For more than a year, Canyons School District has wrestled with how best to redraw the boundaries for its eight middle schools and relieve crowding in the district's south end. Now, the district is considering a new option: move a middle school to Draper.

On Tuesday, Superintendent David Doty recommended that the Canyons board consider moving Crescent View Middle, 11150 S. 300 East in Sandy, to a district property near 1300 East and 13200 South in Draper. The school's boundaries would include all homes south of 12300 South. Currently, none of the district's eight middle schools is in Draper.

Doty said the shift would allow for cleaner boundaries and simpler feeder systems to middle and high schools. A new building will cost about $36 million. The district has set aside $20 million to renovate Crescent View as part of a $250 million bond but will need to come up with an additional$16 million. With the new location, the district expects it could eliminate at least four bus routes and save about $88,214 a year.

A group of Draper parents has been lobbying Canyons to build a middle school in Draper. But they have been urging the district to close Mount Jordan Middle School instead of rebuilding it as part of the same $250 million bond approved by voters in 2010. The board has talked about the potential of working with public partners, such as Sandy and Salt Lake County, to include a community theater at a new Mount Jordan.

"I feel very strongly that Mount Jordan needs to be rebuilt. That was a commitment we made to the voters," Doty said Tuesday. "That is non-negotiable."

Jared Pierce, a Draper parent who is circulating a petition that calls on Canyons to shutter Mount Jordan and build a middle school in Draper, said in an interview that he does not believe moving Crescent View will resolve the enrollment pressures in the district's south end.

"We need Crescent, and we need another school," he said. "It's still not fixing the problem."

Board members expressed support for Doty's proposal at Tuesday's meeting. They discussed asking voters to approve another bond to fund construction of a new Crescent View.

"The boundaries make a lot more sense in this proposal," said Board President Tracy Cowdell. "I like it. I'm down with it." —

What's next

P Canyons School District plans to take public comments on a new proposed map for middle school boundaries at its next meeting, 7:30 p.m., March 6, 9361 S. 300 East in Sandy. The map and a meeting agenda will be posted at http://www.canyonsdistrict.org.