The Salt Lake City (Utah) district has proposed closing four of the district's 27 elementary schools.
Deseret News reports that district administrators have recommended shuttering Riley, M. Lynn Bennion, Hawthorne and Mary W. Jackson elementary schools.
The district began considering closures in July 2022, and the district launched a population and boundary study in the face of a significantly declining elementary student population.
The study identified seven elementary schools as potential targets for closing, and the district administration has recommended that four campuses be closed.
"In the last decade, we've lost about 30% of our elementary population and this year alone, where we have space to educate 15,000 elementary students, we have just over 9,300 kids in our district," said Yándary Chatwin, communications director for the district.
The district has scheduled a public hearing in December regarding the recommended closures. Chatwin said that a final decision on the closures won't be made until the board's Jan. 9 meeting, at the earliest.
