Prairie now, NExA later
Coeur d’Alene School District trustees watch a presentation Tuesday night on building a new school at the Hayden Lake School site, or at the district’s Prairie Avenue property. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
Northwest Expedition Academy counselor Megan Franklin speaks to the school board Tuesday night about the needs of NExA’s 318 students. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
Cook
By JUDD WILSON
Staff writer
COEUR d’ALENE — Trustees for the Coeur d’Alene School District voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with building a new elementary school on Prairie Avenue. The school is slated to open with seats for 550 students in September 2020.
Superintendent Steve Cook said he has studied the question of where to build a new elementary school since his first day on the job last July. Every aspect of the question pointed him to the pressing need to build in the northwest section of town versus building at the district’s Hayden Lake School, which Northwest Expedition Academy currently occupies.
Board member Jennifer Brumley said during the 2017 bond campaign, the district had promised voters that it would build a new elementary school in the northwest part of town.
“That still resonates very deeply with me,” she said.
District officials said Tuesday that there are currently about 480 students in 16 portable classrooms at Atlas, Ramsey, and Skyway elementary schools. Board vice-chair Lisa May said “I will vote to attempt to get those students out of portables.”
Board member Tom Hearn said given the rapid growth in the northwestern part of the school district, not only would the Prarie school be needed, but one or two more schools would also need to be built soon. One of those schools should be for NExA, he said.
However, for now the NExA community will have to wait. Its 318 students, plus teachers, staff, and parents occupy the crumbling Hayden Lake School. Trustees vowed to quickly assess the cost of deferred maintenance at the building.
Cook recommended “looking into costs for bringing the current NExA site up to standards that aren’t just adequate, but that are nice and comparable to other schools. And/or if that’s not doable, then how to get them into a site that is serving their needs in a way we’d be proud of.”
Board member Tambra Pickford said the board had previously put off maintenance there in the belief that NExA’s population would quickly move into another building.
Brumley said she couldn’t justify moving NExA’s 318 students into a school that will be built to house 550 students.
Before the board made its decision, several members of the public voiced their opinions.
Natalie Steading said she wanted the Prairie site to work out, but was concerned about traffic congestion in its immediate vicinity. Steve Casey urged the board to build at the Prairie site, and advised them to retain the NExA site as an asset for future use in acquiring land in areas of highest growth.
Diane Fountain spoke in her capacity as a school district taxpayer. Developing the Hayden Lake School property would save the district $250,000, she said. Also, if the district built at the NExA site first, then by the time it was ready to build another school, the interior roads off Prairie Avenue would be in place and could save the district the $175,000 expense for a center median on Prairie, she said.
Coeur d’Alene School District director of operations Jeff Voeller said the estimated cost of developing the Hayden Lake site would be $486,000, versus $736,000 at the Prairie Avenue site.
NExA counselor Megan Franklin reminded the board that it had made the NExA community a promise that they’d get a new building after spending a short time at the Hayden Lake School. They’ve already been there one year, and conditions are pretty bad, she said. The building shakes during physical education class. Parents had to be discouraged from attending a Christmas sing-along event because they had too many people to fit per fire regulations. She added that the cafeteria isn’t big enough, staff can’t practice adequate security when visitors are in the building, the wheelchair lift is broken, a paraprofessional works in a closet, and bricks are literally falling off the building. When a recent security hold lasted several hours, some students stuck in outlying buildings almost went without lunch, she said.
After the meeting, Franklin added that the NExA community “just wants parity with other schools. We feel like we’ve been forgotten.” In some respects the Hayden Lake School building is inferior to portables, she said. However, she added that the school’s “super tight-knit family” would pull together.
“It’s about the kids,” she said.
NExA staff member Brianne Weinberger said she would like the school to have the same level of staffing and security as other district schools.
“If they’re going to take care of it, we’ll be happy,” she said.
Voeller said the Prairie school’s groundbreaking was tentatively scheduled for July 15 of this year.
Hearn said, “It feels good that we finally made the decision.”
“I’m very proud our board made the right decision in the best interests of our community,” May said.