Spirit Lake Would Be Site Of Junior High Lakeland School Board Hopes To Head Off Overcrowding With March Bond Election

Spirit Lake will be the location of a new junior high school if the Lakeland School District is successful in a proposed spring bond election.

The school board agreed in a Thursday night workshop to hold a bond election March 19 for the new school and classroom additions for other schools.

The board has scheduled another work session for Jan. 22 to decide on the actual amount of the bond. Formal resolutions are expected to be adopted Jan. 29.

Classroom space isn’t desperately short yet, but school officials expect several schools to be over-capacity in two years. The junior high is expected to be over-capacity next year even if growth slows.

From last school year to this, the district grew 5.7 percent - the fastest growth rate in North Idaho.

“The only way to stay out in front of our growth curve and not let the situation become so intense that it adversely impacts the education of kids (is) the bond levy route,” said Bob Jones, Lakeland superintendent.

Lakeland has had a better track record than neighboring districts in passing recent bond issues.

“We have generally not asked for things that were not truly needed,” Jones said. “Our patrons have been exceedingly good in responding to those needs.”

The last bond issue to fail in Lakeland - a $17 million bond in 1992 - included funding for a district-wide hot lunch program. On the proposed ballot in March, a hot lunch program will be an option.

But voters will not be able to vote in the hot lunch facilities without first approving the new school and classrooms.

The bond proposal calls for:

A junior high to house 450 students on 42 acres the district owns in the south end of Spirit Lake.

Five new classrooms and a science classroom remodel at Lakeland Senior High.

Seven classrooms and expansion of office space and the multipurpose room at Garwood Elementary.

A covered play area at Athol and Spirit Lake elementaries.

A media center remodel at John Brown Elementary.

New equipment and land purchases.

One unresolved issue is the need for approval from the Panhandle Health District to add more students to Garwood Elementary. Environmental health experts are concerned about sewage loading over the Rathdrum Aquifer.

The district has a hearing with the health district to request a variance change next month. The existing variance allows for only 350 students in the school. The expansion would increase the capacity to 600.

“We truly do feel very confident that we have a strong case and that we’ll get the change we need,” Jones said.

And if they don’t?

“That bridge will be crossed when we get to it,” he said.

, DataTimes