By Sarah Ward
Holladay Elementary School is closing after 74 years of educating students in Salt Lake City.
'It''s sad that the school is closing. It is quite a landmark, but life goes on,' said Lorene Billings, a former teacher at Holladay.
An open house was held Thursday, May 16, for current and former students, teachers and parents to reminisce before the school closes at the end of the school year.
Rex Burton, the school''s principal, said the announcement of the school closing was a process. Burton said Holladay Elementary School was scheduled to be re-built, but enrollment was steadily declining.
Without growing numbers of students it would not be a good idea to build a school with so few students, he said.
Instead, Granite School District is making boundary adjustments to save money.
Burton said a community council was formed and after working for a year and a half they decided to close Holladay. 'The community council justified in their minds what would be a workable solution,' Burton said.
The solution is Holladay Elementary students will be divided between three local elementary schools. Burton said approximately 55 percent will attend Driggs Elementary, 10 percent will attend Cottonwood Elementary and 35 percent will attend Meadow Moor Elementary.
Burton will be the principal at Western Hills Elementary next year.
In addition to Burton all of the teachers at Holladay Elementary are transferring to other schools within the district. 'Each school in the district took Holladay teachers and filled their empty spots,' Burton said.
Pat Provost, a second grade teacher and 11-year veteran of Holladay said, 'I was panicked because it''s something I have been doing for so long and now I have to go out and start over.'
When asked how the students reacted to the news of the close of the school Burton said 'the parents helped the children to understand the changes.'
'We didn''t keep any of this a secret from the kids,' Burton said.
It is still undetermined what will be done with the Holladay Elementary building and land. Burton said he suspects it will be used by Holladay City for office space.
Libbie Edward Elementary, also in Salt Lake City, is closing at they end of the year as well.