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When Joey McNamee had to find a new home for her growing family, the Sugar House area rose to the top of her list, mostly because of one school — Emerson Elementary.
“I liked that it was in a community and that it served students from a variety of different economic backgrounds or income ... it was more diverse,” said McNamee, whose two kids go to the school. “It seemed like it would be great for a family who’s entering this public education world.”
Since then, she’s seen more families like hers with younger kids moving into the Sugar House and 9th and 9th neighborhoods. And that’s partly why she was confused to see Emerson on a list of seven schools that the district could further study for possible closure.
On Tuesday evening, Salt Lake City’s school board members are scheduled to consider whether to officially begin studying some, all, or even none of the suggested elementary schools — Emerson, Bennion, Mary W. Jackson, Hawthorne, Riley, Wasatch and Newman.
No schools in affluent neighborhoods east of 1300 East are proposed for study; two school board precincts have multiple schools proposed. Three elementaries — Riley, Hawthorne and Emerson — are in one precinct, located in a band stretching across the city from Glendale to East Liberty Park.
Board members and parents both have questioned the selections, made by the district’s Boundary Options Committee, which included 13 district employees.
“I was not surprised to see either Hawthorne or Emerson on the list; I’m very surprised to see both schools on the list,” McNamee said. “It guts this whole neighborhood of schools.”
Salt Lake City’s rising housing costs and changing demographics — and how they affect where kids live — played a role, but enrollment trends weren’t the only factor.
Salt Lake City is aging
The capital city has seen the number of school-age children steadily decline for years, according to demographers. Since 2014, the district has had an almost 29% decrease in enrollment.
Districtwide, places with a growing household population show flat or declining numbers of kids, according to a report from the firm Applied Economics — with most new multifamily housing, especially downtown, attracting fewer families with children.
On the west side of Salt Lake City, the firm said, it appears that families may be aging in place or families may be leaving for other areas, leaving fewer children living there. On the east bench, though, there are signs of growth in household size that indicates families may be moving in.
Real estate agent Jamie Kearns of Utah Cribs said she has seen fewer families moving into the city’s west side than the east side.
“The last three or four years, I would probably say half the clientele have been couples or single persons that have no interest or desire to have kids,” Kearns said, adding many of those people looked for housing on the west side. “A lot of people that I’ve helped with kids are upgrading their homes, but they’re kind of staying here on the east side.”
Others, such as Luann Lakis — who’s worked in real estate for 33 years in the city — have also seen a drop in families with school-aged children as clients overall. That’s likely due to rising housing costs throughout the entire city, Lakis said.
“I think that demographically, there are not many places to go anymore that families can afford in Salt Lake City boundaries,” she said. “I just haven’t had any people with kids really call me and say, ‘Hey, we need to find a house in the city.’”
How the district scored each school
M. Lynn Bennion Elementary, with capacity for 600 students, had 157 enrolled last year. Emerson, with capacity for 550, had 468.
District spokesperson Yándary Chatwin emphasized that enrollment trends were only one of 12 factors considered, noting some schools on the list have “robust” student populations. “It wasn’t just one single factor, but looking at all 12, these were the seven [schools] that stood out,” she said.
The committee scored schools in four categories: “safe,” “reasonable,” “simple” and “cost-effective.” Within those four categories were multiple criteria; each category was scored up to 16.
The “safe” category looked at major roads near schools that cannot be crossed safely and the availability of safe pedestrian routes — walking or biking.
For example, if Indian Hills Elementary were to close, Chatwin said, kids would either have to cross Foothill Drive, one of the city’s busiest streets, or ride buses “to places that are hard to get to.”
Other criteria included how many classes a school had per grade level (excluding magnet programs); when the building was last rebuilt; student academic performance; and racial, ethnic and socioeconomic demographics.
Some schools have special programs and facilities that would make them too difficult to close, such as the community centers in Liberty, Rose Park and Mountain View elementaries, Chatwin said.
Special programs were also noted — like special education hubs and extended learning magnet programs — though some could be easier to move.
School board members and parents have noted there are no schools proposed in areas considered more affluent, such as those east of 1300 East.
“I am concerned because there are seven schools on that list — which represents about 25% of the total number of elementary schools in the district,” McNamee said. “The burden of that disruption is borne by the middle- and lower-income communities in our district.”
‘We need that input’
While she said she recognizes it’s not an easy job to close schools, McNamee said she hopes for more transparency from the district on its thought processes moving forward. Community members have had to put in public records requests to obtain some school data, she said.
“I want to know if there’s really good reasons to close this school that counterbalance what we know about the really good reasons to keep it open,” McNamee said.
Emerson “is a safe space for our LGBTQ kids, it’s a safe space for our neurodivergent kids,” said McNamee, who is also the School Community Council chair at Emerson. “When we think about going to another school anywhere in the district, we’re walking into an unknown when we know that what’s here at Emerson is something really special and not easily replicated.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Joey McNamee talks about Emerson Elementery, on Thursday, July 27, 2023.
That’s exactly the sort of feedback the district wants to hear from families, said Chatwin.
“We need that input from the community that helps us to know where we need to respond, and also what parents are doing to advocate for their specific schools — that’s what they should be doing,” Chatwin said. “The committee members can look at spreadsheets all day long, but without that unique voice from the community, we don’t have all the data we need.”
