Major changes lie ahead for Salt Lake City students after district leaders approved closing a high school, ending a magnet program and reconfiguring Nibley Park from a K-8 campus to a K-6.
The Salt Lake City School District’s board of education voted Tuesday to close Innovations Early College High School at the end of this school year, citing a steep drop in enrollment. The decision passed 6-1, with only board member Bryce Williams opposed.
“I feel like the information is too new, so I will not be supporting it,” said Williams, whose precinct includes Rose Park and Fairpark.
The board also voted to end the fourth through sixth grade magnet program at Washington Elementary, in the city’s Marmalade neighborhood.
And board leaders agreed to eliminate seventh and eighth grades at Nibley Park. Students in those grades can instead attend Hillside Middle School, which sits about 4 miles away in northeast Sugar House, starting next school year.
For current sixth grade magnet students at Washington, seventh grade magnet programs are still available at nearby West High School, along with Hillside Middle School and Clayton Middle School, according to the district’s website. Students can enroll at any of those or remain at their neighborhood school.
What set Innovations apart
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brian Ess, a senior at Innovations Early College High School, speaks at a Salt Lake City School District board of education meeting in November as board leaders consider closing the specialty school.
Innovations Early College High School, which opened in 2012, is a specialty high school that initially gained national recognition for its unique educational model.
It offers students free concurrent and early-college enrollment at nearby Salt Lake Community College, while allowing them to work at their own pace and set their own schedules.
But district officials cited significantly low enrollment as the reason for Tuesday’s decision. Since the 2016-17 school year, enrollment has fallen from 429 students to just 95 this fall, according to a report shared during an Oct. 7 board meeting.
“In a perfect world, we would have the resources and all of the things in order to sustain multiple unique school models,” said board member Annie Romano, who represents the district where Innovations sits, prior to the Tuesday vote. “I do think the best way to go forward, rather than kicking the can down the road.”
Other board members expressed similar resignation with the decision.
“I really, really struggle with the closure of Innovations,” said Amanda Longwell, whose precinct includes a swath of Sugar House and the Nibley Park School. “But we all know that our enrollment numbers are drastically declining, so we have to make the hard decisions. Otherwise it’s detrimental to more students than not.”
Board members emphasized that current students at Innovations won’t go without support. They directed district staff to work with school officials to identify new high school placements.
Transition plan updates are expected during the board’s Jan. 20 meeting and again in February.