Alpine District may split in 3

LEHI — While attending Lehi High School in the 1970s, David Cox participated in a smattering of activities, from choir to the Future Farmers of America.

"I could have been in anything I wanted to be," Cox said. "I knew every teacher in the school, and every teacher knew me."

Times have changed, says Cox, now a fifth-grade teacher at Sego Lily Elementary School.

With overflowing classrooms and large school districts, students are lucky to participate in just one activity — if they can make the cut.

"In high school, they need to experience a lot of different things because they don't know what they want to do with their lives," said Cox, also a Republican state legislator.

"What we need are more opportunities for everyone, not just a few opportunities for the very elite," he said. "Every student needs to be involved."

And he thinks that HB169 — which he spearheaded during the 2003 general legislative session — will help students get more opportunities.

Effective today, the bill outlines the process for school district division.

And if a current proposal is realized, Alpine School District would be split into three separate districts, each with two or three high schools and nearby junior high and elementary schools.

At last count, Alpine has some 50,000 students — well above the national average of 2,500 students in a district.

"It is a decision that will impact every household in the district and people need to be aware," said Jerrilyn Mortensen, an Alpine district spokeswoman. "The district will provide information and work with citizen groups to help them make informed decisions."

Residents in favor of the split have already formed two committees to press the issue.

"I think the children in Orem would benefit from smaller school districts," said Dean Dickerson, a member of Orem's City Council. "Orem can decide what is important for Orem's children. Lehi can decide what is important for Lehi's children."

Dickerson's biggest concern is that individual cities have to reach a common consensus on district issues such as bond issuances.

With growth centered in northern Utah County, he thinks it's unfair to ask Orem residents to help pay for schools they'll never use.

"The problems Orem has are not the problems the other parts of the districts have," Dickerson said. "Lehi can decide what is necessary up there without having to campaign for it in Orem. There shouldn't be competing interests."

To secure passage of bond proposals, which increase property taxes to pay for school construction and renovation, Alpine's board has promised work on schools across the district, Cox said.