Post Falls feels school pressure

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — The Post Falls School District is moving toward solving its greatest facility needs spurred by explosive growth — a new elementary school and updating its five oldest buildings.

First step is finding an architect.

"We hope to have an architect identified by August," Superintendent Jerry Keane said. "The earliest a funding proposal might go before the voters is next spring. In order to plan, we need to engage an architect."

The district's long-range facility plan, recently updated by a committee of 30 staff, parents and patrons, identified a new elementary school estimated to cost $12.5 million and upgrades of the five oldest schools estimated at a total of $7 million as needs that should be addressed "as soon as reasonably possible."

The elementary school would likely be built on a 10.5-acre site the district has secured in the Foxtail subdivision east of Highway 41.

With the school, the district would like to have kindergarten students attend the elementary school in their neighborhood rather than the current centralized school. That kindergarten shares a building with New Vision Alternative High School. By moving kindergarten classes to neighborhood schools, New Vision could expand.

"The current centralization of the district's kindergarten programming causes transportation and logistical difficulties, including the need to shuttle kindergarten students from the home school," the committee report says.

Relieving the Frederick Post Kindergarten building was the only recommended goal in the district's 2008 plan that was not completed.

The need for a new elementary school comes just two years after the district's sixth elementary, Greensferry, was completed.

"West Ridge and Frederick Post have the most pressure for student and staff space," Keane said.

The district uses portable structures for classrooms at New Vision, Frederick Post, Ponderosa and Post Falls Middle School.

The district's oldest schools — Mullan Trail, Seltice, Ponderosa, Frederick Post and Post Falls Middle School — also need upgrades that are a high priority, Keane said.

Possible projects include safety enhancements at entrances, roof and asphalt updates, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing improvements and a track at River City Middle School.

"The funding needed for these efforts could be added to a bond levy for a new elementary school," the committee's report states. "There is a backlog of facility needs that had to be deferred during the economic downturn. There are many needed facility remodel projects that are too large and expensive to fund with the district's yearly budget."

The report states that since the bond levy payments for construction of Post Falls High will be retired in 2019, the district can float a proposal for a new elementary and upgrades at other schools without greatly increasing current property tax amounts on patrons.

"In an effort to stabilize and minimize patron property taxes, the district has strategically layered facility debt over time in order to build the necessary buildings to keep up with student enrollment growth," the report states. "The district has not increased the amount of taxes for the past five years. We believe predictability and consistency of this plan serves our taxpayers better than a roller-coaster approach to taxes."

Future but not immediate needs include a third middle school (possibly in three to five years) and a second high school (possibly six to eight years).

Enrollment at the high school has leveled off over the past decade, due to the Kootenai Technical Education Campus and more students attending classes at North Idaho College as part of the dual enrollment program.

The district has secured 60 acres near the intersection of Prairie Avenue and McGuire Road that could be the site of the next middle and high schools.

It takes about 10 acres for an elementary, 20 for a middle school and 40 for a high school.

"Large developments have provided the district with (school sites)," the report states. "With the city's continued support, the district may be able to obtain enough sites to keep up with the need to construct elementary schools."