For the past forty-eight years, Piute High School has served as a center of learning for the teenage residents of Circleville, Kingston, Junction, Koosharem, Antimony, Burrville, and Marysville. During these forty-eight years, Piute High has been continuously refurbished to keep the school looking nice. However, recently, Piute County board members have been toying with the idea of tearing down the old Piute High, and rebuilding anew school.

The reasons for this seem obvious; the building is in danger of being condemned by the fire department any day. There are traces of asbestos in the walls (so the teachers say) and there is not a serviceable weight room or dance room, and it is crowded. Advocates for the rebuilding of Piute High argue that by continuing to poor funds into giving the building a face lift, we are spending much more money than would be used to simply rebuild. Principal Scott Bagley said, “ A new high school would be the best thing for the county of Piute. This high school is in danger of being condemned. If that were to happen, the economy in Piute would evaporate, there would be nothing here.”

On the other hand we have a percentage of the citizens in Piute. Many are worried about the impact that the building of a new school will have on taxes. Citizen Joseph Dalton says: “The fact is, times are extremely tough right now. People are losing their jobs, their homes, and they can’t afford to increase taxes just because the school is on the older side.”

This is a very controversial issue for Piute county.Both sides are concerned. This issue will be put to a vote in July 2009.

Update: On June 23, 2009, the Piute County School District bond was passed for $6.6 million to remodel and build a new high school. It was a close race with 47% of the county voting totaling 243 for and 212 against. We are looking forward to the construction to begin in spring of 2010 with completion in 2012.