Granite School District gets an earful

Hundreds of residents, teachers, parents and students streamed into Granite District offices Wednesday night to put in their two cents on district proposals to close schools and adjust boundaries.

Open house attendees streamed into six different auditoriums to hear taped presentations, detailing each of three options the district hopes might clean up school feeder patterns, streamline district spending and improve educational opportunities and equity districtwide.

Several sat at tables and on crowded floors, filling out surveys on how the district should proceed.

"I hope that the board members are listening because I think the majority of people here don't like their options," said Lee Ann Gardner of the Skyline area.

The 69,000-student Granite District reports having 8,700 empty seats, costing taxpayers $3 million a year to maintain. Last spring, a building utilization study found enrollments were more concentrated in schools west of 5600 West than on the east bench. The board has forwarded three options to address the matter, all of which include closing schools.

The Friends for Education Coalition, founded by Olympus and Skyline area residents, proposes an alternative option that would keep all schools open, rebuild Granite and Granger high schools, and adjust boundaries to balance districtwide enrollments.

Some attendees, including Gardner, favored that option.

"To save 0.7 percent of their annual budget (by closing schools) to do this to families, are they really (looking out) for children?" said Doreen Yates, a Skyline network resident.

Similar talks were heard throughout the open house. A group of parents peppered Superintendent Steve Ronnenkamp about the future of fire-destroyed Wasatch Junior High. Another man said some schools have suffered because schools have been kept open for too long.

Some questioned whether students from the diverse Granite High would be or feel welcomed elsewhere if their school were to close, and whether closing it was an easy out because parents there are less organized. Some filled out ballots urging board members to spare their neighborhood schools. Some questioned district motives.

Board member Carole Cannon assured the voices would be heard.

"I'm glad they're asking questions," she said. "I think the most important thing people need to know is, we're going to mix and match these options, and the final . . . might not come out looking like any of these."

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