Voices: Utah’s adults must do better by our children

Iam not a stranger to Utah schools; I am a once-product, now perpetrator of them.

My parents moved us to the Avenues the summer before I started kindergarten at Ensign Elementary in Mrs. Rich’s class. Last I checked, my maiden name is still engraved on a plaque in the communications building at the University of Utah, recognizing excellence in forensics during my undergraduate years. For better and worse, I was shaped by local classrooms. Later, I taught in four countries across three continents, where I witnessed what education can be when prioritized and administered with dignity, curiosity and connection, rather than with politics.

At Springville Jr. High , students recently shared in an op-ed for The Salt Lake Tribune that political divisions are fracturing friendships and silencin