students and that leads
to that high quality teacheraspect.
I also know that when Kelly andI are on the road, especially
at our universities here in Utah, we hear from the students all
(10:29):
the time when they approach ourbooth that how they have heard
that Canyon supports their newteachers and we really have a
stellar reputation for that.
Many times when they come up toour booth at a fair, we
explicitly ask them what do youknow about Canyons?
Already they're like we want toknow what they know first.
And if they're familiar, it isdefinitely the support that we
(10:51):
give our teachers that they tellus.
And if they don't know anythingabout us, we ask well, what's
most important to you as you arestarting your teaching career?
And almost inevitably they sayit's support.
Like I'm scared to death, I'mstarting this whole new thing
and we need support.
And so that's when Kelly and Iwere like all right, that's our
first talking point, because inCanyons you will find yourself
(11:14):
supported, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
We have instructional coaches at all of our schools,
right and free training,professional development
opportunities throughout theyear.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yes, just continuous, like ongoing professional
development, and that's whatmakes a great teacher right.
Is that desire to keep learning, to be innovative, to keep
doing the next like the nextbest thing that we find is
evidence-based for our students?
I know hiring is just part ofthe equation.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
To your point, like with the ACE, scholarship and
other things and instructionalcoaches, we're making sort of
these longer term investmentsright, so that we're not just
able to recruit but we'reretaining the employees that we
have.
So what are some of theinvestments we've made on that
front?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
First and foremost.
I mean everybody looks atnumbers first when they walk up
to our booth or they call andinquire at our human resources
desk like what's your startingsalary?
And our starting salary incomparison to our surrounding
districts is very competitive.
And again back to that supportonboarding our new teachers at
the start of every school yearwith an entire week dedicated
(12:13):
just to them that peaks weekthat we are all so, so involved
in and we just love.
We want to make our investmentis in people.
We want to make our new peoplefeel welcome in our CSD family.
We want to connect them withtheir colleagues and provide
excellent ongoing professionallearning so they can be
successful in their grade levelor their content area.
(12:35):
And the other thing, aninvestment is retaining our
student teachers has proven tobe very successful for us, oh
great.
So Kelly and I place thosestudent teachers and we are very
intentional about who we placethem with we want those strong,
experienced mentor teachers sothat they have that experience
that's positive and just greatin every way which reaps rewards
(13:00):
for us at the end of their timewith us, because now they know
the Canyons way and then we'vejust set them up for success in
our district and we also havestrong partnerships with those
universities.
Especially well, in-state, andthen notably out-of-state, is
Iowa State University and wehave a lot of kids from Iowa
State because of all thewonderful things that Utah
(13:22):
offers and the beauty like theyjust want to stay here.
They come student teach, theydo their practicums with us and
they want to be in Canyons.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, and I've heard actually great things about that
program.
I mean that is really primingthe pipeline for us.
It is, yeah, and they've beensuch a great addition to our
team.
They have.
And actually, steve, maybe youcan recall too I mean I think I
don't remember what year it wasbut we, the Canyons Board of
Education, really did go out ona limb to try to raise teacher
salaries quite a bit Right, andthat actually started sort of a
(13:50):
salary war across the statewhere other districts had to
bump their salary.
And over the years we'veincreased teacher starting
teacher salary quite a bit Right.
I mean all teacher salaries.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
But oh very much so.
Of it right, I mean all teachersalaries, but oh very much so.
It's been about six years agowhere we increased by almost
$6,000 in one year, bringing thebeginning teaching salary to
$50,000.
And it did cause a little bit ofa war but, what it did is it
(14:20):
caused all other districts toraise the bar to make teaching a
livable wage, and until then,you know we were looking at
maybe $30,000, $40,000, and soit's come a long ways to get to
that $61,000, $61,000 that wecurrently are, and so yeah, so
yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
$61,000 is what we are for starting teacher ranks
in Cair.
So yeah, so six, so yeah, Sixtyone thousand is what we are for
a starting teacher right now inCanyons.
Yeah, that's remarkable.
I think at one point we hadcalculated it was something like
a was a 20 percent increase insix years or something.
I mean it was it's it's prettysubstantial and like consecutive
year after year after year.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Let's talk about forecasting staffing needs.
This is a little bit in theweeds, but it's like so vital
right, like it's one of thosethings that no one really knows,
that happens behind the scenes.
But how do we determine howmany teachers will need each
year to fill our schools, right?
What factors kind of go intothose projections?
Speaker 5 (15:13):
It really starts with the number of students enrolled
in our schools and theprojections, as well as
identified students and schoolneeds.
Fte allocations are determinedby our directors of school
performance.
