Furor Fades Over Orem Alternative Schools

By Laura Hancock Deseret Morning News

OREM — The waves of discontent in Orem’s Springwater neighborhood have calmed.

A group of Springwater residents rallied last summer against Alpine District’s plans to put two alternative schools in an old recreation center in their neighborhood.

To derail the plan, they complained at school board meetings, launched a Web site to spread word about their cause and threatened litigation. They griped that they didn’t want increased traffic associated with the schools — and they for sure did not want teenage students from the schools loitering in their neighborhood.

School administrators defended the students, saying they were not the monsters that residents painted them to be. During the battle last year, some residents claimed that the students used drugs and were sex offenders.

On Thursday — about six months after the first bunch of alternative-school students moved into the neighborhood — the building was officially dedicated. People who live in the neighborhood attended, along with parents of students and district officials.

What has happened during those six months? Plenty of talking, say district officials and the residents. There were three official meetings and plenty of phone calls.

The district also added lighting, security cameras and a full- time police officer at the schools. It also bought a lot east of the school and removed about 80 dump-truck loads of garbage. The lot will be used for physical education, keeping students away from nearby Springwater Park. The district will build a fence in the spring.

There was one other minor skirmish when the name of one of the schools housed in the building changed. Formerly called Alpine Life and Learning Center, district officials changed its name to Springwater High School, igniting protest from residents upset that the school was named after a neighborhood that didn’t want it there.

The district acquiesced and the school is now called East Shore High School, a reference to nearby Utah Lake. The other school is called Summit High School.

The district’s efforts to make peace in the neighborhood have largely worked: The residents have called off plans to file a lawsuit.

“I think, based upon the meetings we’ve had and the negotiations, most people felt like there were some reasonable concessions made,” said Mark Eddy, a neighborhood representative and attorney.

“My impression is it’s all resolved,” said district spokeswoman Jerrilyn Mortensen. “In fact, we haven’t had any additional comments to the board (since last summer). From what I hear, people run to their board members. But people are pretty well pleased.”

Springwater resident Julie Garfield became active with the schools after her anger over the relocation quelled. She meets with the district as the official representative of school community councils for Vineyard Elementary and both alternative high schools. She didn’t even know such a job existed before the controversy.

“If we stay informed, I think it’ll be better,” she said.

Principals of both alternative schools, which take up space in the 46,000-square- foot building, said they haven’t had many problems with neighbors.

“We have one call that I’m aware of since we’ve been here,” said Summit Principal Cecil Tuley. The high school moved in in November. “We’ve had one student walk to the (Springwater) park, and our resource officer walked down there and took care of it.”

The Summit program has 80 students in the new location who have been in state custody either because of troubles at home or because of criminal activities. Neighbors were upset that the program educated students in custody for sexual offenses, but the two group homes in northern Utah County that formerly housed the students are no longer in business, Tuley said.

East Shore High School is the district’s alternative high school. Students who fail courses at traditional high schools can make up the credit via night classes at East Shore. It also has day programs for students who do not succeed in traditional high school settings. The day and night programs include more than 1,000 students, said principal Tim Brantly.

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com