Nebo School District — one of the fastest-growing public school systems in Utah — will shuffle students to new schools starting next fall.
The Nebo District Board of Education will decide school-boundary changes on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Spanish Fork Junior High, 820 E. 600 South.
Here's why school chiefs are redrawing geographic lines that determine school attendance — and how district decisions could affect your family:
Class rolls rising
Population growth is the major reason for new school boundaries.
Nebo District, which stretches over the south section of Utah County, has been growing 800 to 1,000 students a year for the past five years, excluding last year, when growth was flat because new charter schools absorbed more than 1,000 students in the area, Superintendent Chris Sorensen said.
Another charter school scheduled to open next year will have room for about 450 students. Otherwise, the number of students who enroll for classes is estimated to continue for the next 15 years, he said. The district has about 25,000 students.
"We've got projections that will put us at 40,000 students by 2020," Sorensen said.
Changing the status quo
Nebo includes 33 elementary, middle, junior high and senior high schools.
The district plans to eliminate middle schools over the next two years by moving sixth-grade students to elementary schools and seventh-grade students to junior high schools.
That will create space. Payson and Spanish Fork middle schools will be converted into junior high schools. Springville Middle School will become Cherry Creek Elementary. Schools in Springville and Mapleton will begin the transition this fall. Junior high school-age students living in those two cities will go to a new junior high in Mapleton that will open this fall. The remainder of the district will change in fall 2007.
Specific school information
New elementary schools complete for fall 2006: East Meadows Elementary near 2100 East and 1300 South in Spanish Fork, Foothills Elementary off Woodland Hills Drive and 600 South in Salem, and Orchard Hills Elementary near 600 South and 300 East in Santaquin.
New elementary complete for fall 2007: Construction has started on a school the district has named Riverview Elementary at 660 W. Park Drive in Spanish Fork.
Changes to existing elementary schools for 2007: A new Brookside Elementary in Springville will replace the existing building on the same site. It is scheduled to re-open in June. An addition at Park Elementary will house sixth-graders.
High school information: Two new high schools will be built and opened by the end of the decade. The district hopes to have Salem Hills High School, which officials want to build near 100 West and 200 North in Salem, ready for fall 2008, and Maple Mountain High School, projected to be built near 2400 East and Center Street in Mapleton, ready for fall 2009.