One woman questioned how the district can justify buying a new building to house its offices, a technical institute for high school students and an elementary school — a move the district touted as a steal of a deal and a great move for taxpayers — then close down others.

Some questioned why Meadow Moor should close when others staying open have received worse building ratings than it did.

A few asked how the two schools could have been selected to close when the board preliminarily voted to keep all schools open, saying only minor tweaks would follow.

"Closing schools after they say they're all going to be open is not tweaking it," Canyon Rim parent Katherine Havell said after the meeting. "(The board) has lost all of our faith in the process . . . their integrity and credibility."

The issue is rooted in a spring report of 8,700 empty seats in the district, costing taxpayers $3 million a year to maintain.

A district options committee of parents and school workers, following public input, recommended closing several schools and changing boundaries to save money for programs, foster districtwide equity and keep students together from elementary through high school.

The board preliminarily voted in early November to close no schools but adjust dozens of boundaries and rebuild fire-ravaged Wasatch Junior High. That earned praise from the Friends for Education Coalition, which lobbied to maintain neighborhood schools and to push for school voluntarism and additional school funding in grants and from the Utah Legislature.

But the action was decried by the teachers union and the group All Communities Together. The district expects operating costs to rise next year but has no more taxing authority to help make ends meet.

The board has said its final vote is expected to save $1.4 million in annual operating costs.

But two Canyon Rim parents — possibly foreshadowing a lawsuit — contend the Nov. 29 vote was invalid. They said in a letter last week that the board violated its policy because it did not accept or reject recommendations of an options committee.

Superintendent Steve Ronnenkamp disagrees with the statement.

Tuesday, Meadow Moor supporter Christopher Jensen said he was offering the board a petition with some 1,200 signatures of people aiming to keep that school open. "You know . . . that Meadow Moor is not the right school to close," he told the board. "If a school needs to be closed, let's close the right school."

But the board stuck to its vote.

"I feel like they're closing down my home," said an emotional Jen Abouzelof, a Meadow Moor alumna attending the University of Utah.

Canyon Rim School Community Council chairman David Garrett said petitioning to create a charter school is an option for fall 2007. "In the meantime, we will follow marching orders and make the best of the situation."

But some Meadow Moor parents have other plans.

"We are moving ahead to get our own school district" for Holladay city schools, Maria Parker said.

A group of community members last week received information on splitting school districts and how to make the possibility, allowed now by Utah law, easier to seek. A group in West Valley has expressed interest in seceding from Granite District.

"We're not done," Parker said. "We're not finished."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com