Latch-Key Day Care Requested

About 40 parents signed a petition asking the Post Falls School District to start a before- and after-school day care facility.

Two parents presented their request for school-sponsored day care at the school board meeting Monday night.

“It would eliminate that latchkey problem that we have,” said parent and businesswoman Susan Laughtland. She proposed a 7 to 9 a.m. and 3:15 to 6 p.m. day care program modeled after the Coeur d’Alene School District’s School Plus program.

She said the program would be self-supporting, cost parents about the same as other day care services, and would not directly compete with local businesses.

The district administration was approached last summer with the idea, but “we were concerned about making enemies with all the child-care providers,” said Superintendent Dick Harris.

Board members said they were interested in the proposal and requested more information.

In other business, the third phase of the school district’s longrange plan was enacted Monday when the school board adopted a list of goals and objectives that grew out of a community education summit and management review last fall.

The new goals and objectives replaced a more general description of education goals in the old policy. Included is an emphasis on teaching basic skills.

Part four of the long-range plan is to develop action plans at the district level and learning improvement plans at the school level.