Two former West High administrators testified before the Utah Legislature’s Rules Review and General Government Oversight Committee on Sept. 25 that a student’s October 2023 stabbing at West High resulted from system failures that left staff and students unprotected.

Dr. Jared Wright, former principal of West High School, said he received word of an “organized fight” in a second‑floor bathroom on Oct. 10, 2023, and later learned a boy who had a known history of threats and violent incidents returned to the bathroom and “stabbed a young woman in the abdomen.” He said the victim required life‑saving first aid and was taken to Primary Children’s Hospital.

The testimony came after committee members invoked a legislative subpoena and ordered the witnesses sworn. Wright described prior contacts with district safe‑schools staff and recounted a December 2023 meeting in which he said district counsel told him the superintendent had “full legal latitude” not to expel the student. “We failed first and foremost the victim,” Wright told the committee, and added district leadership had neglected both the injured student and the assailant by not providing adequate supports.

Doctor Jared Wright (former principal, West High School) and Doctor [name as in transcript] Thomas (administrator who responded at the scene) described the immediate response: security and school resource officers administered first aid, called emergency services, and identified 13 students involved in the planned fight. Dr. Thomas told the panel she saw the victim “sitting on the ground” with a security employee holding a sanitary pad to the wound until paramedics arrived, and later viewed a cell‑phone video that showed the stabbing and the assailant fleeing the scene.

Committee members asked whether the district had followed statutory procedures for expulsion. Wright said members of the district’s safe‑school committee voted unanimously to expel the student, but that he was told by district officials the superintendent opposed expulsion and that follow‑through was incomplete. Wright said the student was arrested the night of the incident and later incarcerated.

Lawmakers pressed for the Salt Lake City School District to appear in committee with documents and to answer questions about record‑sharing, the district’s “clean‑slate” practice for students moved between campuses, and whether that practice left West High unaware of prior threats. Several legislators said they will send formal questions to the district and asked staff to compile statutes and audit records relevant to the district’s safe‑school procedures.

The committee chair said staff would collect questions and that the committee expects to reconvene or receive written responses to follow up.

Ending: Committee members said they will request documents and testimony from Salt Lake City School District and consider further oversight or legislative proposals about student record transfers and safe‑school standards.