Breaking schools' ground

PROVO — New schools will open soon in two Utah County neighborhoods.

Construction on a long-awaited elementary school in west Provo's Lakeview neighborhood is under way. District officials on Tuesday held a ceremonious setting of a cornerstone atop the foundation. Also Tuesday was the groundbreaking of a high school in Saratoga Springs.

The high school, which is being built in a field surrounded by new-home construction, will be needed for the north Utah County area in the next two years.

Neither school yet has an official name.

Construction on Provo District's new 776-student school at 1390 N. 2860 West is expected to be finished in March.

Lakeview neighbor Kevin Garver attended the groundbreaking event with his wife and children, including 6-year-old daughter Mary, who will attend the school as a third-grader when it opens in fall 2008.

"This is their school," he said. "They need to see the beginning of it."

The school was designed by Sandstrom Architects. Hogan and Associates began work on the school during the winter.

"We're right on schedule," Provo Superintendent Randy Merrill said. "They predicted months ago they would have laid the first brick today."

Merrill said he'll appoint a principal for the school this fall.

The 309,000-square-foot Saratoga Springs high school, also designed by Sandstrom and being built by Bud Mahas Construction, is located off Redwood near 400 North and 300 West. It will open with 1,300 students.

About 150 people attended the groundbreaking event for the Saratoga Springs high school, including local dignitaries and the band from Lehi's Willow Creek Middle School.

Students who attend Willow Creek, who come from Eagle Mountain, Cedar Valley, Saratoga Springs and Lehi, currently go to Lehi High School when they graduate from Willow Creek but will attend the new high school once construction is finished in fall 2009.

"We look forward to beginning and building traditions in academics, fine arts, athletics and all other aspects of the school," Willow Creek student body vice president Ashleigh O'Connor said.

Alpine Board of Education member Donna Barnes, a former Alpine District high school teacher and representative of the area surrounding the new high school, described the area's history starting with pioneers sent by Brigham Young to settle the area.

Barnes' father was a farmer, and she was one part of the second class that graduated from Lehi High School in 1961.

At the time, it was the district's smallest high school. Now, the school counts 1,668 students. Projections show 2,165 students will attend in the fall and 2,401 in 2008.

Four portable classrooms are being added to accommodate the growth, Alpine Assistant Superintendent Gary Seastrand said.

"The only thing I want to see growing here, besides alfalfa, barley and wheat are well-educated, strong-spirited students who have a love not only for their school but for their country."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com