Parents at a Granite School District community meeting on Morningside on Oct. 26 pressed district staff to reconsider a recommendation that would remove the traditional track from Morningside Elementary and shift or relocate special programs, and offered converting the school to an International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme as an alternative to closure.

Morningside parents said the school’s enrollment and community support argue against the district’s recommendation. "By the district's own standards, Morningside is doing exactly what every thriving public school should do," said Natalie Tinghe, a DLI parent, citing a current enrollment of 567 students and building utilization around 95 percent. Parent presenters said the school draws out-of-boundary families and that program stability matters for siblings and students with specialized needs.

The district framed the recommendation as the product of an Area 5 Program and Facilities Advisory Committee (PAC) review that weighed several factors, including inboundary enrollment, facility condition index (FCI), the geographic clustering of nearby schools and long-term demographic projections. "Two things can be true at the same time," said Steve Hogan, identified in the meeting as a district representative, in response to parents who said Morningside is thriving. Hogan said PAC prioritizes inboundary enrollment because it is a more stable long-term predictor than program-driven totals.

Why it matters: the recommendation would move some programs and students across several elementary campuses in Area 5 and could change where families send children for kindergarten and later grades. Parents at the meeting repeatedly raised concerns about disruption to siblings, support for students with disabilities, access to services and the speed of the district timeline: open enrollment begins Nov. 15, the district’s first reading of recommendations is set for Nov. 18 and the board’s final vote is scheduled for Dec. 2, with implementation slated for next fall.

Parents detailed program and community data to support keeping Morningside open. A coalition presentation from Matt Jensen, a Morningside parent and presenter, argued Morningside ranks high on site quality and recommended adopting IB PYP to strengthen the school as a "whole-family" option that would feed Churchill and Skyline and help retain families across tracks. "Dismantling Morningside would be inconsistent with Granite's own mission statement and its duty of stewardship to students," Jensen said.

Parents also shared survey results collected by a parent coalition: among 34 responding traditional-track families, 91 percent said their children's needs were being met and 80 percent reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with Morningside. Parents emphasized that program mixes (traditional, DLI, ALC) at Morningside have been deliberately cultivated for years and that moving programs or students would erase that work.

District staff addressed specific program and service questions. Kyle Anderson, associate director in the curriculum department, said program schools elsewhere in the district (for example, a Spanish DLI magnet in West Valley) continue to provide full special education services, including a full-time special education teacher and related services, and that DLI magnets can and do serve students with IEPs. Anderson said services are allocated by formula and based on student counts and intensity of needs, and that core supports would remain available if a school were converted to a magnet model.

On program viability and recruitment, district staff said the current French DLI at Morningside enrolls roughly 250–260 students in grades 1–5; adding kindergarten would likely add about 50–60 students in the first year and staff estimated a multi-year pathway to roughly 350–375 students if recruitment and marketing efforts succeed. For the current admissions cycle the district reported 67 applications to the French DLI and 61 admissions; a prior year showed 97 applicants and a wait list of about a dozen.

Parents repeatedly asked for guarantees and written details about staffing, student services, what would happen to students wishing to switch from DLI to traditional, and long-term protections for program continuity. Hogan said the district will not "just close" a program midstream and that the PAC and the board have historically sought solutions so students in a program can finish it or be transitioned with notice. He also said PAC agreed to review community proposals, including a request to reconsider sending ALC to Eastwood and DLI to Oak Ridge, and that the PAC would examine options further in upcoming meetings. Hogan told parents he would try to provide more detailed responses to a consolidated list of questions from the community.

Parents and presenters asked the district to (1) include traditional-track representation on subcommittees going forward; (2) publish a clear FAQ addressing staffing, special education supports, enrollment and marketing plans for a magnet model; and (3) assess longer-term, East-side–wide strategies to avoid repeated short-term churn.

The meeting ended without a formal decision. District staff said PAC will review the community's materials and that the board's schedule remains as published: public enrollment opens Nov. 15, the PAC recommendation will be heard at the board's Nov. 18 meeting and the board is expected to act at its Dec. 2 meeting. District staff said implementation of any adopted changes would occur in the next school year.

What to watch next: parents said they will submit consolidated questions to the district and asked for a written FAQ and clearer timelines; PAC will revisit the Eastwood/Oak Ridge proposal and the ALC location; the board will consider PAC recommendations at its public meetings Nov. 18 and Dec. 2.