Granite School District holding public hearings to decide fate of 2 east-side elementary schools

SALT LAKE CITY — Two elementary schools in Granite School District’s east side could be closing after officials recommended they shut down.

The district’s board is set to take action on those recommendations for the first time Tuesday to begin deciding the fate of Eastwood Elementary, 3305 S. Wasatch Boulevard in Millcreek, and Morningside Elementary, 4170 S. 3000 East in Holladay.

While nothing will be ultimately decided until the board’s final vote on Dec. 2, Granite Superintendent Ben Horsley told KSL.com the board will have the option to accept the recommendations of the district’s population analysis committee or explore other options.

Specifically, the committee has proposed closing Eastwood and merging its boundary with Oakridge Elementary. Morningside would also close, with its boundary merging with Driggs and Rosecrest elementary schools.

“They can accept that recommendation, they can ignore that recommendation and do nothing and leave the school as is, or they could close another school in the area and shift those programs,” Horsley said. “The board has limitless options in this regard.”

The primary reason the district is considering closing schools is declining student enrollment. In February, a population analysis study was conducted of its 10 easternmost elementary schools to explore options, including changing boundaries or closing the elementary schools altogether.

Parent pushback

The committee’s recommendation to close the schools hasn’t gone uncontested, though.

A coalition of 265 community members last week sent a letter to the district’s board, asking members to vote against the proposals.

Jen Robinson is a parent of two children attending Morningside. The school is a bit unique in the sense that, alongside its traditional role, it also hosts two additional programs.

Two-hundred fifty students participate in a French dual language immersion program, and 150 other students participate in an Advanced Learning Center program for gifted and talented students.

While Eastwood’s campus would close completely if the board approves the recommendation, Morningside’s campus would transition completely into a K-5 French dual language immersion program.

Robinson’s oldest — a second grader — is in the French program. She said the “complexity of the proposals” makes it hard for her and other families to plan for the future.

“When I think through the families at Morningside who have children in multiple programs, it becomes even more complicated. Will there be a place for their traditional children alongside their siblings who are in either dual language or advanced learning? Will there be a new school that they have to take their kids to for one or the other?” Robinson said.

With open enrollment for the upcoming school year already underway, Robinson said the final vote not happening until December has “a lot of parents feeling completely in limbo.”

This has also led to parents applying to charter schools in the area, Robinson said.

Danielle Housman is one of those parents. Housman’s second-grade student is in Morningside’s traditional program — meaning the family would be forced to find an alternative option if the recommendation passes. He’s also dyslexic, and Housman said Morningside’s special education trainer has special training in dyslexia that, to her knowledge, doesn’t exist elsewhere in the district.

“The whole idea of a school in the neighborhood is staying open, but excluding neighborhood kids, to me, is really just wrong,” Housman said. “I’m a huge and strong believer in public education. Going to a charter school is a thought that never, ever had crossed my mind. Now, I’m not having a lot of confidence in Granite because the decisions that they’re making seem to be very impulsive, not well thought out, not very data driven, and so I’m just not having a lot of faith in Granite and their ability to complete this study effectively and in a way that makes sense.”

The potential closure of her neighborhood school, coupled with the reality that Granite has closed 10 schools in the last seven years, has led Housman to seek alternative options.

“It makes me feel hesitant to just transfer to another Granite school that could potentially be facing another closure in the future. My No. 1 choice would be to stay in Granite and to stay at our school, where we are, but it just doesn’t feel very comfortable because of the erratic decision making,” Housman said.

What’s next?

The public will have the chance to weigh in on the closures during a public hearing at the district’s board meeting on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Granite Education Center.

An additional public hearing will be held at the district’s Dec. 2 board meeting at 7 p.m., before the board makes a final vote on the closure recommendation that same night.

Horsley said in general, it’s rare for the board to stray too far from the committee’s recommendations.

“Have they ever gone against the recommendation? Yes, but very mildly, meaning they’ve made minor adjustments to it or accepted it in its total, so we will see what the board decides to do tomorrow,” Horsley said.

More information regarding the closure recommendation can be found here.