Granite School District Superintendent Ben Horsley will field questions from the public in a live Facebook town hall on Tuesday, Oct. 27, as the district moves forward with a study of potential school closures and boundary changes.
The session runs from 6 to 7 p.m. on the district's Facebook page, according to the district's October newsletter. The newsletter describes the event as a chance to "share your ideas, hear important updates, and stay connected with what's happening across Granite School District." Families can email questions in advance to [email protected].
The town hall comes as Granite ramps up a planning process it suspended late last year after community opposition. The district has hired MGT, an independent K-12 demographic consulting firm, to study potential programming changes, boundary adjustments and school closures driven by declining student enrollment, according to the district's community input page.
A preliminary community input survey is open and asks families to share their priorities and experiences. The district said the survey will help MGT understand the viewpoints of families and communities served by Granite schools.
No closure scenarios or recommendations have been developed yet. The first community-wide public meeting hosted by MGT is scheduled for Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. in the Taylorsville High School auditorium. Survey results and other early feedback will be discussed at that meeting, but the district said it will be "too early to discuss potential boundary changes or school closure recommendations."
The closure question has simmered since late 2025, when the district planned to vote on shutting Eastwood Elementary and Morningside Elementary over declining enrollment. After strong community opposition, Granite suspended the vote and emailed parents that there would be "no school closures, programmatic changes, or boundary adjustments for the foreseeable future," the Holladay Journal reported in February.
But the district cautioned at the time that closures could still come. Board member Clarke Nelson warned in February that the process would eventually bring difficult choices, saying, "We have to direct the process to get to the greatest common good. And that has a reality to it that will be painful, at some point, for certain schools, for certain neighborhoods, that I don't see going away in the near future."
Horsley has pointed to declining birth rates and the high cost of living in the areas those schools serve as factors shrinking enrollment.
Separately, the district is running a calendar preference survey for the 2028-2029 school year. That survey closes at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19.
Families with questions about the closure and boundary process can email [email protected].
