Lesson Is Elementary At Ground-Breaking

School board members and district officials came armed with shovels and hard hats Friday for the ground-breaking of the district’s 10th elementary school. But they had to consult the professionals on one very important question: Where to start digging?

The handful of architects and contractors pointed the group in the right direction.

“We are really building another legacy for our children,” said Jim Faucher, chairman of the district’s long-range planning committee, his shovel poised in the dirt.

The 10.5-acre site near Lake City High School is a dusty, weed-strewn field right now. Crews from Panco Construction, one of eight firms that bid on the project, will begin moving equipment to the site by the end of next week. They hope to make progress on the building - scheduled for completion next July - before snow falls.

Coeur d’Alene’s latest elementary school will cost about $4.8 million, paid for by a $19.81 million levy approved by voters last year. The levy also included $10.5 million for renovations at Coeur d’Alene High School and another $2.1 million to remodel Dalton Gardens Elementary School.

“The best part about this school is when it’s finished, the payments will be, too,” Superintendent David Rawls said.

Fernan Principal Pam Pratt will head the new, 52,827-square-foot school. She hopes to present the school board with a proposed name for the school in early fall.

A committee continues working to determine the new school’s attendance boundaries, and is expected to finish in February, Pratt said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Fast facts To open next July the as-yet-unnamed school: will cost $4.8 million is the district’s 10th elementary will have about 550 students will resemble Fernan and Hayden Meadows elementaries