New magnet school, free full-day K coming to Cd'A

COEUR d’ALENE — Free full-day kindergarten is coming to every elementary school in Coeur d'Alene.

"This is something we’ve been working toward for a number of years," Coeur d'Alene School District spokesman Scott Maben said Monday.

Currently, the district has 22 full-day kindergarten classes and seven half-day classes. Six of the full-day classes are supported in part by family-paid tuition. Coeur d'Alene offers half-day kindergarten and tuition-based full-day kindergartens at six schools: Skyway, Ramsey, Hayden Meadows, Dalton and Sorensen. All schools with a higher percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunches have full-day kindergarten that’s covered by the district.

Following a unanimous vote during the school board meeting Monday night, minus Trustee Casey Morrisroe, Coeur d'Alene will offer full-day kindergarten to all eligible students in the district beginning in the 2021-22 school year. All classes will be tuition-free as the district moves beyond a pilot program in which some half-day kindergartens were extended to full-day kindergartens with families agreeing to pay a portion of the cost.

In the past seven years, Coeur d'Alene has worked to provide more full-day kindergarten options for families.

Also during the meeting, the board voted to move forward with evolving the existing Coeur d'Alene eSchool into a new, community-focused, project-based, blended learning magnet school for about 450 kindergarten-through-12th-graders.

The meeting was as packed as a socially distant gathering could be, with people spilling into the vestibule of the Midtown Meeting Center. They clapped when trustees voted in favor of the future magnet school. This decision was made following a survey of eSchool families that revealed more than 70% of the 289 who responded showed interest in this model.

"It's an honor for all of these people to show up in support," Coeur d'Alene eSchool Principal Bryan Kelly said. "It kind of shows how much they grabbed onto this idea and how important it is to them, as well."

Five steps lie ahead for the magnet school: notification of families and recruitment; staff hiring; securing a location; professional development design; and curriculum and resource procurement.

For staffing, Superintendent Steve Cook said eSchool teachers would be returned to their original schools and those who wish to work at the magnet school would have opportunities to apply.

The district is seeking a brick-and-mortar site, ideally as large as 16,000 square feet, to serve as a project place students could use for hands-on learning. This school would cost more than $785,000 to get off the ground, looking at costs including a building lease and improvements, utilities and payroll. A permanent funding source will be necessary; federal dollars have been supporting the eSchool, finance director Katie Ebner explained.

"One of the challenges is funding for this school," she said. "It was allowable to use federal dollars for additional unbudgeted costs to do online learning. In addition, teachers were moving to the eSchool and their positions were not filled elsewhere throughout the district in large part."

Cook said the magnet school fits a need in the community, and "I think, depending on who you talk to, some people, perhaps some of those in the room right now, would say that it is worth the investment."