Goodbye East, hello Sterling.
The Tooele County School District will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Sterling Elementary on Monday at 4 p.m. The ceremony will be held at East Elementary at 135 S. Seventh Street in Tooele City.
The $16.7 million price tag for Sterling Elementary was part of the $49 million general-obligation bond approved by Tooele County voters in November 2015.
Sterling Elementary will replace both East and Harris Elementary schools on Tooele City’s southeast side.
Demolition of East Elementary will begin with the addition built in 1967 on the north side of the property. Asbestos abatement work needs to be completed on the older part of the building before demolition work can continue, according to Scott Rogers, school district superintendent.
Students from East and Harris Elementary will attend school under the new name of Sterling Elementary on the site of Harris Elementary in the fall of 2016.
Both Harris and East Elementary are aged buildings that would have required substantial remodeling to be seismically safe, comply with American with Disabilities Act requirements, and meet current building codes, according to the district master facilities plan.
The combining of Harris and East elementary schools will result in a cost savings to the district, with lower administrative and utility costs while providing students with a new, state-of-the-art building, according to Rogers.
Harris was built in 1953 with additions in 1962, 1978, 1991 and 1997. It had an enrollment of 380 students in Sept. 2014.
East Elementary was built in 1967 and had an addition in 1997. Its enrollment was 447 in September 2014.
The school district held a groundbreaking for Old Mill Elementary School at 130 E. Brigham Road in Stansbury Park on May 2.
Contractors have begun pouring the concrete floor for the Old Mill School.
Along with the two new elementary schools, the school district used bond money, as promised, to purchase property for a new high school in Overlake and a new junior high in Stansbury Park.
Construction on the new secondary schools was not part of the 2015 general obligation bond. The new secondary schools will be built when student growth warrants the need for the new buildings. The school district’s master facilities plan estimates that to be in 8-10 years, according to school officials.
Other projects included in the bond are a new track for Tooele High School, a weight room at Grantsville High School, additional classroom space at Tooele Junior High School, and technology updates at several schools.
The school district announced in May that due to lower interest rates, the additional property tax bill for the $49 million bonds is expected to be $14 to $15 on a $170,000 home instead of the previously estimated $18.
