Eagle Mountain continues to grow in population.
To make room, the Alpine School District monitors the number of students in each of its schools and, as a result, constructs new schools to accommodate.
This week, Eagle Mountain City officials sat down with Julie King of the Alpine District Board of Education to discuss a new elementary school coming to Eagle Mountain in August of 2023.
“It’s a great opportunity and a great challenge to have,” King said of the growth in Eagle Mountain.
“Twenty seven to 28% of the population of the city is a K-12 student,” King said. “That doesn’t even account for all of our littles, our toddlers, all of our preschoolers who are going to be in our schools in a few short years.”
Earlier this year, Eagle Mountain was named the third youngest city in the United States with a median age of 19 and nearly 50% of the population age 18 or younger.
The new elementary school will be located off Pony Express Parkway near Unity Pass in the Overland community and will influence existing elementary school boundaries.
Community meetings will be held in the coming months for residents to give their input on boundaries for Mountain Trails, Hidden Hollow and Black Ridge elementary schools.
Once boundaries have been adjusted, a principal for the new school will be selected around January 2023. Then, according to King, the real fun will begin.
Name ideas, mascots and colors are then presented to the school board around February or March. King’s favorite part is the community input on these topics.
“It’s one of my favorite things as a school board member. We get a lot of suggestions from students. Some of those suggestions are that the mascot should be a unicorn or that we should name it ‘Spider-Man School.’ That’s always really fun to get the kids involved,” said King.
To help finance new school construction, some of which is planned for Eagle Mountain, a bond has been placed on the November ballots. The Alpine School District has a “AAA” Bond rating, which means interest rates on bonds for the school district are among the lowest in the country.
“We’re in a division of roughly 15,000 school districts across the nation. We are one of only 14 that has that AAA bond rating,” King said.
According to King, it’s important to the school board to hear the taxpayers’ opinions on issues such as class size, growth, aging facilities and safety and security.
As Eagle Mountain continues to grow, King says there will soon be a need for an additional middle school and high school in Eagle Mountain.
Residents who would like to learn more about the 2022 bond can visit the school board’s website or email Julie King at julieking@alpinedistrict.org.