Can contention be avoided following vote to split Alpine School District 3 ways?

AMERICAN FORK — Former Canyons School District board president Tracy Cowdell is forthright when envisioning the three-way split awaiting the Alpine School District and its patrons.

"Based on my own experience, those involved in creating the new districts in Utah County cannot fully grasp the magnitude of the endeavor," he wrote in an email. "It's impossible to articulate the enormity of this project."

But Cowdell adds a hopeful caveat: The "grueling, exhausting" task of reforming districts can be, in the end, "deeply fulfilling."

On Nov. 5, voters from several northern Utah County communities passed a pair of propositions that will now prompt the division of the sprawling Alpine School District into three districts.

One new school district will be home to students in Lehi, American Fork, Highland, Alpine, Cedar Hills and a portion of Draper.

Another new district will include the cities of Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Cedar Fort and Fairfield.

The four remaining cities in the current Alpine School District — Orem, Vineyard, Lindon and Pleasant Grove — are expected to become a reorganized third district by default.

A "divorce" is now certain in Utah's largest district. Only time will tell if the divorce will be amicable or acrimonious.

It won't be the first time the state has witnessed the division of its most populous district.

In 2009, the Jordan School District was split in half. Most of the schools in the southwest section of the Salt Lake Valley remained in the original Jordan School District. Schools on the east end of the original district became the Canyons School District.

It was a painful period for many. There were legal challenges, layoffs and plenty of emotion.

But there were also pivotal moments of cooperation shared by educators, administrators and school board members who were collectively determined to deliver high-quality uninterrupted education to the tens of thousands of students affected by the Jordan/Canyons split.

The Deseret News reached out to three individuals who experienced the day-to-day task of dividing — and then forming — a large school district that would become the Canyons School District.

Tracy Cowdell and Kim Horiuchi were both serving on the Jordan School District Board of Education at the time of the Jordan/Canyons division — then went on to serve on the Canyon District's maiden school board.

Dave Doty was the Canyons School District's inaugural superintendent.

All three expect turbulent days ahead for those involved in the Alpine School District's three-way split. But a few lessons learned from the Jordan/Canyons district division over a decade ago, they add, might help ease some of the bumps.

Dividing school districts — a painful task

"Creating the new district was one of the most difficult challenges of my life, but it was also one of the most rewarding," wrote Cowdell. "It required overcoming doubt, navigating conflict and shouldering a level of responsibility that I could have never imagined."

Cowdell remembers a "vivid juxtaposition" between the excitement of "creating something entirely new and tailored to community needs" — and the immense "challenges, conflict and uncertainties" of navigating unchartered waters.

There were equal measures of enthusiasm and resistance, he added.

Cowdell initially voted against the Jordan/Canyons school district division. His ties to the Jordan School District run deep. His father worked for the storied district for 35 years. His wife was a former Jordan School District teacher.

"I even worked as a (district) custodian while attending college," he wrote.

At the time of the split, Cowdell was serving as the vice president of the Jordan School District's Board of Education. But once the communities he represented voted in favor of the new district "my perspective shifted entirely. The community had spoken.

"My role was no longer to debate whether this was the right decision. I had a duty to be successful."

Cowdell remembers the Jordan/Canyons division process including several defining phases — including modifying operations and budgets to reflect the new boundaries, dividing assets and debts, engaging with the community and building leadership by hiring a superintendent and key staff.

The process was grinding. Emotions often rose to the surface. Optimism sometimes surrendered to fatigue.

"It took several years before the (Canyons) district reached a sense of what could be considered 'normal'," wrote Cowdell.

Hindsight now offers Cowdell clarity — but he's quick to add that he will forever carry the emotional and mental scars from the district division that he also calls a blessing.

"Looking back, I realize I would vote differently regarding the division of the Jordan School District," he wrote. "I was wrong. The Canyons School District has thrived and the Jordan District has continued to flourish. Both districts now have the ability to focus on more localized needs in ways a larger organization simply could not."

Read the entire story at Deseret.com.

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