Addressing School Boundary Studies: Through a City Planner's Perspective

posterOver the past couple of decades, declining enrollment instigated by population shifts and gentrification has prompted rounds of school closures in the Granite School District. In 2022, the Board of Education announced the formation of a population analysis committee (PAC) to assess which set of elementary schools to close along the Van Winkle/700 East Corridor. The announcement of school closure considerations caused alarm throughout the South Salt Lake (SSL) community which was facing the potential closure of one out of the two schools selected for assessment in SSL. The community, still recovering from the closure of Granite High School which shut its doors in 2017, displacing South Salt Lake students, did not have enough time to respond and advocate for their community schools. Stakeholders, educators, and resource partners scrambled to disseminate information to involve families in the decision making process. Flaws in the public participation process led by PAC were some of the reasons for controversial closure decisions. The process is minimally consultative, in the narrow sense that residents impacted by school closures have limited opportunities to voice their opinions. The processes are not fully participatory and are rarely partnership based. Additionally, when schools close, despite the potential positive impacts of consolidation, they have a significant consequential impact on the fabric of the community. In this report, I explain the PAC process and highlight the gaps for equitable public participation, while making an argument that school board decision-making processes could benefit from knowledge and application of lessons learned by urban planners. I also review how the closure of a school could impact the well-being of a community and note strategies that could help educate stakeholders and support the needs of students and families impacted