Northern Utah County school district chooses temporary name
Apr 24, 2025, 3:00 PM
The Alpine School District Office in American Fork on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
(Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
LEHI— One of the two districts splitting from the Alpine School District has chosen its new temporary name.
What started as the Central School District, which covers the communities of Lehi, American Fork, Alpine, Highland, Cedar Hills and a portion of Draper, will now be called the Aspen Peaks School District for the time being.
Related: Utah County releases proposed boundaries for Alpine School District split
The communities voted last November to break away from Utah’s largest school district to form their own district, as did several communities in western Utah County.
The new temporary name came after more than 1,100 community members submitted ideas earlier this year, according to the district’s website.
Cedar Hills City Council Member Kelly Smith, who served on the temporary interlocal board for the new district, said they couldn’t legally go with some of the choices. For example, she said some people wanted to keep the Alpine School District name.
She said though there were many suggestions featuring geographical locations like peaks, Smith said she actually suggested the “Aspen” portion of the name after hearing a story from current Alpine School District Superintendent Shane Farnsworth about the aspen tree’s strong, combined root system.
“I really liked that symbolism of us all working together and these new districts springing from a former, really strong district that we feel like served our communities really well,” said Smith.
What will the permanent name be?
Ultimately, the new district school board will have the final say on the permanent name.
The new board will be elected in the upcoming November election, and will be sworn in after the election results are certified.
Once that happens, Smith said they can get to work matters pertaining to the new district, including the new name, which she thinks will be one of the first things they tackle.
Smith suspects there will be some form of public input on the permanent name, whether that’s just hearing public comments at their first official board meeting or potentially doing some sort of survey.
The board can choose to ratify the name Aspen Peaks as the permanent name, or they can choose another.
The new board is expected to begin the leg work of officially splitting off and forming their own district in early 2026.
The new district will be operational beginning in the 2027-2028 school year.
Adam Small is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio. He primarily reports on the Great Salt Lake and Natural Resources. Follow him on Facebook and X.
