As Canyons Board of Education continues its boundary and consolidation study, families from Bella Vista, Park Lane and Granite are voicing concerns. They’re raising points over the timing, safety and equity of every student. 

District leaders say changes are needed to address declining enrollment and optimize resources.

After slated regular board meetings and three public hearings were held in October, a new proposal could be announced at a November board meeting. 

A third reading and vote are expected in December. According to state law, school closure decisions must be finalized by Dec. 31 if they are to take effect the following school year.

Canyons School District Superintendent Rick Robins said the board of education is following the state law.

“The board hasn’t made any decisions,” he said. “The proposal is an option the board is looking at, a starting point, but with that, they aren’t making a definitive declaration that any school is closing or not. The board will decide by the end of December about the closure possibility and if they feel like there should have been more time, they can decide to continue to study.”

Meanwhile, parents at each of the three schools were meeting, uniting in their efforts to save their schools including petitions, talking points, counter proposals and newspaper ads.

Timelines and transparency

From the outset, many families felt the process has moved too quickly and without sufficient community input.

On Sept. 2, when Canyons Board of Education announced its proposals — merging Bella Vista Elementary with Ridgecrest Elementary in Cottonwood Heights and combining Park Lane Elementary and Granite Elementary in Sandy — Park Lane School Community Council chair Chris Sharp was frustrated.

“The most common concern throughout the Park Lane Elementary community has been the lack of transparency and timeline,” he said, noting when the study was announced, he didn’t believe his children’s school was at risk, yet through the process, there was a growing concern as it became evident it was. 

Across communities, parents believe the District should have begun engagement earlier and presenting more than one proposal for each of the two cities. 

“One community meeting is where we get all the transparency. It comes back to doing longer term planning and more engagement to begin with. Now, they want to be done before the end of the calendar year to show they're being effective and resourceful with taxpayer dollars in a timely manner. Our feedback on that is, we are the taxpayers and we'd rather see a careful decision made,” Sharp said.

Bella Vista PTA chair Juliana Jackson said the proposal moves not only all of Bella Vista students out of the nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School, but also 100 Ridgecrest students to another elementary.

“We’d rather see a careful decision made over a few years than a rushed one that displaces 400 kids,” she said. “It’d be easier to re-boundary 50 or 100 kids into our building, so not all the schools are at capacity, especially since our enrollment is supposed to increase with the Hillside Plaza development.”

Parents say there needs to be time to adapt; teachers need to know where they’ll be assigned; students need emotional readiness; and parents need to plan transportation and have time to permit into schools if they opt out on their new boundary schools. 

“I’d like more transparency in this process,” said Granite parent Julia Sorenson, who is the SCC chair.

Safe walking routes

At the heart of many objections is a shift from walkable campuses to routes where children will have to cross heavy traffic.

Park Lane currently functions as a walkable school for neighborhood students.

“We don’t have any buses for the general ed students,” Sharp said. “My middle schooler bikes to the elementary school to shepherd my younger kids home. He went there and loves that school. He wants his younger siblings to share that love.”

But with the proposal being unclear about which elementary would close — Granite or Park Lane — it would send either Granite or Park Lane students crossing Highland Drive, Wasatch Boulevard and other major roads, he said.

“We’re concerned about safety; we don't want to put one community from one side of Little Cottonwood Canyon and combine them with the other side, just to make numbers work,” he said.

Sharp also said if Park Lane were to close, there are parents concerned their children would be crossing Highland Drive to go to Willow Canyon Elementary, based on the new proposal. 

“I’m not sure they thought about that,” he said.

Jackson raises similar concerns. 

If Bella Vista closes, children would cross Fort Union and Highland Drive — “Ten lanes of busy traffic” — and pass by homes with known registered sex offenders, she said.

“We have serious safety concerns of them trying to implement this by next school year; it's rushed and sloppy and dangerous for our kids. It’s not safe,” Jackson said.

She also pointed out flawed bus planning: “The proposal would have one bus. I don’t know how you’re going to get 200 kids on one regular bus.” 

Sorenson also said if Granite students would go to Park Lane: “they said, it will be four busses and that’s concerning. It would be 10 busses. We have five common core (general education) busses and five extended core (special education) busses that currently goes to Granite every day.”

Equity for all students

Equity also is a deeply felt issue. In all three schools, the special education programs are integrated into the general studentbody. 

At Park Lane, Sharp hears his “kids say, ‘So-and-so from ECC (extended core curriculum) joined us for science.’ These students are part of our studentbody. It's very integrated.”

Under the draft proposal, these programs are being relocated, fracturing bonds which have been carefully built, he said.

“We see the ECC as being very strong at our school. Our faculty is helping students to pass RISE (year-end standardized) tests and to get to a point where the support level changes. They still might need Resource, but it's almost like they're graduating, and they feel this great accomplishment. The board said with the study, they’re trying to keep schools together. Our boundary students will stay together, but not with the EEC program. That is concerning because that’s not keeping us together; we want to stay together,” Sharp said.

Jackson questions if the schools serving special education populations are being targeted disproportionately. With special education enrollment numbers require dedicated space and staffing, as well as pre-kindergarten classes, their “full capacity” number may be lower than what the building indicates.

Jacob Jensen’s two youngest children — one who is in a special education program — attend Granite.

“We literally moved into the area so that the kids could go to Granite,” he said. “I’m impressed with the quality of Granite and with the programs they have. Granite has created a place for these special needs kids that's so inviting and welcoming. My sister has Down syndrome, and the inclusions Granite is doing vastly improved from 20, 30 years ago when she was in school. It would be devastating if they closed Granite.”

Next Steps

Robins said the board will continue to take feedback before making final decisions. 

“We have had some public comment on our special ed units and what's best for them,” he said. “These schools are amazing. They've been very inclusive and built a strong culture of support for all students. So, it makes it that much harder to consider this. I'm glad our schools are as good as they are because people are passionate, and they care. It's great that no one wants any of their schools to close — that's a good thing.”

Robins said the board is considering busing and safety as well as keeping students together in their feeder systems.

“Transportation and safe walking routes have been a big part of this and the place we're operating from is trying to keep kids together. Is that possible in every aspect? Maybe not, but that's why we're in this period right now of public input,” he said. “We're learning from parents and constituents, and it's helpful for the board to gather input and consider lots of different perspectives.”

A Canyons School District image shows actual school boundaries and a proposed change with the combining of Granite and Park Lane elementary schools. (Courtesy of Canyons School District)