COTTONWOOD HIGH 9TH GRADE
RECONFIGUATION REVIEW
This review is regarding reconfiguring Bonneville Junior,
Granite Park Junior and Cottonwood High School.
OUR MISSION
Are you in favor of moving 9th grade from
Bonneville Jr. and Granite Park Jr.
Support
Oppose
Need more info
62%
23%
14%
All students at Cottonwood High School have the right to a
quality education. Our work is to cultivate a safe, positive and
accessible learning environment in which each student can
School where respondents students' attend
develop the essential skills they need to become successful,
ethical and productive members of the global community.
Elementary
69%
Jr. High
In response to significant community support and a desire to
Sr. High
fulfill Cottonwood’s mission to ensure achievement and
graduation for all students, the school community councils of
Bonneville, Granite Park and Cottonwood recommend that
network schools be reconfigured to move the ninth grade to
Cottonwood High School at the beginning of the 2015-2016
academic year.
Elementary
THE PROCESS
Junior High
In September 2014, the schools’ community councils determined
that the communities of network schools had interest to bring the
High School
ninth grade to Cottonwood High. This interest was expressed in
a letter to Granite District Administration.
Public town-hall meetings were advertised and held at
Cottonwood and Bonneville. Information and notes from these
meetings were posted on the Granite District website.
Additionally, all three schools created an executive summary
that was distributed to all community members to provide
information about the change. An open survey was conducted
by Y2 Analytics April 11- 20, 2015. This survey solicited
responses from 433 parents and guardians of K-10 randomly
selected parents who either responded by live phone interviews
or self-administered online interviews.
THE RESULTS & BUILDING PLAN
62% of the community surveyed is in favor of moving 9th
graders to Cottonwood High. All three school community
councils voted in support of the move. 19 additional regular ed.
classrooms, 1 special ed. classroom and 2 offices would be
necessary.
13 existing classrooms are available through
reassigning teachers and utilizing space more effectively. 7
classrooms would be created out of existing space within
Cottonwood through capital projects. There is no foreseeable
need for additional portable classrooms.
23%
8%
In Favor by School
Support 61%
DK 17%
Oppose 22%
Support 68%
DK 3%
Oppose 29%
Support 57%
DK 20%
Oppose 23%
The biggest reason to support 9th grade at
CHS
Better Environment
9th grade counts
Education opportunities
More Focused
No Reason
Parent's school
Other
Transition to high School
Other Districts
Better life prepartion
High school athletics
Increased extracurriculars
Better college preparation
Ease Transportation
0%
5%
10%
15%
Common Opposition Verbatims: “I think 9th graders are too young for the high school environment”
“I believe 9th graders are too young and impressionable to go with 18 year olds”
Common Support Verbatims: “…my 9th grader would have better access to upper division classes
“Educationally it makes more sense to have 9th graders, who are high school students, at the high school”
“It makes taking advanced math and other classes easier”
20%