Correction: ___ In our Millcreek City Journals February issue, the following story “Granite School District puts the pause on closures—for now” incorrectly stated Julie Jackson was an owner of Beckstrand & Associates when it is owned by her father, Richard Beckstrand.  

After facing community backlash, Granite School District is pressing pause on its plans to close down two of its east bench elementary schools.

The decision comes as welcome news for both community members and families alike, who have strongly protested the potential closures ever since Granite first announced its intention to put the decision to a vote at the end of 2025.

Almost immediately following the announcement, the District received strong opposition from parents and families alike. 

The schools in question, Eastwood Elementary and Morningside Elementary, have long served generations of students. Even so, the District claimed that the schools’ declining enrollment rates prompted officials and school board members to assess their long-term viability. It is worth noting, however, that declining enrollment rates have been a District (and statewide) problem for several years now, leading to multiple school closures in Granite District in recent history. 

Superintendent Ben Horsley directly cited the declining enrollment rates as the main reason behind the District’s desire to vote on these specific closures. He further referenced declining birth rates and the exorbitant cost of living in the areas that the schools serve as other mitigating factors.

“It’s not [families’] fault that the birth rate overall has declined and that families don’t have four to five kids anymore,” Horsley said. “It’s not their fault that we don’t have enough young families that can afford homes in that area.…But it also puts the District in a sticky situation.”

Despite the District’s reasoning, students and parents continued to protest the closures. In response community members banded together, starting various grassroots initiatives. This included conducting their own “community study,” a direct response to the District’s population study. In addition, those fighting on behalf of Eastwood started a campaign called “SOS EASTWOOD,” which includes its own website and Change.org petition. At the time of this article’s release, the petition has amassed over 1,800 signatures.

The SOS EASTWOOD supporters insisted that their studies yielded compelling evidence directly contrasting the claims put forth by the District. This led to a further divide, with parents contemplating the District’s true motives.

One of their biggest concerns materialized after research suggested a potential conflict of interest directly linked to board member, Julie Jackson, who represents Precinct 1 within Area 5 of the District, which oversees both Eastwood and Morningside.

Jackson and her family own a property management company called Beckstrand & Associates, and opposers argued that the company may have their eye on the Eastwood property. Eastwood, which sits at 3305 Wasatch Blvd., could definitely be considered valuable real estate. 

Christopher Jennings, a parent of two Eastwood students said that he was “concerned about the disposition of the land for purposes not oriented towards teaching children.”

Jennings and other parents believe Granite’s push to close Eastwood may be driven by the potential profit the District could gain from selling such a valuable plot of real estate. These concerns led to the crafting of an email authored by Eastwood parent Nastasya Mangone, whose daughter Scarlett, attends the school. The email was sent directly to Board President Nicole McDermott on Sept. 17, requesting that Jackson recuse herself from the final vote.

“For the sake of fairness, transparency and community trust, I respectfully request that Board Member Jackson recuse herself from any votes, discussions or decisions,” Mangone wrote. “Her relationship with and board seat on a real estate development company and lack of public disclosure indicates that she has an actual conflict of interest.”

Three days after the email was sent, McDermott responded insisting that there was “no evidence” supporting a potential conflict of interest. She added that recusal would be warranted only if Jackson or her family stood to benefit directly from the property’s sale. Furthermore, District officials asserted that they have no interest in selling the property. 

Nevertheless, Granite remained firm in their reasoning and insisted that all of their studies and findings had been well researched and thoroughly reviewed by board members and District officials. However, something shifted in late November 2025 after the District decided they needed more time to conduct independent studies before making an informed, permanent decision.

In light of the news, Jackson stated at a November board meeting that “my community is tired, and if we are going to spend our time continuing to engage on this, we want our time effectively and efficiently spent.”

The final vote regarding the closures was slated to occur in December 2025. Following the decision to suspend the vote, an email went out to parents stating, “There will be no school closures, programmatic changes, or boundary adjustments for the foreseeable future.” 

The District said the decision was ultimately informed by several factors including wanting to dispel any notion that the “process [was] biased and unfair.”

While those who fought to keep Eastwood and Morningside in operation were thrilled to hear of this news, the District did caution parents, families and students alike that the current decision does not mean that closures could not still happen in the future. Furthermore, they stressed that declining enrollment is still an ongoing issue, one that they suspect will continue to persist and worsen in the coming months and years.

“We cannot lose sight of the reality of the situation that we are in,” said Clarke Nelson, another board member. “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.”

Jackson also addressed board members and onlookers, stating that future studies will focus on collecting data and information that is completely removed from the influence of District officials and board members, to help encourage community trust. 

“I want to be clear about my expectations of this study,” Jackson said. “I expect a thorough Community Engagement Plan, but one that is completely different from what we’ve done in [the previous] study.…I expect a full report with data to back up recommendations. I expect board and District leaders to be completely distant from the process."