Across Utah County, applause rang out at the start of three separate school board meetings — an unusual level of excitement for a Tuesday night board session. But these were not typical meetings.
Three newly elected school boards were sworn in Nov. 25 to govern the districts that will replace Alpine School District, which will cease to exist in July 2027.
It’s a new milestone in the breakup of the state’s largest school district. Now, the ball will really start rolling.
This situation has never happened before in Utah history, where one district is dissolved to form three completely new ones. Voters in 2024 approved the massive split, which also meant swearing in 21 new board members across the three boards all at once. Established school boards have staggered terms so that members don’t leave at the same time.
Utah’s last district split, in 2007, was much different. East side communities broke away from the Jordan School District to create the Canyons School District, but Jordan remained.
After the swearing-in ceremony, the three boards each jumped into their first meetings, making decisions such as voting on a board president, passing policy to allow community input and setting meeting schedules so they could get moving on decisions.
The Aspen Peaks board approved making that the official name of their district. The other two boards, currently called Timpanogos and Lake Mountain, have temporary names and are soliciting more feedback before solidifying anything.
The next big step will be picking a superintendent. All of the boards are starting their searches and will make appointments within the coming months.
“If you think about how long Alpine School District has been in play, we are setting the foundation for an organization that can last 100 or more years,” said Jen Lyman, the new president of the Timpanogos school board. “It will educate, not only finish educating two of my children, but also possibly my grandchildren and their children and so on and so forth.”
Lyman said that it is both exciting and historic.
These boards will make hiring decisions as well as policy and curriculum choices — do they want to follow what Alpine did or change things up? They’ll also have to decide what operations for their district look like. What services will they provide, how will they engage with different stakeholders and how will they spend money?
The districts will work with Alpine to figure out how to split up assets.
Another unusual part of this split is that three current Alpine board members will also serve on the new boards. Julie King is the president, and Joylin Lincoln is a member of the Lake Mountain board. And Ada Wilson is on the Timpanogos board.
Interim Alpine Superintendent Rob Smith said the district will share information, resources and recommendations with the three new groups. They’ll all meet on Dec. 6. He said they’ll work collaboratively on joint committees through a variety of issues, such as the asset split.
He said Alpine’s role is to provide information and support to help prepare for a strong launch in 2027.
“Each of the boards adopted their meeting schedule, so just would encourage the public to check on their websites and be actively engaged in the work,” Smith said.
All of the boards are scheduled to meet at least once per month going forward, and the work is just beginning. At the first meetings, the public was already sharing concerns about overcrowding and potential school closures.
