Alpine School District

The district is governed by a board of education which consists of a seven-member group of citizens elected to four-year terms.[3] The day-to-day operations of the district are managed by a superintendent. As of 2021, the district superintendent is Shane Farnsworth.

As of 2018, the district has ten large high schools, and only seven school board members, leading some parents and students to express concerns over inadequate representation on the school board.[4] Some parents would like to see the district split into two or three new school districts, allowing more direct control over their local schools. As of 2018, a member of the Alpine School Board represents more people than a member of the state legislature in the house.[4]

The district offices are located in American Fork.[5] The district boundary includes: American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Fort, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Orem, Pleasant Grove, Saratoga Springs, Sundance, and Vineyard. It also includes portions of Provo and the Utah County portions of Bluffdale and Draper.[6]

The district was created in 1915 with 92 teachers, 4,906 students, 21 grade schools, and four high schools: Lehi High School, American Fork High School, Pleasant Grove High School (Utah), and Spencer (Orem).[7]

Its name and original boundaries were taken from the Alpine Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[8]

In the summer of 2022, Alpine School District made headlines after removing 52 books by 41 authors from school libraries, 42% of which “feature LBGTQ+ characters and or themes.”[9][10] Another 32 books will be subjected for cover-to-cover review by autumn to determine if the books will remain available to students.[10][11]

A total of 275 books were initially selected for review following the implementation of a new law, H.B. 374, “Sensitive Materials In Schools," but the majority of the books were found to have no objectionable content.[10] All 275 books had previously received parental complaints and urging from Utah Parents United saying the titles "are inappropriate for children."[11] Following guidance from the Office of the Attorney General, "an internal library audit determined that [the questioned books] contain 'sensitive material' ... and 'do not have literary merit.'"[10] In addition to removing the books from school libraries, Utah Parents United curriculum director Brooke Stephens "also filed a police report ... to report a list of 47 books" she claimed to contain pornographic material.[11]

Alpine School District spokesperson David Stephenson indicated that the books have been temporarily "placed away from students (who are currently out for summer break) until Alpine can conduct a 'review of content.'"[11] Critics of the policy claim "it is a violation to remove the books before [the internal review of content]."[11] Utah Parents United and other supporters have applauded the books' removal and have characterized the questioned material as pornographic.[11]

According to the Utah Library Association (ULA), however, “removal of these...books does not seem to be in accordance with the law" and some of the questioned books were found in other cases to have literary merit.[12] Critics also characterized the review as hasty,[13] question if proper policies were followed,[10] and claim the questioned books may be helpful or enlightening to some students.[11]

In September 2023, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights sent a 21-page letter to the superintendent of Alpine School District. This letter detailed the district's failing results of a compliance review that took place from 2017-2020. The report found eight violations of Title IX and three concerns related to compliance with Title IX. This letter used five employee-to-student sexual harassments and assaults and more than 100 student-to-student harassment incidents, of which eighty-eight were sexual assault, over the review period of 2017-2020 to illustrate the district's failings. In many of these instances, the district failed to report the issue or investigate it properly, according to Title IX. In multiple cases, the offending teachers were allowed to retire to resign quietly with no notes made on the teacher's license. Alpine School District has until January 2024 to make the required changes from the report.[14]

• List of school districts in Utah
• Nebo School District
• Provo City School District

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alpine School District.

• Official website
• Interactive District Map
• Runolfson, Judith Louise Ranum (2006). The effectiveness of the Cops in schools grant in Alpine School District, Utah (Thesis). OCLC 367936048.