Alpine School District’s first day of school ahead of 2027 district split

SALT LAKE CITY — Wednesday marked first day of school for a number of schools throughout Utah, including Alpine School District, the largest district in Utah.

Listen to the full Inside Sources interview with Alpine School District Communications Director Rich Stowell 👇

 

Alpine School District Communications Director Rich Stowell talked about how the energy in the air was different because of how excited the kids are to get back to school.

“Our teachers are excited too, because… it’s kind of game day, right? They’ve been preparing all summer for the students and in a lot of cases they’re in new schools, new buildings, all the kids have new teachers, new administrator teams in some cases,” Stowell said. “Just a lot of opportunity for new stuff, and we love that.”

Alpine School District is planning on splitting in 2027. Stowell spoke about how the start of a new school year could help the district plan for that split.

“In some ways, we’re figuring out how to operate more efficiently,” Stowell said. “We know that resources are going to be tighter as we head into the split, so we’re looking for ways to do things differently and to help out new school districts.”

Stowell talked about how the district’s core mission plan, to help students learn, plays a big role in future plans.

“For the most part, what we feel like we can do best to help those new districts start out strong, is really focus on that (mission plan), just do what we do best,” Stowell said. “Let our teachers teach, let them grow in their professional learning communities, let our administration lead out in that learning and if we do that well, which I think we will, because we’ve done it well for all these years, those new school districts will be set up well.”

---

Related: New middle school opening in Eagle Mountain