UPDATE: After press time early Wednesday, the Granite Board of Education voted to reverse its earlier decision to close Hill View Elementary.
Hill View Elementary will close.
Wasatch Junior High will be rebuilt.
Granite High will remain open.
That's what the Granite Board of Education decided as of press time Tuesday in the first of two votes to determine how it wants to balance district enrollments.
The initial "first reading" action came in a packed meeting attended by perhaps 400 people, where dozens of parents, legislators and even Holladay and South Salt Lake city leaders kicked in their two cents on school closures.
Tuesday's vote gives a good idea of where the board is headed. And the plan will be slightly tweaked, if at all, by the time the final vote comes Nov. 29, board President Patricia Sandstrom said.
The 69,000-student district reports having 8,700 empty seats, costing taxpayers $3 million a year to sustain. An options committee of school workers and parents has been examining ways to streamline spending, ensure equitable educational programs and keep students together from elementary through high school.
Following committee recommendations, public input and board discussions, the board last month put three options out for comment. The effort included mailed and employee surveys and those distributed at three public open houses.
Most of those choosing an option gave top ranking to Option 3, or closing Granite High, Wasatch Junior High and Woodstock, Hill View and Canyon Rim elementaries.
That option overall was supported by about 1,580 respondents who chose an option, and received top billing among official options in mailed and employee surveys, according to district reports. It received the second most top rankings in the open houses.
"We agree we need to have schools close," Taylorsville resident Aimee Newton said. "Year after year, we hear cries of the school board to the Legislature, 'We need more money.' If we don't spend our money wisely, how can we expect legislators to give us more money?"
But 1,260 respondents combined voted for no option, the district reported. The Sustainable Education Option, which would close no schools and rebuild Granite and Granger highs, received support in 1,065 surveys where respondents offered comments. Seventy-five more offered it as a "suggestion."
The Sustainable Education Option was pitched by the Friends for Education Coalition, founded by Olympus and Skyline area residents to keep all schools open and balance enrollment through boundary changes. Tuesday, it took on the moniker "Carole Cannon Recommendation," after the board member who formally proposed it.
"Your decision tonight sets this district on a long-term course," said Alan Tingey, of Upland Terrace Elementary and Skyline High networks, who supports Cannon's recommendation. "Unify this district like it's never been unified before. . . . We need all the schools."
But the board didn't discuss that option.
Nor did it discuss — at least as a whole — the option committee's recommendation. That recommendation, formed after public input, sought to close Granite High, Wasatch Junior High and Hill View Elementary, no longer busing Taylorsville students to Cottonwood High, and building new elementaries in Granger, Kearns and Magna.
Rather, board members individually pitched the schools appearing in that recommendation.
"I don't like any of the options," said board member Hank Bertoch, in proposing to rebuild the burned-down Wasatch Junior High, but for about 900 students and staying within insurance settlement money of $12.5 million.
Several board members favored the rebuild, saying they didn't like the idea of giving Skyline High only one feeder junior high — Churchill — or cramming 1,600 students into it, which the options committee proposed.
Bertoch also proposed closing Granite, saying he believes Granite High doesn't have the population to support rebuilding the school and that students could be just as well served in Granger, Olympus and Cottonwood high schools.
"I really object to the attitude we say to our students, this is a specific group and they can't compete in any other school. That's baloney," he said. "We need to expect more of our students and we're not doing that properly at Granite High."
But the motion failed by one vote.
The South Salt Lake City Council is warm to discussing the possibility of helping finance the rebuilding of Granite High School, Councilman Bill Anderson said. A preliminary possibility: $2 million. "They are willing to consider it," he said of council members.
Board member Judy Weeks suggested exploring a creative funding option.
Discussion on Hill View Elementary came to a head close to press time. District spokesman Randy Ripplinger reported a motion to close that school passed 4-to-3, with Sarah Meier, Bertoch, Julene Jolley and Connie Burgess voting yes.
A motion to also close Canyon Rim, made after 11 p.m., failed, Ripplinger reported.
Also in the air at press time: The options committee recommended a plan to maintain small elementary schools. It includes not rebuilding schools with fewer than 400 students; reducing operating costs (for secretaries or custodial services, for instance) when enrollment falls below 300 students; studying schools for closure, in the next five years, if the school dips below 300 and proficiency on the core curriculum test drops by 2.5 percent or more; and not adjusting boundaries to prop up dipping enrollment.
"One of the problems we've had ongoing for years is small-enrolled schools coming to us and saying, 'We want more staffing, we want more kids . . .' (which) creates this air of intense competition between the schools," Shepherd said in an interview. "We would really like to calm the situation down" and honor community discussion regarding small schools.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com