Magnet schools add another layer to zone change work
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
COEUR d’ALENE — With one son halfway to starting his final year of elementary school, Sherry Ochoa is concerned about which school he’ll attend in fifth grade.
“We’re over by Costco and we’re zoned in Borah,” she said Wednesday evening. “He doesn’t want to go to Borah, he’s got friends here.”
Ochoa stood in the gym of her son’s school, Ramsey Magnet School of Science, as she reviewed zoning information provided by Coeur d’Alene School District officials and school board trustees during the first of two listening sessions regarding magnet schools in the district.
“We were in the lottery, so he was fortunate enough to get into Ramsey,” she said.
The “lottery” is the process by which students living outside a magnet overlay may gain access to the magnet school by way of a random drawing.
Ramsey dad Dan McCracken has kids in third and fifth grades. He said their family is interested in how the district is going to redraw the attendance zones for all the schools. He said originally, his kids were in the Winton Elementary School attendance zone, but wound up going to Ramsey because Winton was full. They presently live in the Ramsey “overlay zone,” meaning they and others who live in that area have priority assignment into the magnet school ahead of students living outside the overlay zone.
“For us, it was kind of confusing. We’re totally happy with our kids here (at Ramsey), but it illustrated to us that there are a lot of schools in the district that physically can’t fit all the kids that live there. We’re just interested in how the process is going to go.”
As the school district delves into the issue of changing attendance zones, transportation is also a concern for parents, especially those whose kids attend magnet schools and rely on the school bus system to get around.
“I don’t like the fact that some of the children have been to one to two schools by third grade due to boundary and busing issues,” said Ramsey grandmother Jennifer Smith. “My grandson went to the kinder center at Hayden Elementary, then to Ramsey. Then Atlas opened, which was the closer school, but we kept him at Ramsey. Living in Grouse Meadows, we couldn’t have him there if it weren’t for the busing still going to Ramsey.
“A lot of parents cannot drive their child to school and/or pick them up, especially with the late-start Mondays,” she continued. “School Plus has a waiting list 22 kids long and is not affordable for a lot of lower income families and the North Idaho pay rates.”
The school district is gathering input and data from families to make informed decisions moving into any changes that could be implemented as early as next school year.
“We’re going to make decisions in the future about the new attendance zones,” said Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent Steve Cook. “What will it look like going forward?”