Kids start school at less-crowded site

WEST JORDAN — Oakcrest Elementary sixth-graders kicked off the school year this week in new digs: Sunset Ridge Middle School.

And they have the whole place to themselves.

That's good, says student Kate Carlile, to let them assimilate to their new surroundings. But it's certainly not the best part.

So what is?

"We get lockers," Carlile says.

The sixth-grade class moved to the middle school this week to ease crowding at Oakcrest, until a new elementary school opens up next year.

The elementary school currently has 12 portable classrooms and 1,600 kids.

"If it's not the biggest enrollment in the state, it's got to be up there," principal Norman Emerson said.

The 176 sixth-graders remain Oakcrest students. They're just spending the year in the middle school's north wing.

They and about 19,000 other students in 30 year-round schools — including the brand new Midas Creek Elementary in Riverton, which enrolls 914 students and counting — rang in the new year Wednesday in Jordan District, spokesman Mike Kelley said.

Twelve Granite District year-round schools also kicked off Wednesday. Eight schools in Davis started Monday, and six in Salt Lake City will begin Wednesday.

Year-round schedules typically aim to make better use of space in crowded schools. But Salt Lake District uses them to keep kids' minds sharp and because parents like it, spokesman Jason Olsen said. Granite District also has two single-track year-round schools — South Kearns and Woodrow Wilson — which will start Monday.

Oakcrest sixth-graders will be alone in the middle school until Aug. 27, when Sunset Ridge's seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders start their school year. That gives them time to get used to the changes — and perks — of the middle school.

Sunset Ridge, which is only two years old, doesn't have a playground. But it has an indoor track — students took laps Thursday morning for "recess" — a huge cafeteria and commons area, even a dance room, notes sixth-grader Cole Skeen. Once the middle-school students come, Oakcrest can access the computers and media center and specialists.

"It's a really nice school," Skeen said. "Oakcrest is so crowded."

Homeroom teachers use five classrooms, and students rotate for math, science, art and other instruction as they always have. They'll start and end school about 45 minutes later than the middle schoolers will when they come in the early fall. They'll have some interaction with seventh-graders, whose classrooms are nearby, but limited contact with ninth-graders, assistant principal Brent Bateman said.

"It's a good situation for kids," Bateman said. "As the district grows, this was an option (to alleviate crowding), and I think it's been a good option."

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