SALT LAKE CITY – A school for children with special needs has been operating out of the same building for the last 40 years, but now they’re moving to a new building and getting some upgrades.
The Hartvigsen Schoolteaches students between the ages of 5 and 21 who have moderate to severe disabilities, and this fall the school is moving to a brand-new facility on Redwood Road near Taylorsville High School, 5225 South Redwood Road.
Teacher Gary Slaymaker has been going into the old building every working day for 33 years, and he said it will be hard to leave it behind.
"Really sad,” he said. “There are a lot of memories here. This has been like a home."
Student Haven Huffman, 17, said he will miss the old building as well.
"I'll miss walking around the hallways with my buddies,” Haven said. “Me and Bobby and Jason, we talk and walk around the hallways, and we usually hang out a lot.”
To prepare for the move, Slaymaker helped his students make a movie to remember the building they’ve grown to love.
"We started talking about what's going to happen and give them a little information on the change, and then all of a sudden we decided to do a movie,” he said. "We would go each day and go up and do a part. It turned out to be like ‘Back to the Future’ and it's called ‘Out of Time.’"
Slaymaker said the movie isn’t the only thing students and faculty will take with them when they leave.
"We'll take a few things from here, but basically my knowledge and love for starting new programs and creating, that's what I'll take with me, and I get to take what I love the best: the kids.”
