MIDVALE - If real estate developer Bob Jones delivers on his promise to build a huge private school for grades 7-12 in Herriman - ground has yet to be broken on the massive project - that he says will eventually house up to 2,500 students, it appears the Utah Southvalley Community (USC) Trojans will still have trouble finding opponents to play against.

Thursday, the Utah High School Activities Association's Board of Trustees dealt Jones' dream a serious blow. The 22-member panel voted unanimously - with one abstention - to deny USC's request for admission into the UHSAA. That means the UHSAA's 130 or so member schools are forbidden to compete against USC, which was hailed by at least one of its coaches as a super sports academy-type school but in recent months billed itself as just another large private school with an academic emphasis.

Timpview principal George Bayless abstained from voting because his son has interviewed for a position with the school. But after hearing USC officials present their case for membership for the third time since November and a short discussion following a motion to deny by Teresa Theurer of the State Board of Education, the other trustees present all voted against USC.
"For me, I have a concern that they say, 'We have this, and we have this,' at every meeting they come [to]. Then, [they give] another reason why they don't have this and this," said board member Terry Bawden of the Granite School District. "For me, that was a major factor. If you say you are going to do something, do it."

USC failed to produce the two things that the trustees wanted to see the most, Theurer said: A strong plan for the use of other athletic facilities while theirs are being built and the blessing of Herriman City.

Upon tabling the matter at their Jan. 24 meeting, the trustees told USC officials that they wanted to see certain construction contracts and blueprints, as well as contracts for the use of other facilities in case the campus is not finished by the end of August. Also, they wanted a letter from Herriman City stating that it was on board with the 4,000- acre project expected to cost more than $85 million when completed.

USC delivered on most of those requests, but could not produce the Herriman City letter because Jones said it was waiting on legal opinions and other small details.
Also, trustees were wary of some of the contracts to use off-campus facilities owned by other municipalities or community colleges because they were "based on availability, mostly," Bawden said.
drew@sltrib.com
......................................................................


This is the private school that the boys from New Zealand are attending this year to meet the schooling eligibility requirement for USA Rugby.

In 2005 Highland was informed by an attorney from the Utah State Board of Education that the import players from New Zealand, here on temporary visitors visas, could not attend any public high school in Utah.

Over the years they have slipped players into Highland, Olympus and Cottonwood high schools.