Provo City School District’s Board of Education votes tomorrow night on a possible bond to rebuild Dixon Middle School and Wasatch Elementary School.

There are countless reasons why rebuilding Dixon Middle at its current site is the smart choice (we’ve listed them all on this site). Because of this, we have been encouraging the board members to vote to rebuild Dixon at its current site.

However, it is going to be an extremely close vote. We have no idea how it will turn out. We need to be at the board meeting to show our support for rebuilding Dixon Middle at its current site.

Please join us at Provo City School District Offices tomorrow (Tuesday, 9/14) at 7pm for the board meeting. Public comment will be allowed. Let’s show them how much support there is for keeping Dixon Middle School at its current location.

Provo School District’s 2019 bond proposed moving Dixon Middle School from its historic 1931 building to a new building on undeveloped farmland in west Provo. Provo voters overwhelmingly rejected this proposal, voting 2-1 against the bond and voting in two new board members who voiced support for keeping Dixon Middle centrally located, at its current site.

However, the fight to save Dixon Middle is far from over. Though the school has valiantly served about half of Provo’s middle school students for 90 years, it is in disrepair, needs immediate seismic safety upgrades, and deserves renovation.

Provo School District is now considering a bond to rebuild Wasatch Elementary; Dixon Middle needs to be a part of that bond. A bond that serves students in both east and west Provo will pass with citywide support. Please voice your support for renovating and rebuilding Dixon Middle School on its current site by emailing school board members now.

Save Dixon supporters

Provo School District’s board will be meeting today to decide on the details of the 2019 school bond. The meeting will be from 5pm to 7pm with public comment at 7pm. We invite you all to join us at 6:50pm at the district offices for public comment. Please wear Dixon Middle dark blue to show your support.

Dear Supporters

Thank you so much for all you have done to rally around our historic Dixon Middle School. The board will announce its decision on the bond on Tuesday April 23. If you are a Provo resident, please email the board right now by either writing your own* or copying and pasting the message below.

*If you have the time, we prefer that you write your own message. If you live outside the downtown area, please note that, as well.

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Dear Provo District School Board members,

I am writing as a Provo resident and voter to request that the bond include an on-site Dixon Middle School. I believe Dixon in its current location will best serve our students, district, and city for reasons that include:

1) While I understand the flexibility the larger site offers, I do not find the ability to expand to be a desirable quality, as I prefer the size to be capped by its initial capacity of about 1,200 students.

2) There may be a slightly higher number of students who can walk to the new site, but its walkability would be prohibitive due to the poor Safe Routes infrastructure of the area.

3) The existing site supports the vulnerable families in the area that depend on its walkability, from picking up siblings at nearby Timpanogos (the highest low-income school in the district), to getting home when sick.

4) Dixon Middle School serving as the historic anchor of Dixon Neighborhood is essential for the health of the surrounding area and downtown as it helps attract established families the area desperately needs. See: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/4/16/losing-essential-services-to-the-suburbs-is-bad-for-everyone

For these reasons, I will support a school bond that includes Dixon rebuilt on its current site, and not one that relocates it. Please make the decision to rebuild Dixon on its current site.

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Copy/paste this to email all board members:
jamespe@provo.edu; melanieh@provo.edu; nateb@provo.edu; mckayj@provo.edu; jenniferpa@provo.edu; julier@provo.edu; rnielsen@provo.edu

A friend of ours, Jamie Littlefield, wrote an article for Strongtowns that talks about the school board’s idea to move Dixon Middle away from central Provo.

“Now that my city’s downtown area is starting to thrive, we’re facing a new problem: the suburbs are trying to “steal” the best parts of downtown and move them to the outskirts. In the last several years, Provo, Utah has dealt with a barrage of attempts to move centrally-located public facilities to unwalkable, suburban (and even undeveloped) areas.”

Read the full article here!

Check out this video and write-up Provo City’s Landmarks Commission did on Dixon Middle:

“A unique treasure in Provo history, Dixon Middle School dates back to the years prior to the Depression. The school honors the Henry Aldous Dixon pioneer family, who served many within the Provo community. Joseph Nelson, one of area’s premiere architects, designed the original structure, with its brick gables and distinctive stonework battlements. His design philosophy can readily be seen in this building–a message of tradition, power, and respect for education.”

On Saturday, April 13, we organized a free community potluck lunch to celebrate Dixon Middle and educate people about the importance of keeping it. We got somewhere between 100 and 150 adults and children, most coming from nearby downtown neighborhoods. Nearly all in attendance signed the petition encouraging Provo City School District’s Board of Education to keep Dixon on-site. Many people talked about how their parents and grandparents attended school at Dixon and would hate to see it moved.

Check out the photos and videos from the party!

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Provo School District released a survey about the bond today. Please fill it out and encourage them to rebuild Dixon on site!

Take the survey now.

See this PDF to view a walkable 1-mile radius from each proposed school site. The current is within a walkable distance of a much larger portion of the boundaries than the proposed site.

Keep Dixon in Dixon!