Grangeville To Drop School Lunch Program After $609,000 Levy Fails

Grangeville-based School District 241 officials are expecting an exodus of students and teachers to other districts following the defeat of a $609,000 override levy that would have funded school lunches and activities.

“A lot of kids are seriously thinking about moving to other schools that have opportunities for us,” said 16-year-old Kylee Coulter, who will be a senior in the fall at Clearwater Valley High School in Kooskia. “We’ve lost a lot of faith in our community because they’re allowing this to happen to us.”

Fifty-five percent, or 1,781 voters, said no to the levy Tuesday that had been reduced from an earlier proposal of $675,000.

“We’re pretty discouraged,” Superintendent Wayne Davis said. “We recognize there is going to be a flight of kids trying to go to other schools, and I expect there will be a flight of teachers and administrators as well.”

With the defeat of the levy, all of the district’s sports and academic extracurricular activities will cease, along with the school lunch program.

Dee Ann Smith, a second-grade teacher at Clearwater Valley Elementary School, said she expects to have students who will go hungry next year unless teachers step in.

“I am concerned about my students because second-graders are not always capable of getting themselves to school with a lunch every day,” Smith said. “So I’m assuming I will be stocking my closet with crackers and snacks and treats … because students can’t learn when they’re hungry.”