Three Canyons elementary schools could lose half their Dual Language Immersion slots under a proposed enrollment rubric the school board reviewed Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Superintendent McKay Robinson presented 11-day kindergarten enrollment counts at the board meeting, showing three DLI schools fell below the threshold needed to keep two immersion classes per grade. The district has not identified which three schools are affected.

Under the proposed rubric, a school needs at least 50 students to commit to DLI by Jan. 15 to keep a two-cohort model of roughly 56 immersion students, split across two classes of 28. Schools that miss that mark would drop to a single class of 30 students. Each school must also enroll at least 19 students in a general-education classroom, which the district is required by law to offer.

The proposal grew out of decreasing enrollment in the district's global-language programs. Last year, some Canyons schools did not have enough incoming first-graders to sustain two DLI classes and were moved to one cohort for budget reasons. If approved, the rubric would standardize that decision districtwide.

Families have until Friday, Sept. 4, to complete a three-question survey the district released Aug. 2. The board also encouraged School Community Councils to weigh in. Board member Holly Neibaur said she appreciated the depth of discussion on the DLI proposal at the meeting.

No vote was taken Sept. 1.

The DLI enrollment window opens Sept. 30 and runs through Dec. 15. Parents will be able to track real-time enrollment numbers on the Canyons District website during that period. The Jan. 15 commitment deadline determines whether each school keeps two cohorts or drops to one.

Visitor ID policy takes effect

The board also approved a new visitor policy, consistent with new state law, requiring anyone entering a Canyons school during instructional hours to show government-issued identification at the front office. Acceptable forms include a driver's license, state ID, passport, military ID, Permanent Resident Card, tribal identification card, foreign identification card or municipal photo ID.

Visitors who lack ID or are cleared by visual verification may be escorted by school staff in areas where students are present, per state law. Assistant Legal Counsel Jeffrey Christensen said "the policy addresses the safety issues of knowing who is on campus during school hours."

During instructional hours, campuses are closed to the general public unless a specific agreement with a government entity exists.