Debate over new school nears end

COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene School District board of trustees will meet on Monday at 5 p.m. to consider a memorandum of understanding with the city of Hayden. The school board didn’t approve the MOU at its June meeting, thanks in large part to trustee Lisa May, who pushed for more time to gather public input on a proposed land swap for a new elementary school.

According to the MOU, the school district would exchange its Northwest Expedition Academy 42,759-square-foot parcel at 9650 N. Government Way for the city’s 76,840-square-foot parcel at 9766 N. Government Way, no later than Sept. 15. The school district’s parcel is the site of the historic Hayden Lake Elementary School building, now utilized by the Northwest Expedition Academy.

At issue is whether the school district will build a new elementary school at the Hayden site, or if it will build a new elementary school in the northwestern part of the district.

John Barlow served on the long-range planning committee for many years, and was a Jobs Plus board member for 20 years, chairing it for four years. The long-range planning committee has told the school board twice that they need to build a new elementary school in the northwestern part of town. If they don’t do it now, it will take another 4-6 years to pass another bond and build such a school in that area, Barlow said.

“If we wait 4-6 more years to build in that location, we’re really going to have some problems,” he said.

Jerry Anderson, an architect, has served on the long-range planning committee from 2008-2012, and from 2016 to the present. He will assume leadership of the group this year. Anderson said the committee did extensive research and realized that “the most urgent need that has to be addressed is an elementary school in the northwestern portion of the city.”

School board chairman Casey Morrisroe explained that the district initially wanted to follow the long-range planning committee’s recommendation to open a new elementary school “in the northwest portion of the district, which we defined as north of Prairie Avenue and west of Highway 95.” The process of finding suitable properties, however, soured after “an exhaustive search that lasted a year and a half, where multiple properties were considered, vetted, and ultimately eliminated due to cost, lack of infrastructure and/or proximity to the airport,” Morrisroe explained.

About a month ago, the district closed on 7 acres on Prairie Avenue. At its May workshop the board considered switching gears to build at Prairie before building in Hayden, but decided to instead continue with its plans to build at Hayden “because of excess development cost associated with the Prairie site that were beyond the district’s construction budget,” Morrisroe said.

But Barlow, a construction manager who has overseen dozens of major projects for The Hagadone Corp., maintains that building on the Prairie site would cost less than the Hayden site, leaving the Hayden site as a valuable asset for the future.

Anderson said eliminating the need for portable classrooms in the northwestern part of town is vital. While he understands that several months ago it seemed like no affordable property was available, the fact that such property is now in hand and that there’s no chance a new school in Hayden will be open in the fall of 2019 dramatically alters the decision-making equation.

“That changes the thinking of most of the people involved,” Anderson said.

He said the Hayden site is remote from where most of its anticipated students live. Building at the Prairie site would allow students to walk or ride their bikes to school as opposed to travelling in school buses and cars, he said.

Barlow believes the board should reject the MOU with Hayden, keep the Hayden school building to relieve overcrowding in portable classrooms, and — most importantly to Barlow — keep its promise to the voters by building a new elementary school at the Prairie site right away.

“Now they have a solution to do what they told everyone they were going to do,” he said.

Barlow also said that if the board doesn’t keep its promise to the voters, the decision will come back to haunt the district.

“It is my experience that when you don’t do what you told the voters you’re going to do with their money, they have a very good memory and it becomes very difficult to pass future bonds,” he said.

Anderson explained that when the district passed a funding measure in the past and didn’t follow through on its campaign commitments, voters held that against the next funding proposal. As school district spokesman and former Spokesman-Review reporter Scott Maben recalls, voters approved a $23 million plant facilities levy in 2002 to fund the expansion of Venture High School, Ramsey Elementary School, and construction of Atlas Elementary School. However, district officials were later criticized for not having used the $7.7 million earmarked for a rebuild of Lakes Middle School, as promised.

Anderson said the district borrowed funds from the Lakes Middle School project to pay for the other projects, and ended up with too little money to pay for the promised school. The district was subsequently forced to back off and do a remodel instead of a new school construction project, explained Anderson. In 2006, 55 percent of voters rejected a $39.8 million plant facilities levy that would have funded the Lakes Middle School project, plus work at Winton and Borah elementary schools, Maben said.

Former Coeur d’Alene school board chair Wanda Quinn said the overwhelming support for the 2017 bond shouldn’t be taken for granted.

“Getting 77 percent for a bond I thought was absolutely terrific for the community and district,” she said. “I really think you have to honor that.”

Quinn also said that “Keeping the community’s confidence and trust is really important for the district, and it’s a real credit to the district.”

Morrisroe said based on that previous episode, the school board now has “a policy that prohibits the use of funds designated for one project being directed toward another project.”

“In regard to not being able to uphold our promise to the voters, I share their disappointment in the fact we were unable to secure land in the Northwest to build this elementary school in a timely manner and within our fiscal constraints; however, I am extremely proud of the unique partnership we have created with the city of Hayden that will allow us to build a new elementary at the Hayden site, which will ease overcrowding in the Northwest portion of our district, and allow for the city to create a new community center in the historic 1930s school house. We’ve worked hard to make the best of an unfortunate situation and the result is truly a win/win for our district and community,” Morrisroe said.

Anderson emphasized that as a member of a body with a strictly advisory role, he doesn’t want to overstep any boundaries. The job of a school board trustee is a thankless task, he explained.

“The board has a lot of pressure from all directions they have to deal with. They’re in a tough position,” Anderson said.