Granite High is on chopping block again

A faded yellow poster hanging on the hallway wall at Granite High School shows a bird singing "Don't worry. Be happy."

The old poster was hung long before Granite School District officials realized they would have to cut $28 million from the 2009-10 budget. And it was posted before Granite School Board started seriously discussing the possibility of closing Granite High to save $1.3 million in annual operation costs.

A new poster in the hallway, with pink hearts and multi-colored lettering reads "Save Our School" and announces a protest march.

The teens plan to walk from their school, 3305 S. 500 East, to the Granite District Office, 2500 S. State, on Tuesday before a 7 p.m. public hearing at the district office.

The hearing will be "an opportunity for a conversation," said Granite District Superintendent Stephen Ronnenkamp, emphasizing no decisions have been made.

This is not the first time Granite High has been on the chopping block. And it's not the first time the student body, teachers and alumni have rallied to keep it open. In 2005, district officials considered closing the school due to dwindling enrollment but ultimately reconfigured it as a nontraditional high school.

Teachers, students and alumni are again armed with history, emotion and nostalgia as they fight against possible closure.

"Losing Granite High would be like losing part of myself," said ninth-grader Breanna Burningham, 15, who said her grandparents went to the school.

Granite High principal Carole Harris said, "Instead of closing Granite they should clone it."

District officials have stark data and cold, hard facts. "I understand the emotional tug but we have continually dealt with a declining enrollment," said assistant superintendent Linda Mariotti.

The school board will decide whether Granite High will be sacrificed to keep the district budget out of the red. "Difficult decisions have to be made," said board president Sarah Meier.

Granite High is a magnet program with 295 students from all over the district, which cuts a wide swath through the Salt Lake Valley from Olympus Cove to Magna. The average high school has 1,500 students.

"The children get one-on-one education they can't get anywhere else," said parent David Liddiard, 51, of South Salt Lake.

There are 12 teachers at the school, which provides a community feel with lots of individualized attention.