Grandview land will not be sold

PROVO — If Grandview Elementary is closed and demolished, the Provo School District will not sell the land, the superintendent has promised.

"That is not on the table," Superintendent Randy Merrill told about a dozen community members serving on a committee studying the pros and cons of closing the west Provo school.

The school, 1591 N. Jordan Ave., could become a park or be transformed into athletic fields and small gymnasiums for Provo High School. Older sections of the 1958 school could possibly be demolished, leaving the remaining sections for office space.

"We don't have enough rooms to train our staff right now," Board of Education president Darryl Alder said.

Another option under consideration is turning Grandview into a center for kindergartners in Grandview and Westridge elementary school boundaries, and transferring all other Grandview students to Westridge.

The question of whether to close Grandview comes after construction of an elementary school in the nearby Lakeview neighborhood, which will be completed in fall 2008.

When the new school opens, Provo School District will have 14 elementary schools for its 7,400 elementary students, and now the school board must decide whether all schools should remain open.

Grandview Elementary would be the most obvious school to close, because it needs $7 million in repairs. Rebuilding the school on its site would cost about $10.4 million.

If Grandview remained open, state money that flows to the district would be cut 14 ways instead of 13, resulting in an average 8 percent budget cut at each school.

At Westridge Elementary, that could result in cutting the music program.

Parents of 56 students who live in Grandview boundaries are choosing to send their children to Westridge. In all, 75 students in Grandview boundaries — or 18 percent of the student body — attend other schools in Provo, with most attending Westridge Elementary. Other students attend schools such as Timpanogos, Spring Creek and Farrer elementary schools.

Provo city planners have approved a new housing subdivision on the west side, with a subdivision of more than 200 in the planning phase, said school board member Sandy Packard.