Ogden student numbers to dip 15.1% in five years, figuring in school closure plans
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- Ogden school board members listen to a presentation on proposed redistricting at a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Pictured in order behind the dais, starting on the left, Stacy Bernal (in the white top), Amber Allred, Nancy Blair, Superintendent Luke Rasmussen, Joyce Wilson, Arlene Anderson and Susan Richards.
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- This image shows the current boundaries of James Madison Elementary, outlined in blue in the middle of the map, and the portions of the district that would be absorbed by other schools if it is closed, as proposed.
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- The outside of James Madison Elementary in Ogden, photographed Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. School officials propose closing the school after the 2022-2023 school year.
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- This table shows the number of students Liberty, New Bridge, Odyssey and Polk elementary schools would have if James Madison Elementary closes and they each absorb a portion of its students. The table also shows how many students Bonneville Elementary would have if Hillcrest Elementary students go there while that school is rebuilt.
OGDEN — The James Madison Elementary boundaries would fizzle away, with students scattering to four newer schools under the proposed closure of the central Ogden facility.
With the number of students in Ogden School District boundaries expected to dip by 15.1% in the coming five years, school administrators formally presented the closure proposal and redistricting plan to the school board on Thursday. Superintendent Luke Rasmussen had previously said the recommendation to close James Madison would be coming, but the proposal became official at Thursday’s meeting and a school consultant provided more details.
“Similar to last year, the district is still in a decline, and we are expecting a 15% (decline) over the next five years,” said Georgia Leonard, project manager with Davis Demographics, the consulting firm aiding the Ogden School District in its redistricting efforts. The firm also told school officials last year when assisting with redistricting plans for 2022-2023 that the district’s student count was in a downward trajectory.
Declining enrollment, caused in big part by the falling birth rate in Ogden, has already factored in the closure of two schools here since 2019, Gramercy Elementary and Taylor Canyon Elementary, whittling the number of grade schools in the city from 14 to 12. Now James Madison, originally built in 1941 and the district’s oldest grade school, is on the chopping block.
The proposed redistricting brought on by the closure will be the focus of a pair of public meetings on Feb. 8 and 9 and a public hearing on Feb. 16, when the school board may take formal action. Officials are also proposing the temporary closure of Hillcrest Elementary starting with the 2023-2024 school year so it can be rebuilt, with the students to be shifted to nearby Bonneville Elementary, which has space, until the work is complete, probably sometime in mid-2025.
According to Davis Demographics, the number of students in the Ogden School District is expected to fall from 10,111 currently to 8,582 in 2027, down 15.1%. The total is expected to fall even more through 2032 to 7,834, which represents a 22.5% fall from this school year’s numbers.
School officials, perhaps inured to the talk of the district’s falling numbers, said little as Leonard made her presentation. At any rate, she said the decline would eventually level off and that estimates beyond five years are less reliable. New construction and the arrival of newcomers, moreover, has the effect of tempering the declines.
As for James Madison’s 340 students, they would be shifted to four nearby schools that have space to absorb the old school’s boundaries. Liberty Elementary south of James Madison would take 106 students, Polk Elementary to the east would take 59, New Bridge Elementary to the north would absorb 79 and Odyssey Elementary to the southwest would get 96.
Liberty and the rebuilt Polk opened just last August and the four schools that would absorb James Madison students are all newer than the school that would close.
“We appreciate the love our communities have for our older school buildings. But it is important that we consider what is best for our students now and in the future,” reads an informational message to Ogden School District parents on the plans. Newer buildings, the message went on, are safer, more technologically up to date and more secure.
Teachers could relocate as students shifted to new schools so none would lose their jobs, according to the district.
The potential closure notwithstanding, there would be no immediate push to demolish the James Madison structure at 2563 Monroe Blvd. or get rid of the land where the facility sits. It also houses a Midtown Community Health Center clinic, which would keep operating, and Rasmussen said school officials are thinking about moving the district’s adult education program to the James Madison building.
“It’s growing,” Rasmussen said of the adult education program, geared to those seeking a high school equivalency diploma. “We need a place to grow.”
The future of Bonneville Elementary would be weighed once the new Hillcrest Elementary facility — if rebuilt — is complete, according to Rasmussen. Officials have hinted that Bonneville, too, could be shuttered.
The open houses on Feb. 8 and 9 go from 6-7:30 p.m. and will be held at two locations each evening, Bonneville Elementary at 490 Gramercy Ave. and New Bridge Elementary at 2150 Jefferson Ave.
The Feb. 16 public hearing is set to start at 6 p.m. and will be held at district headquarters at 1950 Monroe Blvd.