Granite alters boundaries

About 600 Granite District elementary students will change schools next school year.

The Granite Board of Education voted Tuesday to alter several west-side boundaries — the most affected being Arcadia, Farnsworth, David Gourley, Granger, Taylorsville and Rolling Meadows — to balance enrollment, district planning and boundaries director Jerry Pulsipher said.

The board also approved taking Plymouth Elementary off the multi-track, year-round schedule.

It also is looking to add four to eight new classrooms plus restrooms to Hillsdale Elementary. The project would cost $900,000 to $1.5 million, Pulsipher said.

The district will study secondary school demographics over the next two years.

The action follows an annual study of school populations in the state's second-largest school district. The study is conducted by a special committee and with feedback from the community.

Still, not everyone is happy.

A group of David Gourley parents, for instance, had asked their children be moved together to Arcadia or Bennion. But there wasn't enough room in either school for all 123 of them.

"Numbers-wise, I understand," said Marianna Allred, mother of three. "I feel they listened and took a look at it, but it doesn't do anything" to keep the kids together.