After receiving pledges of increased donations from local industry and miners, the Carbon County Board of Education Wednesday night backed off from a plan to close East Carbon High School.
At a special meeting in the Carbon High School auditorium, Nick Sampinos, attorney and part owner of East Carbon Development Corp., said in addition to the $82,000 a year pledged by his company and East Carbon City, another $48,000 would come from Sunnyside Coal Co. and $25,000 per year from union members who work at that mine. The total would be $155,000.The unanimous vote of the school board to keep the school open was met by cheers and a long standing ovation. Many in the audience were from East Carbon.
Several weeks ago, Superintendent Robert N. Hanson announced plans to close East Carbon High, along with an elementary school and a middle school in Price, because of declining enrollment.
He said East Carbon High School, with an enrollment of about 200, including junior high school-age students, requires a substantial subsidy each year. This cost affects class sizes and employees' salaries throughout the district. He said Carbon District's class sizes are among the highest in the state and salaries of principals and teachers are significantly below the state average.
Mayors of the two communities served by the school, Paul Clark of East Carbon and Gregg Wakefield of Sunnyside, led a vigorous campaign to keep the high school open.
At an earlier meeting in Price, Clark said that after years of mine closings, the communities are now on the upswing. Two industries, ECDC, which operates a huge landfill, and Sunnyside Cogeneration Associates, with a small power plant, have located there and some formerly vacant homes are now occupied. He said keeping the high school open will encourage other industries to come.
Also at earlier meetings, parents talked about problems of busing students 25 miles a day, and the dangers of high school students driving themselves. If East Carbon closed, students would go to Carbon High School and Mont Harmon Junior High in Price.
At Wednesday's meeting, Sampinos said the $82,000 pledged by East Carbon City and ECDC will come from the 50-cent tipping fee ECDC pays East Carbon City on each ton of solid waste deposited at the landfill. The city is pledging 10 cents of the fee paid on each ton up to 820,000 tons. Until that volume is reached, ECDC will make up the difference.
Sunnyside Coal Co. is pledging 5 cents per ton on the mine's saleable production tons. The mine expects to produce at least 80,000 tons of coal this year, Sampinos said, for a donation of $48,000.
The United Mine Workers of America, local 9958, whose members work in the mine, have offered to work one Saturday each year and donate wages to the school, or donate one hour per month of wages. Either plan would raise about $25,000.
David Maggio, local president, said union members will vote on which plan to follow.
School board president Walter Borla said the school will be kept open on a year-to-year basis and the donated money will need to be available by Feb. 1 of each year. He said he has some misgivings about setting a precedent that future boards may regret.
Closings of Durrant Elementary School and Westridge Middle School in Price remain on schedule. Durrant is to close at the end of the 1994-95 school year and Westridge at the end of the 1997-98 school year.
Hanson said Westridge is the most expensive school in the district. Community members have suggested it be converted to a junior high school and Helper students bused there. Helper Junior High School is one of the oldest schools in the district.
The superintendent said earlier that College of Eastern Utah is interested in buying Durrant, which is near the college.