After-school facility planned on Lakes middle school campus
COEUR d'ALENE - After years of talk about expanding the Boys & Girls Club's footprint in Coeur d'Alene, the nonprofit's leaders and Coeur d'Alene public school officials are working on a plan to build a new club facility on the grounds of Lakes Magnet Middle School.
If the plan moves forward, the school district would lease to the club - for $1 per year - about one-third of an acre on the middle school campus at 15th Street and Hastings Avenue. The club would run a capital campaign to finance the construction of the facility on the leased land, and share use of the building with the school district.
"There are so many wins, in my mind, for this," said Superintendent Matt Handelman.
Lakes is the only Coeur d'Alene middle school building with just one gym. Handelman said the need for more indoor recreational space at Lakes is noted on the district's long-range plan.
Students at Lakes would be able to use the proposed Boys & Girls Club facility during school hours, and it would be available evenings and weekends to potentially provide much-needed additional gym space for the city's parks and recreation programs.
"This is an opportunity for our third middle school to have a second gym without any cost to the taxpayer, so it's a huge win for the kids at that school and the community," Handelman said.
For the Boys & Girls Club, it will help meet the growing demand for its services. A club program now run after the school day ends at Sorensen Magnet School, not far from Lakes in the city's downtown area, is at capacity with about 100 kids.
"We know, from multiple sources including the school district and our parents, that there is just huge pent-up demand for services of our type in that area of Coeur d'Alene," said Pat Whelan, chairman of the Boys & Girls Club board.
There are already several after-school programs operating in Coeur d'Alene, Handelman noted, but they are all unique and meet different needs.
"I don't know if you can ever have too many opportunities for our kids," Handelman said.
Ryan Davis, director of the Boys & Girls Club of Kootenai County, said it's not uncommon for clubs to partner with school districts to offer their services since they serve the same children.
Handelman and Whelan presented the idea to Coeur d'Alene school board members when they met in April.
The board unanimously passed a motion approving the concept of co-locating the Boys & Girls Club on the Lakes campus, giving the go-ahead for a more extensive planning process. The motion notes that all future proposals and plans for a facility are subject to additional formal board approval.
The Boys & Girls Club of Kootenai County opened a $1.7 million facility in Post Falls in 2012. Last year, membership at that facility increased by 40 percent to 800 and it's expected to continue to grow.
"There is such a demand that you could have multiple agencies running multiple programs and still not have enough room for all the kids," Davis said.
The Post Falls club was constructed on land conveyed to the city of Post Falls by the Post Falls School District.
Handelman said school district officials and their lawyers believe the Coeur d'Alene School District can legally lease the land directly to the Boys & Girls Club without involving a third party.
But to be on the safe side, they will likely seek judicial confirmation of the ground lease agreement before entering into it.
By seeking judicial confirmation, the school district's board would ask a judge to declare whether the school district has the statutory authority to enter into the agreement.
"Judicial confirmation, we know, is going to actually raise the antenna of some of the people in the community, which is a good thing," Handelman said. "We want to make sure that everyone knows what the intent is, and we also want to make sure that we are not the only ones, and our lawyers aren't the only ones, who agree this is legal."
The Coeur d'Alene School District Board of Trustees will hold a hearing July 28 to consider filing a petition seeking judicial confirmation of the proposed ground lease that has not yet been approved by either the school district's board of trustees or the Boys & Girls Club board. The public is encouraged to participate in the hearing that will take place at 5 p.m. at the Midtown Center Meeting Room, 1505 N. Fifth St.