Progress on new school plans
This image, included in a traffic study completed by J-U-B Engineers for the Coeur d’Alene School District, shows the approximate location of a new school building being planned along Prairie Avenue.
Attorney Megan O’Dowd reports on the status of the Hayden Lake School proposal at the Coeur d’Alene School Board meeting Monday. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — Plans for one or two new schools are moving forward, reported Coeur d’Alene School District officials Monday night.
Superintendent Steve Cook explained that at the July board meeting, the district staff was tasked with finding out what it would take to build out both the current Hayden Lake School site and the recently acquired property on Prairie Avenue.
District director of operations Jeff Voeller reported that a traffic study at the Prairie site has been completed.
A traffic light will need to go in at the intersection of Prairie Avenue and a yet-unbuilt road named Moselle Drive. The road will access the first phase of the Vista Meadows housing development, as well as the yet-unbuilt school.
Voeller reported that Lakes Highway District has requested that access to the school be off Moselle Drive, which will run north to south, instead of Prairie.
The district will not have to bear the full burden of the costs of sewer to the school, Voeller said. Board members asked Voeller to see if the traffic light costs could also be shared.
Additionally, the district has gained approval from the city’s planning and zoning commission to have the Prairie property zoned R-8, and for it to be annexed into the city. The city council will take up the issues at its Nov. 6 meeting, Voeller said.
School district attorney Megan O’Dowd reported no significant changes regarding plans at the old Hayden Lake School.
As was the case earlier this summer, the city of Hayden and the school district have proposed subdividing the existing school site parcel where Northwest Expedition Academy currently resides, and swapping the newly created parcel for a city-owned parcel to the north. Then, the district would lease back the existing school site from the city while the district constructs a new elementary school. At end of the lease, the city would take over the existing school site.
So goes the memorandum of understanding that the city approved in June but which the school board tabled at its July meeting. If the district wants to proceed with developing the site, it will need to approve the MOU. O’Dowd said that if the board does not want to move forward, it should not approve the MOU.
Board member Tom Hearn observed that the board had been struggling with that decision for months.
Plans for both sites should be run to ground by the November board meeting, Cook said. The school board still has to make the decision about building at one or both of the sites, and did not make such a decision at its meeting Monday.
Earlier in the meeting, Hearn spurred debate among board members by suggesting that the board amend policy 1210. Hearn wanted the policy, which governs the election of board officers, to prohibit any person from serving as board chair for more than two consecutive years.
He made it clear that his suggestion was not directed at the current chair, but was more of a philosophical position. “It’s good for the board to have a change in leadership,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable when we have chairs for more than a couple of years.”
Hearn explained that he had seen some boards have the same chair for a long time, and others frequently change leaders. Different leaders bring different leadership styles, positives and negatives, to the boards they serve. “I get concerned about boards that have the same chair for extended periods of time,” he added.
Board member Tambra Pickford spoke up to disagree. “I don’t want to put a time limit on someone’s willingness to serve as chair,” she said. Amid the comings and goings at the central district office, Pickford said “The one thing that has kept us rock-solid has been having the same board chair.”
Board member Jennifer Brumley said her initial reaction was to keep the policy as it is, which allows the board to elect a new chair each year.
Board member Lisa May claimed that studies have shown boards to benefit from having consistent leadership.
Current board chairman Casey Morrisroe said “The beauty of the chair position is that it self-term limits. You can only do it for so long.”
The board approved the current policy 1210 by a vote of 4-1, with Hearn opposing.