Mr. Rolly claims that Granite School District purchased the former FHP Hospital property "without even notifying the city." South Salt Lake City's former mayor Wes Losser or then director of Community and Economic Development Bruce Talbot could have verified meeting with Dave Garrett, Granite's business administrator, and myself in 2003 to discuss the district's planned purchase.
All meetings occurred before we finalized the purchase of the vacant hospital property.
The fact is, the hospital property owners declined to sell it to a buyer who planned to demolish the buildings and construct a big-box retail store. Instead, the sellers chose to let us buy it at a price so low that the Utah Taxpayers Association praised the deal.
Association President Howard Stephenson called the purchase a "tremendous use of taxpayer resources, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" that "will save taxpayers millions of dollars over the long term."
Since then, Granite School District has created the Granite Education Center on the property. This campus is a comprehensive education center providing important opportunities for the entire Granite community. South Salt Lake City's elementary school children benefit from teachers trained in effective instructional practices in a model elementary school here.
The center also offers advanced career and technical education classes for some 1,800 high school students from throughout the district. In addition to pre-engineering and biotechnology, one of those classes is advanced culinary arts. Our school lunch provider, Sodexho, hired a chef to support that program.
Granite Peaks community education programs teach English to adults and offer a host of other classes. Last week, Utah State University moved into the GEC to offer a variety of courses including opportunities for Granite teachers to earn additional endorsements and degrees.
Why would Mr. Rolly, South Salt Lake City or anyone else complain about a low-cost purchase that provides all of this?
As Granite District has tried to bolster its educational home in South Salt Lake, we have wondered at the direction the city itself is taking. Do city leaders favor a landscape of store fronts and industries, or do they want homes and families that will sustain their schools?
We are now in the process of developing our former district office property into a neighborhood of homes. But the city's appetite for commercial properties to date has so reduced its family-friendly neighborhoods that the city is now left with fewer than 400 high school students - far too few to support a comprehensive high school in the community.
Mr. Rolly claims that we attempted to do away with Granite High School. The fact is, in 2005 the board voted to keep Granite High School open and added programs to bolster attendance. However, in July South Salt Lake City Council members asked Granite District to close Granite High and sell the property to the city for "city purposes."
I recognize that we have work to do to gain the trust and confidence of our community. Providing accurate information is a good first step.
---
* STEPHEN F. RONNENKAMP is superintendent of Granite School District.
