Closures were suggested for five elementary schools in the district: Valley View (Pleasant Grove), Sharon (Orem), Windsor (Orem), Lindon and Lehi. The formal boundary and closure study for these schools will continue to be conducted as per the board’s vote Tuesday night. 

Parents were notified of the potential boundary changes on Feb. 6. According to State Code 53G-4-402(21), the board cannot take action until 120 days have passed, which would start on June 6. No boundary changes were approved as the board voted to continue the 120-day process gathering input and data.

A March 15 open house for Belmont and Traverse Mountain elementary schools was also used to allow community input. The main difference between the two boundary options involved children in the Vialetto neighborhood. Depending on the change they could either stay at Belmont or move to Traverse Mountain.

Parent Candace Gustafson spoke at the meeting, advocating for Vialetto neighborhood residents to stay in Belmont has her family and their neighbors have invested in the school “since it was initially opened.”

Courtesy Alpine School District

Only one map was presented for the new boundaries of the Barratt, Forbes and Greenwood elementary schools in American Fork. Greenwood is predicted to grow to 1,058 students, in the future with 927 students currently in attendance. A boundary change is necessary to not exceed building capacity requirements. 

With the suggested change, about a third of students from the current Greenwood boundary would be moved to different schools, splitting between Forbes and Barrett. An open house was held on March 16 for the American Fork schools and, as with the Lehi schools, a final vote is planned for June 6.

The results of these studies are expected to be put into effect for Valley View and Sharon elementary schools in the coming school year, while the remaining schools will put changes in place for the 2024-2025 school year. Several maps have been added to the districts boundary study website, detailing different options for boundary changes due to the closures that have been proposed.

While Crystal Muhlestein attended the meeting Tuesday night, she announced Wednesday that, along with a group of 30 parents, she would sue Alpine School District over the potential closures and boundary changes. 

Muhlestein told the Daily Herald the suit will be filed “immediately” in the Fourth District Court and that the group is represented by Jeremy Adamson of the Salt Lake City-based Kunzler, Bean & Adamson. A call to Adamson was not immediately returned. 

Courtesy Alpine School District

Muhlstein cites Utah Code 53G-4-402(21) as the group’s reason for suing. The law states that 120 days are needed for community discussion of changes before a final decision can be made. 

She believes that the board is allowing parents to comment, but is not altering their proposed plans based on the feedback. So far, 1,430 individual comments have been submitted through the online feedback forms next to the maps of the proposed boundary adjustments on the district’s boundary study website. 

“As we have spoken with legislators, the attorney general’s office, the county attorney, city officials, the Utah State Board of Education, and more, all have said they feel for us but have no recourse against school districts. This is the only way we have found to hold the district accountable to the law, because they don’t seem intent on doing it themselves. I believe the intent of the law is to create a transparent open dialogue process. At this point, we are working in a communication vacuum. The community is providing vast amounts of feedback to the district, but this seems to be a one-way communication,” Muhlstein said.