Provo fears school gap

PROVO —Joaquin Elementary will likely be the first Provo school shuttered when up to six schools are closed or converted to other uses in a still-being-debated massive overhaul of school boundaries in the city.

That's been the talk of Provo school chiefs as they've discussed how to address problems caused mostly by topsy-turvy growth patterns and the district's aging schools that are in dire need of costly renovations.

"There is a wonderful spirit in the hallways of (Joaquin)," Provo Superintendent Randy Merrill said Wednesday at a meeting to discuss drafts of a plan to guide the district's growth for the next decade. "But that building has to be replaced. It's just not right to send students to that building."

Joaquin Elementary is the oldest downtown elementary school, and its proximity to Brigham Young University makes it prime real estate for the district to sell, said Greg Hudnall, the district's student services coordinator.

But if nearby Farrer Middle School isn't converted into an elementary for Joaquin students, 196 blocks in central Provo could become a "school-free zone" with no nearby elementary school for more than 1,000 students.

Kurt Peterson, who is part of the 60-member committee that created six scenarios for the district to consider in its growth planning, said there's a lot of concern among parents that such central-city neighborhoods will lack a school.

Although the district hasn't formally selected a plan that would determine how schools will be used, board members seem to prefer a "quadrant model" that would provide elementary schools within walking distance of most students.

That plan is also a favorite among local residents — more than half of those in attendance at two public meetings preferred it over other scenarios.

None of the scenarios, however, mentions a controversial proposal to buy out Nebo School District's interest in Oakridge School, which currently serves as a special-education facility for both districts.

Although Merrill hopes to convert the facility to a school where a select group of students would be taught half in English and half in Spanish, the master-plan committee wasn't allowed to include Oakridge in any of its scenarios, committee member Norman Thurston said.

"Establishing a new magnet school while discussing closures for neighborhood schools goes against everything the master plan committee has worked and argued for," said Thurston, who drafted the quadrant model.

"Because magnet schools draw their enrollment from neighborhoods, they weaken neighborhood schools."