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SOUTH SALT LAKE — The Granite School District Board of Education voted 4-2 Tuesday to close Oquirrh Hills Elementary School after a three-year effort to improve student achievement resulted in lower end-of-year test scores and a school grade of "F."
The school board also voted to change the boundaries of nearby schools to accommodate students affected by the closure. The building will remain in use for special programs and to house students from South Kearns Elementary while that school is rebuilt.
The school closure raised the ire of Sen. Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, who in a letter to the school board questioned whether there was a "different agenda in the mindset for Oquirrh Hills" because it was the only Granite District school that worked with turnaround experts that will be shuttered.
In 2015, eight elementary schools and two junior highs in Granite School District were identified by state education officials as turnaround schools.
Eight improved student achievement and improved one letter grade, which allowed them to exit the state's turnaround program.
Redwood Elementary improved enough to qualify for an extension of its turnaround program, but Oquirrh Hills did not qualify under state statute, Granite district officials said.
Oquirrh Hills' school grade was a "D" in 2015, according to year-end state assessments. In successive years, the grade fell to an "F."
Kearns Metro Township Mayor Kelly Bush said the intent of state law on school turnaround was to impose "certain consequences" for school districts with struggling schools.
"What are the consequences for you? Are you going to be in turnaround status?" Bush asked.
Mayne and Bush expressed concern that the school district had not kept the community apprised of what was happening at Oquirrh Hills Elementary, particularly that the school had not made sufficient progress to exit turnaround status.
"You don't tell the community with a handful of days (within a vote of whether to close a school). That's not how we do it," Mayne said. She vowed to amend the school turnaround law in the coming legislative session.
"This law has holes you can drive a dump truck through," Mayne said.
Rick Anthony, assistant superintendent over Title 1 schools, school improvement, and educator support and development, said the chain of communication in schools typically flows through the school community — school community council, PTAs and parent nights, and that is what is required under state statute.
"I'm not saying that was adequate. Certainly there were voices that they would have liked more," Anthony said.
Paula Larsen, representing the Kearns Community Council, said the children of Oquirrh Hills were failed by the Granite School District.
"You failed them and now you want to send them somewhere else. Whatever you did, you didn't do your best," Larsen said.
"I challenge you to fight for these children. That's your job."
Board member Todd Zenger questioned why the board needed to act now.
Granite School District Superintendent Martin Bates said the school board was already beyond the 90 days in which it is supposed to address a finding by the state that the school had not progressed sufficiently to exit turnaround status.
To wait any further would put the district's state education funding in jeopardy, Bates said.
Still, the closure will come at a cost for the school community, said Sherry Talbert, who volunteers at the school.
She blamed the former school administrator. "You needed to get rid of that principal a long time ago. She didn't care about that school. She did nothing," Talbert said.
Bush concurred.
"This has broken the heart of the Kearns community. I am proud of my community. We are doers, not sitters," she said.
