Joseph Cook Elementary was built in 1979 in Syracuse, UT. We currently have around 900 students. If I remember correctly the capacity was at about 600. More than 1000 houses are slated to be built within the school's boundaries. There is no plan to add another school or change boundaries according to the district. Portables have been added for classrooms, to help with the overcrowding. The major problem is the gym/lunchroom.

There are too many students to fit into the gym at one time, so they cannot have assemblies. Or they all have to sit on the floor, no chairs, and squish.

Lunch has to be hurried to allow all the kids to have a turn, but it is an incredibly tight window with no wiggle room. 

PE often has to be shuffled onto the small stage behind the curtains since it cannot run the same time as lunch or any event in the gym.

The school has an amazing staff and teachers, aides, and more, that all have to share the two adult bathrooms. Often I see five or more adults waiting for their turn on their already precious time. 

There is a very small teacher breakroom, with not enough room for everyone. There are zero empty rooms or spaces for any of the extra programs or resources newer schools offer.

As a parent, I would like to bring this problem to the forefront of the powers that be. I know it's been brought up in various meetings, but it's been years with no solution in sight. And only more kids moving in and enrolling. 

If you're a fellow Cook Elementary parent or a Davis Co. citizen who would like to support the students in having a big enough lunchroom to actually sit and eat, show the support to teachers and staff that already endure so much from students and parents for the love of the job alone, and cause enough of a fuss to have the solution moved through the red tape... please sign!