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A ribbon cutting to open Silver Peak School and Timpanogos Transition and Education Center is held Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Orem.

Courtesy Alpine School District

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A ribbon cutting to open Silver Peak School and Timpanogos Transition and Education Center is held Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Orem.

Courtesy Alpine School District

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A ribbon cutting to open Silver Peak School and Timpanogos Transition and Education Center is held Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Orem.

Courtesy Alpine School District

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Two new special purpose schools opened in Orem this week, set to serve students in the future Timpanogos School District.

Launched by the Alpine School District, Silver Peak School and Timpanogos Transition and Education Center will welcome students this school year at the former Sharon Elementary. 

Silver Peak will serve students in pre-K through 12th grade with severe disabilities, and Timpanogos Transition and Education Center, or TTEC, will serve students ages 18-22 and teach them life skills and community readiness.

The Alpine School District already has two K-12 special purpose schools, Dan Peterson School in American Fork and Horizon School in Saratoga Springs, and two transitional schools, Alpine Transition and Education Center in American Fork and ATEC West in Saratoga Springs.

Next year, those schools will be absorbed into the Aspen Peaks and Lake Mountain school districts. The new schools in Orem ensure the Timpanogos School District will have special purpose services next year as well.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday to celebrate the opening.

“We are so excited to have this building and this facility because it gives students access to all the services they need very close to their community,” TTEC Principal Melanie Adams told the Daily Herald. “These schools don’t open very often, but we’re fortunate to be in a new district and have a new opportunity to serve these students in the south.”  

The former elementary school underwent a handful of modifications to get ready to serve both schools, such as removing classrooms and building a second office. The two schools, split between the north and south sides of the building, will share physical therapy, occupational therapy, vision, motor, hearing, speech and an adapted PE teacher, according to Adams.

“There are some shared spaces, and then the other fantastic part is that when they’re ready to leave (Silver Peak) and come (to TTEC), we know these students,” Adams said. “So it’s a great continuum for them.”

Sharon Elementary closed in 2023, with the majority of its students moving to Cascade Elementary.

Silver Peak Principal Dan Heaps said during his ribbon-cutting ceremony remarks that he spoke with many previous leaders and staff at Sharon and hopes to continue the school’s legacy of learning.

“One theme I took away from my talks with others about Sharon was how open and inclusive they were in teaching any and all students regardless of their backgrounds,” Heaps said. “That’s a legacy I want to carry forward, because at our school, all truly means all.”

Adams said she hopes TTEC is a place where students can get opportunities to access the community and receive anything they need to have a more independent, fulfilling life.

“Our goal as a transition school is to have the last day of our students’ school experience look like the first day of their real life,” she said.