They're the ones who determineexactly what goes to each school
, but some of the considerationsused in factors are the number
(15:34):
of students in a building, thenumber of multilingual students
attending and their languageproficiency.
We know that there arestruggles and that we need to
provide additional supports.
The number of studentsperforming well below basic in
reading and math, and possibleimpacts of special programs such
as DLI, salta and specialclassrooms.
We also look at studentmobility rates is also a
(15:58):
consideration, because if youhave a large number of students
moving in and out, you've got tobe able to provide more
intensive services for thosestudents.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It sounds like the way you describe it a little
simpler than it really is.
Right, because here's thereality.
Right, we do a really big pushin January to get many students
enrolled as possible early, asearly as possible, right, so
that you have those projectionsand those kind of a rough idea
of who to expect.
But then inevitably, someonemoves into the community later
(16:29):
in the year, or someone didn'thear about it, and they don't
register until August.
You know, prior to the year,that they're going to start.
And then, I know, even furthercompounding things or making
things more complicated is thefact that we do have some, you
know, an enrollment decline andeven though as a district, we're
capturing a larger share of theschool age population than we
were, even like two to threeyears ago, which is to say we
(16:52):
are still a destination district, right, I think the headwinds
are such, with the decliningbirth rate, that it's still in
those elementary schools, someof those elementary schools,
declining, and sometimes it'sjust fluctuating even from grade
to grade.
Right, you have a really bigthird grade but maybe a smaller
kindergarten, and so, yeah, howdo you account for all that?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
He's a master.
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
So our IT department uses a program that's called
Davis Demographics to try tohelp identify those things and
it's you looking at communitydata to be able to help try and
project.
And also trends.
What are the trends over thelast five years?
Of the comings and the goings,but it really is, especially for
(17:34):
kindergarten.
I hate to say it, butkindergarten is like a roulette
wheel.
You can do the very best thatyou can on guessing based upon
birth rates for a zip code, butyou don't know if those children
are going to show up and ourelementary numbers are
significantly down.
(17:54):
Our birth rates are down in ourarea and that makes it more
difficult, especially because itwill progress through If you
have a smaller kindergartenclass.
It'll take 12 years to get tothe senior year, but they will
be smaller classes.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, yeah.
And so really, I mean it comesdown to I mean, where do you
start with staffing ratios?
I mean, do you have a targetthat you're trying to reach?
Speaker 5 (18:19):
So the board has allocated or has determined a
staffing and a budgeting ratio.
So, and we've done that sincethe inception of the district
back in 2009.
So for kindergarten, we staffat 22.15 students per class.
That's the goal, but it's neverperfect.
There's always going to be aclass that's a little larger and
a class that's a little smaller.
(18:40):
First through third grade are22.3.
Grades four through eight arestaffed at 26.3.
And grades nine through 12 arestaffed at 27.
And class sizes they trulyrarely align perfectly with the
staffing ratios.
So when this doesn't occur.
Principals make difficultchoices about how the allocation
(19:01):
is distributed within theschool, as well as using
alternative funds available tothem, such as land trust or
advanced placement or concurrentenrollment funds as well play a
part in trying to backfillthose areas.
And for secondary schools,preparation periods also impact
class sizes.
(19:21):
So approximately 30 years ago,high school teachers were given
the opportunity to provide inputregarding having extended
preparation period each day orevery other day when high
schools move to the AB blockschedule, and so teachers voted
for a preparation period eachday, with the understanding that
(19:41):
their class sizes would belarger.
So for high schools on the ABblock schedule, we anticipate
classes to have approximately 36students per class.
Okay, if high schools were tomove to a seven-period day
schedule, we'd anticipate classsizes dropping to approximately
32 students per class, and formiddle schools, because of the
(20:04):
preparation period, it's about31 students per class on a
seven-period day, and weanticipate about 32 students on
the six-period day.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, Interesting, Well and it's yeah.
Students on the sixth periodday yeah, Interesting, Well and
it's yeah.
So much goes into that.
Like we once upon a time did anepisode on how to build a board
, I do not envy that work at theelementary.
I mean the middle of thesecondary school level right,
yes, how many kids can go ineach class and how many teachers
do I need for each class andwhere are they going to be?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
And coming from the elementary world and hearing you
know when Kelly and I workedtogether, and Steve, who has
been a principal in a secondaryschool too, like I can't even
imagine building a board.
So they are just true.
Wow, I don't get it Right Highschool's even harder.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
It's when you surround yourself with an
incredible team because twoheads are much better than one.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The board and the administration have really tried
to preserve funding to where itmatters most right, which is in
our schools and for staffing inour schools and in our
classrooms.
