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SALT LAKE CITY — The Granite School District Board of Education unanimously approved requests this week to reconfigure Cottonwood and Cyprus high schools as four-year schools.
Currently, the two schools include students in 10th through 12th grades, but starting in the 2016-17 school year, both will include ninth-graders. During the change, Cyprus is expected to take on an additional 300 students, and Cottonwood could receive between 400 and 500 additional students.
The change has been years in the making and has already happened at three other schools in the district. Granger High School switched to a 9-12 model in 2013, Kearns High School made the change in 2014, and Hunter High School will become a 9-12 school this fall.
Granite spokesman Ben Horsley said some schools are originally configured for 10th through 12th grades to accommodate a growing student population. In recent years, however, student enrollment has either held steady or declined in some Granite schools.
Based on the information we've received, it's a superior pedagogical model and can provide some benefits to our schools.
–Ben Horsely, Granite School District
The majority of parents also support the change for Cyprus and Cottonwood. In a survey leading up to the request, 67 percent of parents in the Cyprus network and 62 percent of parents in the Cottonwood network said they favored transitioning to a 9-12 model. Roughly 25 percent opposed the change, Horsley said.
Educators say including ninth grade in a high school campus also has academic benefits. Since Granger became a four-year high school two years ago, the number of ninth-graders on track for graduation in that area has increased by as much as 20 percent, Horsley said.
"The community clearly supports this, and based on the information we've received, it's a superior pedagogical model and can provide some benefits to our schools," he said.
By the end of next year, five high schools in the district are expected to incorporate a 9-12 model. Olympus, Skyline and Taylorsville high schools remain as 10-12 schools.
