It's been only two days since Salt Lake School District Superintendent John W. Bennion announced a proposal that would phase in open enrollment, and already the city is full of talk - or at least plans to be.
Since late Wednesday afternoon, when the Salt Lake Board of Education decided on June 14 as the day it will take citizen comments, 71 individuals have signed up to give their views. It promises to be a long meeting, because each individual is allowed three minutes.
However, it probably won't be an all-nighter. Board President F. Keith Stepan has a set an arbitrary limit of 75 speakers.
The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 14 at the new Hawthorne Elementary School, 644 Milton Ave.
Bennion's proposal would require all South High School students and ninth-graders to go to their assigned high schools next year. In 1989, they would be allowed to transfer on a space-available basis to the school of their choice. Open enrollment for all high schools would begin in 1990. The other part of the proposal would de-centralize the school district, giving individual schools more control over their programs and money.