As students and administration at Butler Elementary School look forward to building a new school, the community is looking to contribute and add a meaningful touch.

Debbie Tyler, who worked as a library assistant for 28 years at Butler, is heading a committee to raise funds to add a bobcat statue to the front of the new school.

"The school is 91 years old, and they will begin tearing it down by June 2015," Tyler said. "We're trying to get enough money for a bronze statue for the front of the new Butler. So far, we've raised $87, but it's a start."

Tyler is encouraging alumni, friends of Butler, neighbors and school children to donate to the project which is just getting started.

"We have to have it commissioned; we're just beginning this," Tyler said. "Right now, we're hoping to find a sculptor."

"They'd like to have the statue here for when the new school opens," said Teresa Darney, a secretary at the school. "We'll be in the new building in the fall of 2016."

In order to keep classes going during construction, the old building will remain in use until the new school is completed. The new school will be built on the south side of campus, which is currently the parking lot and playing fields. When the new school is finished, the old building will come down, and that space will become the new playing fields.

"We'll be a mess right here," Darney said. "We will still go outside for recess, but it will be a small area."

Even with a new school, the mascot will remain the same. The Butler Bobcat has been around for decades and is here to stay. Tyler is hoping the students will appreciate the statue and is looking for something that everyone can enjoy.

"We want something that's approachable for the kids; where they can touch it for luck," she said. "This is not an off-limits thing."

Butler is home to one of the French immersion programs in the Canyons School District, which means that some of the students don't live in the school's boundaries. Because there are students coming from different neighborhoods, Tyler wants to make sure they all feel like they are part of a great school.

"Our mascot is a bobcat. This school has been around a long time," she said. "This is a plea to get anybody to donate so we can get this done. Checks can be made payable to Butler Elementary and will be earmarked for this project."