Eastwood community presses Granite School District to reject closure recommendation, offers alternative plan

Eastwood community members and Granite School District planners met Tuesday evening to debate a Population Analysis Committee (PAC) recommendation, released Sept. 2, that would close Eastwood Elementary at the end of the school year and send its students to Oak Ridge.

“My name is Megan Medina, and on behalf of the Eastwood Community Council, we welcome you all to Eastwood Hill Country,” said Megan Medina, one of the council’s new members, opening the meeting and framing it as a chance for “meaningful collaboration” between the district and neighborhood residents.

Community presenters laid out a detailed critique of the PAC recommendation and offered an alternate boundary plan they said would meet the district’s goals without closing Eastwood. Tara Miller of the Eastwood School Community Council said Eastwood “excels. We are a top 10 elementary school in Utah,” citing the school’s Gold STEM designation, teacher retention, and local program offerings as evidence the building is a district asset.

Why it matters: Eastwood parents and teachers told district staff that closing the school would thrust many students onto routes they described as unsafe, risk losing high-performing and out-of-boundary students to charters or neighboring districts, and undercut programs that community members say would not transfer intact to Oak Ridge.

Major objections raised by community presenters

- Safety and transportation: Presenters said walking routes to Oak Ridge cross multiple dangerous intersections and blind curves and that relying on a “courtesy” bus would not be feasible without adding buses. A presenter estimated a bus seat capacity of 84 and said transporting all affected students would require multiple buses; the community estimated three buses at about $220,000 each, or roughly $660,000, which they said would negate any savings from a closure. The…