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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

CV schools running out of room

The Central Valley School Board and top administrators struggled with the district’s overcrowding issues at a work session Monday. No action was taken at the session.

District officials are back at the drawing board as they address a projected 2- to 3 percent annual increase in enrollment in the upcoming years.

Among the district’s 12 elementary schools, there are only seven more classrooms available, enough space for about 175 more students across the district. There are only nine classrooms in the district’s five middle schools for additional students.

A $75.75 million construction bond that would have built a new elementary and middle school and renovated Ponderosa and Opportunity elementary schools failed in November. Improvements to additional schools would have been made with state funding contingent on the bond passing.

Voters rejected a similar bond last March and one in March 2003.

Dave Jackman, the district’s director of auxiliary services, said that for the district to maintain its current level of services for its students, it needs 100 square feet per K-5 student and 150 square feet for each middle and high school student.

Adding 285 students each year to the district without more space means that the level of services would be decreased.

Is it OK “for a place built for 30 students to have 40 to 50 students?” asked Superintendent Mike Pearson.

Board member Anne Long pointed out that the district has just finished its strategic plan, which provides a road map on how to improve education. “To compromise that we’d have to be really desperate,” said Long.

Jackman, on behalf of the district, has asked Spokane County, the city of Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake to postpone approving any additional housing permits because there won’t be room for more students by August 2008.

Jackman said there has been minimal interaction with Spokane County, and Spokane Valley said it isn’t able to honor that request.

A 100-acre development that would create up to 900 residences in Liberty Lake has received a recommendation for preliminary plat approval from a hearing examiner. Jackman said he’s attended these meetings and that the developers have theorized that there won’t be any additional public school children as a result of the development.

No progress has been made in collecting impact fees from developers, which is something the three government entities would have to initiate.

“If we add up all the developments that have already been approved, we’re already maxed out,” said board member Cindy McMullen.

Pearson said one option is to look at making boundary changes either with the district’s current policy, which would take until 2008, or suspend the policy and work with the county using Geographic Information Systems, a data-driven system, to calculate which students should go where, something that could be done by next school year.

Other options might be creating another kindergarten center that would free up elementary school classrooms; evaluating the number of classrooms not funded by K-12 education; double-shifting classes; and having school year-round with a multitrack system where three or four sections of a school rotate throughout the year.

Pearson said that whatever the district decides to do, the process has to be “transparent,” with open discussions and community, parent and staff involvement. He suggested formation of a focus group with an outside entity used to gather public opinion.

“This way no one can accuse the district of not asking the right questions or not looking at all the options,” he said.