A video of Ken Grover touting the benefits of personalized learning has been scrubbed from a local YouTube channel after the former Salt Lake City school administrator came under fire for allegedly misrepresenting graduation rates and mishandling public funding.
TEDx Salt Lake City announced Monday on its Facebook page that it was working to delete the video, recorded during a 2015 TEDx event, after concerns were raised in response to reporting by The Salt Lake Tribune.
“We are deeply saddened and disappointed to see something like this happening in our community,” the post stated, “because we deeply value learning and education.”
Earlier this week, the Tribune published a pair of reports based on school district documents and interviews with Salt Lake City School District administrators. Records obtained by the Utah Investigative Journalism Project showed that a specialty high school launched by Grover — Innovations Early College High School — had lower performance levels than Grover described while touting the school at speaking engagements like the TEDx events, and that large sums of money had been spent on sugary treats, movies, gift cards and other incentives for students.
Subsequent reporting found that Grover had used district funding — and initially created the school — without formal approval by the district’s superintendent and school board. Grover denied that characterization, attributing the allegations to a difference of opinion over the funding model for the hybrid school, which relies on a nearby campus of Salt Lake Community College to enroll students in early-college courses.
Grover did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. A video of his presentation can still be found on a TEDx Talks YouTube channel.
