Salt Lake City School District

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The Salt Lake City School District is among the oldest public school districts in Utah. Boundaries for the district are identical to the city limits for Salt Lake City. Employing about 1,300 teachers who instruct about 24,000 students K-12, the district is the fifth largest in the state behind Jordan School District, Granite School District, Davis School District, and Alpine School District. Two of the district's high schools, East and West, are over 90 years old.

[edit] High schools

All high schools in the Salt Lake City District serve grades 9-12. The district operates three high schools as of 2004: East High School near the University of Utah serving the central-east part of the city, West High School in western downtown serving the north and west area, and Highland High School near Sugar House Park serving the southeast. Additionally, the district runs an alternative/adult education school, Horizonte High School, located on Main Street in the south central city. A high school no longer extant—South High School (Salt Lake City), on State Street—once served the southern part of Salt Lake City. The district built this school during the Great Depression to accommodate about 1000 students from the private LDS High School, which closed in 1931. South High was located in some of the poorer areas of Salt Lake City with a population increasingly devoid of school age children by the 1980s. Falling enrollment throughout the school district prompted the district to close the less influential South High after the 1987-1988 school year. Schools with older facilities, such as East and West, as well as Highland High School received students from portions of the former South High school bounderies. The district donated the South High School school building to the Salt Lake Community College.

[edit] East High School

East High School serves grades nine through twelve. It also accepts and cares for mentally and physically disabled children. East High School was founded in 1914 and currently has an enrolled student body of 1,996. It is located at 840 South 1300 East in the East Bench neighborhood. The school mascot is the Leopard. Academically, in 2002-03 East had seven National Merit Semi-finalists and one National Merit Winner, four Sterling Scholar State Finalists and one State Winner, with 30 percent of students regularly on the Honor Roll. East High has also earned over 65 athletic State Championships in its history. Sports teams in 2003-04 won three State Championship and four Region Championship Trophies. Service groups at East provide assistance regularly to the community. One-fourth of senior students earned Block “E” Awards for their service and involvement in school activities in 2003-04. Their Debate team is also famed for having a National Winning Original Oratory. During the 2007-2008 school year, East High School had six National Merit Semi-Finalists, five of whom advanced to Finalist standing. Most of the Disney Channel film High School Musical was filmed at East. Also, the opening scenes of High School Musical 2 (including the film's opening number, What Time Is It?) were also filmed at East High. Additional filming took place in St. George. High School Musical 3: Senior Year began filming at East High on May 3, 2008.

[edit] Highland High School

Highland High School opened in 1956 and has a student body of about 1,788. It is located at 2166 South 1700 East, next to Sugar House Park. The current principal is Paul Schulte. During the 2006-2007 school year, Highland began hosting a school known as the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SPA), which over the next one or two years will be constructed alongside the school.[1] It will offer programs in music, theater, and dance, as well as feature a 3500 to 4000 seat auditorium. Enrollment is expected to reach its maximum of 400 within thirteen years.^[1] Highland High School is noted for its rugby union team. Since Larry Gelwix started the team in 1975, they have compiled a phenomenal 361-9 record. It has won the national high school championship in 18 of the last 24 years (when the national championship game was instigated) and in that time span has never placed lower than third, which it has achieved just once. It is also the only team to have participated in every national rugby championship.^[2] In 1998 Highland participated in the first World Schools Rugby Championship held in Harare, Zimbabwe. They were the only team from the Western Hemisphere included and placed 3rd place out of 12 teams.

Noted Alumni:

• Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., current Governor of Utah and son of billionaire philanthropist Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. of Huntsman Corporation
• Jeff Judkins, basketball player for Boston Celtics, Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons and current head coach for women's basketball at Brigham Young University.
• Terry Tempest Williams, author best known for "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place" published in 1991.
• Jon Schmidt, pianist
• Peter Breinholt, singer/songwriter.
• John Bytheway, LDS author and youth speaker.
• Haloti Ngata, defensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens and first-round 2006 NFL Draft pick
• Logan Tom, Olympic indoor volleyball and professional beach volleyball player.
• Stewart Bradley, outside linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles and third-round 2007 NFL Draft pick, 87 overall

[edit] West High School

West High is located at 241 North 300 West in Salt Lake City. Founded in 1890 as Salt Lake High School, West High is the oldest high school in Utah. It is the highest-ranked high school in Utah according to Newsweek. West High has a student population of 2,519 under Principal Margery Parker. In addition to students in grades nine through twelve, West High School serves a group of 7th and 8th graders in an Extended Learning Program (ELP). The school mascot is a panther, and the school colors are red and black.

Noted Alumni:

• Shannon Hale, Class of 1992, young adult author
• Thomas S. Monson, Class of 1944(?), President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Larry H. Miller, Class of 1962, prominent Utah businessman and owner of the Utah Jazz.
• Robison Wells, Class of 1996, novelist
• Earl Holding, owner of Little America Hotels and Sinclair Oil

[edit] Middle schools

There are five middle schools in the Salt Lake City School District. All middle schools in the district teach grades 7-8.

In addition, West High School offers grade 7 and 8 for some students as part of the "Extended Learning Program" (ELP).

[edit] Elementary schools

The district operates 27 elementary schools. All elementary schools in the district serve grades K-6, with some offering preschool services.

In 1999, the district approved a bond that would reconstruct 20 of the elementary schools as well as Northwest Middle School. In addition, two elementary schools were closed for the 2002-2003 school season (Rosslyn Heights in Sugar House and Lowell in The Avenues) while serving as temporary campuses for the reconstructed schools. They were originally going to choose two schools off of a list of eight to be closed, and eventually the school board decided to close Lowell and Rosslyn Heights (the latter of which was not on the list). This aroused considerable protest from parents, teachers, and even board members, and lawsuits were filed against the district. However, they failed to keep the schools open.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Salt Lake City School District
  • East High's homepage
  • West High School homepage
  • Highland High School homepage
  • Horizonte High School webpage
  • Backman Elementary homepage