Julie Titone

With levels of an industrial solvent climbing close to the federal limit for drinking water, the Coeur d'Alene Water Department is going to "Plan C" for dealing with its polluted Hanley well. Installing a $40,000 booster pump will allow the well to be shut down for all or most of the year.

Lakeland and Post Falls, two fast-growing Kootenai County school districts, will ask voters today for approval to build new schools. Post Falls The school district is seeking a $15.8 million bond levy to build a high school for 1,300 students and refurbish the heating system in the existing building, which would be converted to a middle school.

Post Falls High School students use one of their gymnasiums as a second cafeteria to ease overcrowding. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Some kids succeed in life and some fail. And most people, says consultant Carol Burgoa, know in their guts what makes the difference. Hundreds of studies done around the world have confirmed those instincts, documenting the traits that make people bounce back from abuse, poverty, prejudice, a rotten home life.

Speedy wasn't speedy, and he wasn't in the right place. But the 20-pound desert tortoise was on his way to an appropriate habitat Thursday after being rescued by a Coeur d'Alene student and her teacher.

Finding enough money to adequately operate North Idaho College is the biggest challenge identified by the four people who want to join its board of trustees. The two who are elected will have their work cut out for them.

Nineteen Lake City High School seniors were suspended Tuesday for vandalizing the freshman class homecoming float. The 18 boys and one girl are accused of breaking into a fairgrounds storage shed last Wednesday and ripping apart the giant wolf head that ninth-graders had spent some 250 hours creating.

A Lakeland School District parent is trying to defeat the Oct. 8 bond election, which calls for building a junior/senior high school in Spirit Lake. Paul Morton objects to combining the two schools.

FOR THE RECORD (October 1, 1996): The Lakeland School District bond election will be Tuesday, Oct. 8. The date was given incorrectly in a Monday article. After being an energetic opponent of the last school bond attempted in the Lakeland School District, developer Larry Clark has signed on to be the chairman of the next bond campaign. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

North Idaho College, which has more students than ever this fall, is bucking a trend. While enrollment of part-time students grows at other schools, the number of people taking heavy course loads increased by 13 percent at NIC. The total number of students grew 10 percent over this time last year.

At the urging of student leaders, the North Idaho College board of trustees on Wednesday raised student fees $40 per year. The money will pay for a dramatic expansion of the Student Union Building. Among other improvements, it will have an expanded kitchen and dining area; a soaring entrance; a bookstore that's three times as big as the current one; and an up-to-date health facility.

Briana Ross in 11th-grade yearbook photo.

The good news for school districts is: The federal government didn't cut back on the amount of money it sent to Idaho this year to help disabled students. The bad news is: More students need help. So the amount of money available for each has dropped, said Laurance Carlson of the state Department of Education.

Getting out the message. Supporters of the Post Falls bond issues make a television commercial under the direction of Jim Duram of Century Communications. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

It's not fair, says Linda Holehan, a mother involved in a third campaign to replace her town's overcrowded high school. It's a godsend, counters Dee Lawless, who fears people are being taxed out of their homes.

The head bean-counter for Coeur d'Alene's public schools thinks he's found a way to save money and get some badly needed building space, to boot.

Three hundred city residents will have an unusual chance to give the Coeur d'Alene School District a piece of their minds. Over the next few weeks, 30 volunteers will conduct a random survey, visiting 10 houses each.

They stopped short of jumping up and down. But at a state Board of Education hearing Tuesday, gym teachers and parents made a strong case for continuing to require physical education classes in Idaho high schools. "For the life of me, I can't understand where the pressure is coming from to take it out," said Henry Hamill, head of Lake City High School's physical education department. The single required semester of physical education in three years of high school makes a big difference, Hamill said. At its start, fewer than half the students can run a mile. By the end, 90 percent can make the finish line. Hamill's sentiments were echoed at the hearing, held to take testimony on a wide range of proposed state school rule changes. The changes - yet to be approved by the Board of Education and Legislature - are meant to cut red tape and return many decisions to local school districts. Up to 60 people at a time attended the hearing, one of a series being held throughout the state on hundreds of changes in state rules proposed by the Education Department. Many lauded increased requirements for math and science, which are a response to the needs of a technological society. But it was elimination of the physical education requirement that drew the most heated reaction Tuesday. Every year, Hamill said, there's a drop in the number of students able to pass tests of basic skills, such as flexibility and strength. Waving a blue-covered copy of a U.S. surgeon general's report, University of Idaho professor Cal Lathen recommended expanding the requiremnt to four semesters. The report, issued in July, says that more than half of adolescents aren't physically active. It recommends regular, if not daily, physical education. "The draft proposal for the state of Idaho is heading in the opposite direction," said Lathen. "that doesn't make sense." Pam Lippi, who teaches at Sandpoint's Farmin/Stidwell School, said she fears the de-emphasis on physical activity will filter down to elementary schools. She unrolled a petition with 380 signatures, asking that the board not repeal the high-school requirement. "Not one person I went to was against signing this petition. They couldn't believe the state Board of Education was thinking about doing this," Lippi said. "Children need to express themselves," she said. "They need to move and they need to be healthy." Physical education can help children stay active, said Post Falls parent Gail Worden. "We're raising the most out-of-shape generation." Lori Lochelt of the North Idaho AIDS Coalition testified that requiring health classes is a key to stopping socially transmitted diseases.

Bringing home the bacon. Game face turns to gross-out face after Hana Viek, left, puckered up and paid up by kissing a piglet named Zoro, held by Kootenai Medical Center colleague Pam Thompson. Viek's co-workers gave her and social worker Ralph Parkison the honor of kissing a pig for United Way. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Too few students Teacher Becky Ware works with Calder School students in the one-room schoolhouse. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

The presence of a private day care in a public school will be reviewed by the Kellogg School Board. The business, Just for Kids, opened last week along with classes at Pinehurst Elementary School. It did so without board approval, said trustee Mark Cowles of Pinehurst.

Students in Lori Koepl's first-grade class at Holy Family Catholic School study their workbooks Friday as the teacher checks their progress. The school opened its doors for the first time last week. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

More students and a likely drop in state funding prompted the Coeur d'Alene school board to approve a $221,076 emergency levy on Friday. So, during the coming year, property owners will pay an additional $3.98 per $50,000 in taxable property, said trustee Tim Olson.

Starting next fall, some Post Falls parents may have the option of sending their children to school on a year-round schedule. School district administrators will ask the board of trustees on Monday if they can further research the idea.