10-Year Wait For School Is Over Trustees Counting On Kootenai Community To Bolster Cash-Strapped Facility

The promise of a new elementary school in the tiny town of Kootenai was made 10 years ago. Tuesday night, Bonner County trustees finally honored their words.

Despite having no money to operate the unfinished building, trustees agreed to open it to 135 students this month.

The move sparked a round of applause from about 75 residents who piled into the school to show their support.

“Personally, I don’t think we have any other option than to open it,” trustee Blaine Stevens said. “I have all the confidence in the world in the Kootenai community that this will work, and there will be a playground here and there will be aides in the classrooms.”

Residents passed a levy in 1987 and long ago anted up tax dollars for the four-room, $1.5 million school. Construction didn’t start until this year.

With the district facing an estimated $415,000 deficit, trustees didn’t know whether they could afford to run the school.

Residents convinced the board otherwise, saying opening the school is a goodwill gesture to residents that far outweighs financial concerns.

“A board in 1987 said we needed Kootenai School,” said resident Marilyn Porath. “The voters approved it and the money was collected. I would like to see the school given a chance to prove itself.

“If you waffle on Kootenai School again it gives residents one more reason not to trust the board,” she said.

The school will have the bare essentials this year. Equipment, teachers, a partial library and lunch will come from Farmin-Stidwell Elementary in Sandpoint. The school office will be in the cafeteria. There will be a parttime principal.

Teachers will be asked to do more with less, and the community will have to volunteer time and money to make the school run.

But residents didn’t seem to care about the inconveniences. Farmin-Stidwell Principal Marlene Rorke reminded trustees her school started with little - no playground and no computers.

“It takes awhile to acquire these things. Nothing comes in a complete package in Bonner County,” she said.

The district plans to use lottery money to finish about $55,000 worth of work on the school. Another $50,000-$60,000 needed to operate it will come from extra state money the district hopes to get at the end of next year.

Trustee Jerry Owens was skeptical at first, saying he has many safety and educational concerns about the school. He changed his mind Tuesday night after listening to residents’ pleas and seeing their willingness to do without some “amenities.”

District administrator Ed Sansom promised a success story.

“I’m absolutely convinced we are going to be able to do this,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo