Members of the Alpine School Board reviewed high school boundaries and gave themselves their first pay raise in more than 10 years Tuesday evening.

Gary Seastrand, an assistant superintendent who has been working on the proposals, said the plans have been the easiest boundary proposals that he has ever worked on.

"This has been a wonderful experience," Seastrand said.

Seastrand said he and staff members drew the boundaries along obvious markers and were surprised how well the number evened out.

"The reality of this ... is that they are so logical and clear cut," Seastrand said.

Seastrand said that the district is building another elementary school in Saratoga Springs so the boundaries of Harvest Elementary could change again, due to the tremendous growth of the area.

"It is possible, next year we'll be back here," Seastrand said.

The proposed boundary for the new Saratoga Springs High School would use the Jordan River to divide the area. Students living west of the river would attend the new high school, slated to open 2009. Seniors in the 2009-2010 school year, the year the school opens, would be able to opt to go back to Lehi High if they are slated to go to the new school.

Seastrand recommended that Lehi be closed to choice for everyone else because it will be bigger than the new high school and they need to leave room for growth in the west. Sophomores and juniors would not be able to transfer back to Lehi if they are assigned to the new school even if they have a sibling who is a senior at Lehi.

The few people who were concerned with the high school boundaries were worried about athletics. Board member Chrissy Hannemann was worried about Lehi being a small school in the 5A sports classification. The board does not control sports regions and classifications.

Board member JoDee Sunderburg said that Lehi -- expected to have an estimated 1,565 students after the boundary change -- would not stay small for long.

"The thing about Lehi is they'll grow," Sundberg said.

The boundaries for the new elementary school in Eagle Mountain are designed to alleviate overcrowding. Students living in the North Ranches, Lone Tree, Cedar Pass Ranch, Ruby Valley, Hidden Canyon, Rockwell Village, Diamond Springs, Castle Rock, Sundance, Chimney Rock, Cold Springs, Willow Springs, Fridays and Highlands developments would go to the new school.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to double its compensation. The motion that passed will give members a stipend of $500 a month and increase pay for up to 12 additional meetings to $120 for meetings under four hours and $180 for meetings longer than 12 hours. The changes are effective this month. The board will continue to receive a free laptop, health insurance and mileage reimbursement.

The board had a hard time setting their own pay rate.

"I've never given myself a raise, so this has been a very unsettling thing for me. It's always better if some one else can do it," said board member Donna Barnes.

For a map of proposed boundaries, log on to www.alpine.k12.ut.us.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it