Committee To Explore School Boundaries First Meeting Today To Prepare For Opening Of Third Cda School

The committee that will decide which middle school children will attend as they leave Coeur d’Alene’s grade schools meets for the first time today.

The district-appointed committee of more than a dozen community representatives will structure how it plans to decide new school boundaries and develop a time line to submit them to the school board, said Judy Drake, district curriculum director.

“We want input from parents because it determines where their youngsters will go to school as they leave the elementary schools,” Drake said.

The new middle school boundaries will not change the current high school and elementary school boundaries.

The district generated its own list of potential committee members and invited them to attend today’s 7 a.m. organizational meeting. The district won’t release the names of committee members until the committee has been officially approved, which is expected to happen today.

Committee members will be charged with taking input from their neighbors and keeping families updated on their progress.

John Smetana, a civil engineer who served on the city planning commission, will co-chair the committee.

“My understanding is that the introduction of a third middle school requires some thought and planning to best distribute the students,” said Smetana, who has four children in the Coeur d’Alene district. “Not just current density, but anticipated growth and density I’m sure would enter in.”

Several of the district’s invitees were parents or staff who requested to serve on the committee, Drake said.

“We try to get representatives from as many areas as we can who would be affected,” she said.

The new middle school between Ramsey and Atlas roads has not been named, but is nearly half finished. A $9.5 million supplemental levy was approved in May 1996 to pay for the 95,000-square-foot school.

The existing middle schools, Lakes and Canfield, each have 200 to 300 more students than they were designed to hold and are using portable classrooms. The new school will house 750 students and is scheduled to open next fall.

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