In the zone

COEUR d'ALENE — It's easy to tinker with the multitude of dots on the Coeur d'Alene School District's attendance zone map.

But, the reminder that each one of those dots represents a child attending a school in the district adds weight to an upcoming decision on rezoning.

"And every child and every dot has a family and a circumstance and a context," said Superintendent Matt Handelman. "Obviously, quantitatively, we look at the number of kids who live in each zone and what some of the costs would be to do x versus doing y. Then qualitatively, there are some really important things to consider because any time you mess with attendance zones, it's going to be an emotional issue."

Six months ago, an Attendance Zone Committee was formed by the district's board of trustees to analyze the challenges associated with managing growth, particularly in the northwest region. During this month's regular meeting of the board, the committee presented trustees with two recommendations on rezoning the district's elementary and middle school attendance zones.

"We are challenged with continued growth in our district," said Board Chair Christa Hazel, speaking to The Press on behalf of the entire board. "Being thoughtful, strategic and inclusionary in the process of how we will manage our growth will be a priority focus for us for some time."

The 23-person committee — made up of 10 community parent volunteers, several staff members who have children in the district and eight school administrators — focused on the following areas of focus when creating and suggesting rezoning options:

1. Creating an attendance zone for the newly annexed West Landings area.

2. Adjusting transportation and attendance zones in the northwest portion of the district.

3. Re-aligning the current Winton Elementary School zone.

4. Balancing the middle school population by shifting attendance zones from Woodland Middle School to Lakes Middle School and Canfield Middle School.

Up to 450 families could be affected by the zoning change, and Handelman said the number of families is primarily dependent on which options, if any, the board selects. The district sent letters to each of the potentially impacted families, informing them of the rezoning options and giving them an opportunity to share their thoughts with officials at a forum that takes place at 6:30 p.m. today at Lake City High School.

"It's important for most of the community to know that it's not going to affect them," Handelman said. "We need to affect some in order to manage this but we don't want people who live next door to Fernan Elementary School to be worried they are going to be told that's not their zone anymore because that just creates an unnecessary panic or anxiety."

Maps highlighting the areas where the potential zone changes could occur have been uploaded to the district's website, www.cdaschools.org.

Atlas and Skyway elementary schools, both located in the northwest of the district, are the two schools experiencing the most growth. In an effort to relieve crowding at the two schools, the committee's preferred plan would be to send students in the West Landings area to Atlas, and bring students from other zones to either Borah or Winton elementary school.

Woodland Middle School is bearing the brunt of the growth in the district. To address that growth, both of the committee's options have the West Landings students moving to Woodland, while other areas of the district will relocate to either Canfield Middle School or Lakes Middle School.

Hazel said the purpose of tonight's forum is to encourage potentially impacted families to get involved and make their voices heard during the decision-making process.

"This is an extremely important topic that will impact families no matter what the decision," Hazel said. "I believe the school board understands this and wants to make certain we are thoughtful and open to listening to all viewpoints."

Handelman said he anticipates the board will make some decision on the suggested rezoning options during its April meeting. That decision could be accepting one option for both elementary or junior high students, making no decision at all, or giving the topic back to the committee for further analysis and recommendation.

"The problem with the timeline is that we might not be able to do anything for this coming year. We might be stuck with what we have," Handelman added. "So a non-decision is a decision, in that they are deciding on the status quo."

If a decision is made, Handelman said district officials would immediately begin notifying families of what changes to expect for the 2016-2017 school year. Regardless of overall decision-making, Handelman added that the board will have to make a determination on where to place students in the recently annexed West Landings region of Coeur d'Alene.

Hazel commented that, at this point in the process, the board is still focused on reviewing and gathering as much information as possible before making a decision.

"The next step for the board is to attend the community forum and actively listen to what people have to say," Hazel said. "It is not our place yet to begin weighing the elements of the proposals into a decision."