By Julie Slama | [email protected]

This February, the Peruvian Park community may see supplies being boxed up and taken away.

At the Dec. 2, 2020 Canyons Board of Education meeting, the nod was given to move Peruvian Park students to a temporary location after spring break so construction of a new school on the same property can begin earlier.

“That gives us two more months to get the new building completed,” Canyons School District Business Manager and Chief Financial Officer Leon Wilcox said. “With so many delays with COVID in factories and shutting down, it will ease the timeline.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there also have been labor shortages which have caused project delays, Wilcox acknowledged. He is hopeful that with more time allowed for the construction, the new school will open as scheduled in fall 2022.

Following spring break on April 12, Peruvian Park students are expected to return to school at the former Crescent View Middle, 11150 Green Ridge Drive (300 East). They will attend school in two separate wings there until the completion of the new school.

Busing to the temporary school is being established and will be announced, Wilcox added.

The new 92,000-square-foot, two-story Peruvian Park Elementary will have the same floor plan and design as the recently built Midvalley Elementary in Midvale, with minor adjustments such as the bus drop-off and playground so it will fit the property size better, Wilcox said. 

“I love Midvalley. It’s a fantastic layout. I love the design,” he said.

The new school, which will feature its school colors of red and black, will house up to 800 Panthers. The exterior colors are inspired by rocks in Big Cottonwood Canyon, located east of the school.

Classrooms will have natural light, updated technology, a sink with a drinking fountain, storage, and space for learning. Nearby will be restrooms and drinking fountains with water bottle filling stations as well as collaborative spaces and a small kiva for teaching.

The building also includes a safety vestibule entrance, large skylights, a multipurpose room to double as a lunchroom and space for inside gym days and updated technology, including power towers for electronic devices.

While a contractor has yet to be named and is out to bid in January, Wilcox said the cost hasn’t been set, but estimated around $24 million. The rebuild is being funded as one of several projects in the $283-million bond approved in November 2017.

A groundbreaking will likely be scheduled this spring, as will be a chance to have alumni say goodbye to the old school, but Wilcox said those details are still being worked out.

Details also will be discussed where the Peruvian Park time capsule will be buried. It was created in 2015 by students and the community to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary. 

Peruvian Park isn’t the only school that will move into Crescent View Middle in April. 

Edgemont students will join the Panthers for the duration while the new White City school, Glacier Hills Elementary, is built on the Edgemont property. It also is expected to open fall 2022 and be home to both Edgemont and Bell View elementaries’ students.

Discussions are taking place as to the future of the Bell View school, but those students will remain in their elementary until Glacier Hills opens.