Post Falls, Lakeland schools embrace growth
LOREN BENOIT/Press BreAnne Brunton gives her son, Jordan Hudson, a hug after he finished his first day of sixth grade at Post Falls Middle School on Tuesday.
POST FALLS — Growth in Post Falls and Lakeland has both school districts in teacher hiring mode to address immediate classroom needs, with plans to float funding proposals next March.
As the school year started Tuesday, handling growing student populations was at the forefront for district officials.
"We anticipate at least an increase of 2 percent," Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said. "We have hired three teachers in the past two weeks to deal with some of the class size issues. Increased enrollment always makes it difficult to staff appropriately and this year is no exception."
The school board this fall will discuss a bond proposal for a new elementary school that would be built in the Foxtail subdivision east of Highway 41. It would hold about 500 students and open in 2020.
"If a new elementary is built, it would be necessary to adjust all the school boundaries," Keane said. "The plan is, once the new school is available, we would move the kindergarten classes into their local elementary schools.”
Now those kindergartners attend a centralized school on Mullan Avenue.
Keane said the proposal would also likely include remodel projects for Seltice, Mullan Trail and Ponderosa elementaries, Post Falls Middle School and Frederick Post Kindergarten. A two-year supplemental levy proposal is also expected to be floated in March.
Lakeland Superintendent Becky Meyer said she plans to hold town hall meetings with patrons in her district this fall regarding a two-year levy the school board would consider on Dec. 11, putting the levy before voters on March 12, 2019.
"I refer to it as a replacement instructional levy, not a supplemental, because it is such a vital part of our district to run our schools," Meyer said.
As for growth this year, Meyer said Lakeland High is estimated to be up 39 students from last year, Spirit Lake Elementary 25, Twin Lakes Elementary 22 and Betty Kiefer 20.
Districts will take their average daily attendance for the first three days of school and compare those numbers to the same days last year to determine growth figures. Then their boards may consider certifying emergency levy funding to cover the additional costs associated with growth.
Meyer said the Lakeland School Board would consider an emergency levy at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, while Keane said the Post Falls board would consider it either Thursday afternoon or Friday.
One of Post Falls' biggest staffing changes heading into the new year is that Anna Wilson replaced Becky Ford as assistant superintendent over the summer.
Lakeland has three new principals as Ryne Eberlin replaced John Klingaman at Timberlake High, Tiffany Melton replaced Patty Morrison at Twin Lakes Elementary, and Anna Schnepf replaced John Asher at John Brown Elementary. Klingaman and Asher both retired, while Morrison will continue to be the federal programs director as well as take on the new role of Transitional Learning Center director, addressing behavior issues.
Lakeland is also in the process of hiring an armed guard who would be based at Athol Elementary and also cover Garwood and Twin Lakes elementaries. The district already has school-resource officers for schools within the cities of Rathdrum and Spirit Lake.
Post Falls is implementing a new electronic student information system it purchased through a company called Skyward which cost the district $200,000 over two years. Coeur d'Alene and Lakeland already use the system.
"We have been working on that transition all summer and it is very consuming," Keane said. "It is the lifeblood when it comes to school district information."