Board Closes Book On Garden Springs Elementary

A fter 109 years of little feet walking, hopping and skipping through the hallways of Garden Springs Elementary School, the floors will be stone silent next year.

Cheney School District officials announced Thursday they will close the little red school that has educated thousands of children since it first opened in 1889, the year Washington became a state.

Most recently, the school housed kindergarten through third-grade classes.

This year’s third-graders will be the last graduating class.

Plans to consider closing the school were announced by the school board in January. Parents have protested since then, but district officials decided last week that keeping the school open was not cost-effective.

The announcement was met with anger and disappointment.

Duane Grubb, president of Garden Springs’ parent-teacher organization and head of the Garden Springs Rescue Committee, said he believes the school district neglected making repairs on the school over the years, necessitating its closure.

“It seems to me the issue of a quality education kept getting pushed aside here,” Grubb said. “They chose to close the one quality small school they already had.”

Grubb told district officials that parents were willing to do repairs on the building themselves - just like a barn-raising.

“We submitted a proposal to the school board offering to donate labor and obtain funds to help restore the school,” Grubb said.

Superintendent Phil Snowden said a combination of factors influenced the school board’s decision.

Although elbow grease, Spackle and paint may have shored up the school for another few years, Snowden said it was the school’s size, not its structural condition, that emerged as the most important issue.

“It had to do with the age of the building, its future use, the need to make the best use of funds,” Snowden said.

“It’s very difficult to staff and afford schools that small without additional funding, which we are not eligible for,” he said. “The board agonized over the situation.

“I would love to have my children in a class of 14 to 17 children,” he said, “but we just can’t afford that.”

Typically, Garden Springs houses no more than 65 to 70 students. And class size is often fewer than 20 students per class, compared to the 25 students per class at Windsor or Sunset Elementary.

The school’s principal, Joe Mirich, said he was sorry to see the little school close, but he said he empathized with the board’s decision.

“The board had a lot of pressure, aside from the school being 109 years old,” Mirich said. “They had a difficult decision. I think it’s going to work out better than we thought.”

Snowden said the school board has not yet decided what to do with the school and the four acres where it sits.

That decision may come in the next month or so, he said.

In the meantime, Snowden said the board’s first priority is determining what schools Garden Springs students will attend next fall.

“Windsor Elementary will be a part of it,” he said. “Sunset will be a possibility.”

After those arrangements are made, the board will consider placement of the four Garden Springs teachers and four full-time support staff.

“It’s been a wonderful place for kids,” Snowden said. “The board recognizes that.”

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