Students open doors to unique new school

More than 600 elementary school children will enter a new one-of-a-kind school this Tuesday. While Woodrow Wilson Elementary as an institution is more than 80 years old, this first day at school will mark more than the opening of the new edifice. Wilson will be a model school that will focus the best teaching practices and other services to help a diverse community succeed.

For example, the families of Wilson Elementary speak 47 languages. In this Title I school, eighty five percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school will welcome students of 26 countries this year representing Hispanic, Polynesian, Asian, African, Native American, and Caucasian cultures.

During each year, the school may experience a 90 to 100 percent mobility rate.

“This is a rich opportunity as well as a challenge for Wilson’s faculty and administrators,” says Principal Lynda Hart. “These students and their families come to school because they want to learn. Our charge is to employ the most effective teaching strategies to help each of these children succeed in school.”

Just as Granite School District was getting ready to demolish the old Wilson building and construct a new one on the same site, the district discovered a once-in-a-lifetime property deal. It purchased 23 acres of prime real estate with more that 300,000 square feet of building space for one quarter of what it cost to construct the buildings alone. The deal allowed the district to develop the new Granite Technical Institute for high school students, attract a major university extension campus to the site, consolidate district offices to one location, and create a new school for Wilson Elementary.

Now, surrounded by other teaching programs, and with access to the new Granite Education Center campus, Wilson’s mission began to expand.

“We envisioned an opportunity to teach teachers as well as students,” says Linda Mariotti, assistant superintendent for Instructional Services. “Wilson’s educators have received training in proven practices and strategies that will help these children learn at higher rates. We hope to collaborate with Utah State University in this training and expose principals and teachers from around the district to what Wilson is doing.”

One year ago the Wilson faculty was rigorously selected from experienced candidates with a breadth of educational endorsements and skills. Now they open the doors to the new Wilson Elementary with a contagious enthusiasm.

“We teach students who are still learning to speak English whose parents often work two jobs and can’t help them with school work, but every one of us stayed here,” says sixth grade teacher Karen Baxter. “We complement each other with our skills, and none of us wants to miss out on what we’re about to accomplish.”