ROCK SPRINGS – The Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees voted to close Lincoln School for the upcoming year and approved new boundaries for the students going to the school.

While the board voted to close the school, it does not mean the end for Lincoln Elementary. Director of Building and Grounds Dan Selleroli said the district will start an economic study on the building this summer. He added the state did an overview of the building in 2007 and noted it was in poor condition. Selleroli explained Lowell was ranked the worst followed by Lincoln. Lowell is currently being remodeled.

Selleroli said the school could possibly go back to being used as an overflow school for a high school academy or fill another need in the district but the upgrades have to be done. One thing he did point out was the upgrades will be done using major maintenance dollars which come from the state and not out of the district’s budget. Upgrades that need to be looked at include electrical, security, accessibility and parking to name just a few on the list.

With Lincoln being shut down for the year, the board approved new boundaries for the students at Lincoln. After looking at a couple different options, the decision was made to split it using Edgar Street. Those students north of Edgar will go to Desert View and those south will go to Walnut.

Board member Stephanie Thompson said by looking at the options, this one had less chance of an overflow happening. Board member Carlo Jelaco questioned if the district would do everything they could to keep families in the same school. Superintendant Kelly McGovern said it has always been the district’s policy to do everything they can to keep siblings in the same school.