The wide halls are virtually silent and the spacious commons area is conspicuously empty. Only the occasional sound of workmen putting final touches on the building indicates that there are people anywhere around. The cafeteria doesn't tease the senses with good smells of food. The auditorium is dark and silent. Classrooms don't echo with the sounds of education going on. Computer rooms don't click-clack and the 30 sewing machines still in their boxes don't hum. The athletic fields are in that green-and-brown state that says grass is growing but not yet grown. The "innards" — control panels, color-coded pipes, water tanks and equipment that create a building's own climate — are pristine.
At the moment, it's just 220,000 square feet worth of waiting.
Hard to believe that in a few weeks, Granite School District's new Scott M. Matheson Junior High School will reverberate with the patter (pounding?) of some 1,920 pre-teen and early-teen feet, the cacophony of some 960 voices all trying to be heard and the busy work of some 9,600 young fingers as they take the business of being educated in hand under the tutelage of 36 teachers, four counselors, a principal and assistant principal and sundry office, cafeteria and custodial workers.
"We're ready," said Principal Alan Bailey, who has been working at the school since Jan. 22 to be certain a thousand details will all come together to make that prediction come true. He left the helm at Bonneville Junior to open the new school.
The handsome new school at 3600 South and 7750 West, built at a cost of some $17 million, will welcome students Aug. 26. Several preschool events will allow parents and students to become familiar with the building and the plans for educating seventh- through ninth-graders. On Aug. 14, an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. will feature a visit by U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Norma Matheson, son and widow, respectively, of the former Utah governor whose name the school bears. Registration will be Aug. 15. A parent information meeting will be held Aug. 21, and on the 23rd, orientation will be held for incoming seventh-graders. Information is available via Web at www.granite.k12.ut.us or by calling the school at 250-0462.
Principals at Brockbank, Hunter and Jefferson junior high schools hail the opening of the new school, which will relieve some of the overcrowding problems at their schools. Granite District has been coping with phenomenal growth on Salt Lake Valley's west side for years. Matheson will create a more manageable distribution for the junior highs, but it is possible yet another school will be necessary in the next decade.
The new student body being drawn from the three schools has been involved in some of the decisionmaking vital to creating a new educational entity. Bailey invited students to volunteer for a temporary student council that will function until elections in October. Students also voted on the important matters of a mascot (Matheson Tigers won) and school colors (blue and green) that will distinguish them from their peers across the district.
Recently, Bailey walked a group of the student council members through their new quarters. Wandering through what seemed a labyrinth of hallways, with one specifically designated for each of the grade levels, Sarah Anderson predicted it "will take awhile to find all my classes." There'll be a little leeway at first, Bailey assured her, but after that, the five-minute class-change rule will apply — and that might mean a footrace for some students who have to get from the classroom wings on the south to the music-drama-vocational-athletic quarters or cafeteria on the north end of the building.
Shelby Hansen and Amy Stock will find the transition to Matheson easy. They are to be seventh-graders and don't have any attachments to another junior high school. Shelby was enthused about Matheson's drama quarters, which have their own practice stage to prepare students for the larger, well-equipped stage in the auditorium.
"I'm going to take some drama," she announced. Bailey envisions everything from "Hamlet to Charlie Brown" in the future.
Heidi Christensen, who is making the transfer from Brockbank, eyed the spiffy new Matheson half-length lockers a little askance. She prefers the full-length lockers, she said, even though she won't have to share her Matheson locker with anyone. "It's too small for all my junk," she said. Robert Stock, an eighth-grader from Hunter Junior High, was not so concerned with the size as with that first-day bugaboo, "Will they open easy?"
But if Christensen felt the lockers were small, Camille Forster, a ninth-grader making the change from Jefferson Junior High, was impressed with the wide hallways. "This is tons better than Jefferson," she said
Bailey is anticipating "an excellent music program." He enlisted Rosalie Eyre, director of instrumental music for Granite Park Junior High School and for the Granite Youth Symphony. Brenda Osborne will direct choral programs. "Is she nice?" one of the student visitors wanted to know, and Bailey assured her that Osborne will fit that description.
With an auditorium that seats 1,187, Bailey believes the school will not only accommodate some student body growth but also be a center for the community. He sees the whole school as a community asset that will be used for more than classes. The school already has an arrangement with Salt Lake County to swap recreation programs for free use of the landfill, he said.
Bailey also is hoping some business partners will step up to help Matheson with some of the costly amenities — including a sporty new sign featuring the Matheson Tiger that will someday welcome visitors to his campus.
In the meanwhile, he continues directing the semi trucks that are arriving every day with equipment and furniture. And he's chopping away at the last-minute-end-of-construction glitch list — including the fact that his magical open-everything key to the building wouldn't open the doors to either the boys or girls gymnasiums as he led his student visitors on a tour.
E-MAIL: tvanleer@desnews.com