Most voters in Tooele County haven’t cast a ballot yet, but the Tooele County School District has already picked names for two new elementary schools that will be built if a bond issue passes in November’s election.
The Tooele County School Board selected names for the two proposed schools during its meeting Tuesday night at the district office.
The school board also chose a location for the new school that will combine East and Harris Elementary schools into one building.
Board members settled on Old Mill Elementary for the new school that will be built on Brigham Road near the Benson Gristmill. Other names considered included Benson Mill, Lakeview and Millpond.
The board will select a mascot and colors for Old Mill Elementary at a later date after gathering input from patrons, according to Scott Rogers, Tooele County School District superintendent.
The combination of East and Harris elementary schools will be named Sterling Elementary School after Sterling R. Harris, who was also the inspiration for the name of Harris Elementary.
Harris, born in Mexico and raised in Canada, attended both Brigham Young University and Utah State University. He came to Tooele in 1926 to teach and coach.
He taught and coached in Tooele schools for 11 years.
In 1937, Harris left teaching to work as the personnel director for the Tooele Smelter and Refining Company. After three years, he returned to work for the Tooele County School District as superintendent, a position he held for 25 years until he retired at the age of 65 in 1965.
Harris played an instrumental role in uniting Tooele’s ethnically divided “Old Town” and “New Town.”
As a young coach, Harris crossed the great divide in town and recruited both Mormon youth from Old Town and European immigrant youth from New Town to play on the same football team at Tooele High School.
Harris led the united team to successful state championships in 1928 and 1929, and again in 1933 and 1937.
The school district honored Harris in 1953 by naming its newest elementary school after him, Sterling R. Harris Elementary.
Today the school is known as simply Harris Elementary.
“We wanted a new name for the new school, but we still wanted to honor Sterling’s memory, Rogers said.
The school board selected the eagle as the mascot for Sterling Elementary. An eagle is the mascot for East Elementary.
The colors of the two schools were combined with red and blue selected by the school board to represent Sterling Elementary.
The school board selected the site of East Elementary School for the new Sterling Elementary School after reviewing geotechnical reports and reviewing the suitability of both East and Harris sites for the new school’s site plan, according to Rogers.
The new school will follow the same design and size as Grantsville Elementary School.
The East site had better soil for the building and a better slope for sewer needs, according to Rogers.
“Basically there is a better size and layout at East and is more compatible with the Grantsville Elementary school plan,” Rogers said. “The Harris site would have required the purchase of a lot adjacent to the south of the site.”
The East site also offers a better layout for transportation needs, both for buses and for students that walk, he said.
The construction of both schools is contingent on voter approval of a $49 million bond in the Nov. 3 general election.