Mead District Works To Fill In Blanks On New School In/Around: Mead

The closest Mead High School history teacher Cash Stone gets to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King is in his lessons.

But at least one Mead resident thought the popular teacher and wrestling coach belonged in the same category of great historical figures and suggested the district’s new high school be named after Stone.

Choosing a name is just one of many decisions that must be made as the school district prepares to open a second high school in September 1997.

Committees of Mead residents and educators will be meeting regularly through the next few months to chose everything from sophomore physics textbooks to school colors.

The decisions are important for Mead because schools are such a significant part of the community’s identity, according to parents and administrators.

“When people think of Mead, they think of the high school and the district and not the town,” said Linda Becker, a parent volunteer coordinating a name-the-school survey.

Superintendent Bill Mester said each decision is being made carefully, to ensure the new school has the same quality reputation as the existing Mead High School.

Here is a rundown on those decisions:

School name

A planning committee surveyed 13,000 Mead families to request name suggestions and got back 650. Geographic names were most popular, with Mount Spokane High School being suggested most often, followed by Mead Prairie, Peone Prairie and East Mead.

Stone High School was suggested by one resident. King and Lincoln high schools were also popular.

The suggestions will be forwarded to the Mead School Board at the next meeting. A decision is expected later this month or in early March.

School boundaries

To keep head-counts equal at both high schools, the committee is resetting boundaries for middle schools and elementary schools and drawing boundaries for the new high school.

In setting boundaries, the committee is trying to keep neighborhood children at the same school, bus rides short and to avoid overloading any elementary school with a disparate number of poor families.

The decision is particularly important to some because the number of students at the school determines the sports classification. Mead High School now competes at the Class AAA level, the largest classification for schools over 1,000 students.

The committee wants to have both schools in the AAA category.

Both schools will include ninth grade in 1997 and have projected enrollments of about 1,000.

The committee meets every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the school district office, 12508 N. Freya. The panel is expected to give the school board a recommendation by mid-March.

School colors and mascot

The school board is expected to appoint a committee this month to decide on school colors and mascot, although the decision won’t be made until boundaries are set, so families within the boundary can offer comment.

Colors and mascot must be picked before sports uniforms can be ordered. An order must be placed by July, more than a year before any athletes will wear them, to ensure that uniforms will be ready by the time the new school opens.

Hiring two new principals

Two school chiefs are necessary because Mead High School’s Steve Hogue is retiring in June. The principal of the new school will have a year to work with staff, shape curriculum and ease the complicated transition.

The school district has posted advertisements for the two jobs in national education magazines. A decision is expected by June.

While plans are being set for the new school, the district has decided to remodel the existing Mead High School, a 23-year-old building with serious heating and ventilation problems.

A budget for renovations has not been set, but Mead spokesman John Keith estimates the work will cost $10 million.

“We’d like to level it and start over,” said Keith. “That would be ideal, but that’s not reality.”

Part of the money would come from savings on the new school construction. Bids for the school came in about $3 million less than expected, at $22.5 million.

The state is also expected to match what the school district spends on renovation.

But Mead residents may be asked to approve a bond issue in 1997 to pay for part of the renovations, Keith said. Mead residents already pay the highest school taxes on construction bonds in the county - about $400 on a $100,000 house in 1995.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TELL US A NAME FOR NEW HIGH SCHOOL While the Mead School Board ponders possible names and mascots for the district’s new high school, the North Side Voice wants to hear your suggestions. Is there a person for whom the school should be named? A president, perhaps, or a Nobel Prize winner or a great teacher? Or should the school’s name be based on geographic place? Some schools’ nicknames are eccentric. The Orofino (Idaho) High School Maniacs, named after residents of the city’s mental institution; Richland Bombers, with their nuclear cloud mascot; and the Belfry (Mont.) Bats could all be inspirations. The North Side Voice wants to hear from you, and soon. Call us with your suggestions no later than Monday. To participate, call 458-8800 from a push-button telephone, enter category 9999 when asked, and tell us your choices for school name, school mascot and school colors. Please include your name and a daytime phone number. Jonathan Martin