Are there any other innovationsor new tools that we're sort of
exploring to streamline thehiring process or kind of
improve forecasting?
Speaker 5 (21:11):
So for hiring process we use an application called
VidCruiter which allowspotential candidates to
interview 24 hours a day, sevendays a week, from anywhere in
the world.
They just have to have aninternet connection that allows
Lori and Kelly to be able toreview those on a regular basis
(21:32):
and be able to push out thosecandidates to our principals who
have a particular need.
The other awesome thing is itallows our principals to go in
and review those and identifyfour or five candidates that
they feel would be a great fitfor their school to bring in and
do one-on-one interviews withthemselves as well as their team
(21:55):
to try to evaluate Onboarding.
We're always looking at abetter way.
The district is going to bemoving to a program called Q and
we're hoping that that willhelp us improve our ability to
onboard more electronically.
Oh, interesting, just tosimplify the process, but it's
(22:16):
still out there.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
And we just work on it every single time we get a
chance.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
And for the uninitiated Q, is the new
version of Skyward, which is ourstudent information system,
correct?
Also our employee financialinformation system, right, so
it's where all the datainformation on payroll and
employees and yeah is kept.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
And students as well.
So we'll be moving thefinancial side here in October
and I think it's a year laterwhere we're moving to the
student system.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
So you talked about the initial part of the FTE
process.
What happens come fall, whenwe've done like we don't really
know who's going to be in schooluntil what's our official
October 1 count right, that'sthe count that we send to the
state to draw down theappropriate number of per
student dollars and statefunding.
So what happens come October1st and you're like 11 kids down
in one particular class foryour projections, how many?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
butts are actually in the seats.
That's what we say.
Okay, yeah, butts in seats.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
So we actually start working way before October 1st.
Our goal is is, as principalsare identifying before school
starts what their numbers aregoing to be If they see that
there's a significant reductionin their students.
There's oftentimes well, notoften, but occasionally where
we'll take a teacher and thenmove them to a school where we
(23:31):
know that we see more studentswho are enrolling.
We do what's called a sixth andeleventh day count.
Okay, and so trying to find outon that sixth day, how many
students do we have actuallyshown up?
Sixth day of the school, yeah,yeah, sixth day of school and
also the eleventh, so that wecan try and make adjustments for
that, either through our FTEcushion, which is created
(23:55):
between the staffing and thebudgeting ratio, to give us an
amount that we can hire otherteachers and at the same time
trying to look at do we need tomove a teacher from a school
where their numbers aresignificantly down to another
(24:15):
school?
That would help balance out thenumbers.
So we're trying to avoid largeclass sizes and then very small
class sizes.
Yeah, yeah.
It's a balance.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, not an easy job Outlook for the next few years.
Do we expect staffingchallenges to ease, or are there
sort of some headwinds stiffheadwinds on the horizon for a
while?
Speaker 5 (24:37):
We are starting to see a little bit more of an
increase of students going intoeducation.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
But it takes four years because of them starting
there.
Just like through the ACEprogram, when we increased
salaries, we started to see asmall uptick in the number of
students wanting to go intoeducation.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
I had a young man in my neighborhood who always
wanted to be a teacher, but hesaid I can't do this because
it's not financially viable formyself and my family.
So by doing that, it's givingindividuals an opportunity to go
into education that they wouldlike to, and we have our Apple
program which is for thealternative preparation.
(25:25):
And so we're getting individualswho have this is really their
second career, who always wantedto be a teacher but didn't see
a possibility for that.
So we're seeing those folkscome back and I can't remember I
think it was like six of ourApple teachers were part of our
(25:45):
Teachers of the Year this yearwhich is an incredible thing for
our Apple preparation program,as well as these incredible
individuals who love teaching,love kids and want to make a
difference.
So will there be headwinds?
Yes, our goal is to always hirethe very best candidates that
(26:07):
we can, nationwide, from Utah,anywhere we can find them,
because that's truly where therubber hits the road is.
If our students are going tomake growth and be proficient,
it starts with the teacher inthe classroom.
And you know, I remember, allof us have a teacher who made a
(26:28):
difference in their life.
I don't care who you are,there's at least one teacher who
did, and we want to makecertain that we find those
teachers for all of our students.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, well, amen.
Well said, Steve.
I love that.
I can't think of a better noteto end on.
You've been listening toConnect Canyons.
This is Kirsten Stewart.
If you've liked what you'veheard, give us a shout out, and
if you'd like to hear us coveranything else in particular of
interest, just email us atcommunications at
canyonsdistrictorg.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,facebook or Instagram at Canyons
District or on our website,canyonsdistrictorg.
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