Bridge-Building Big Glitch For School

Sat., Dec. 16, 2000

By Marny Lombard marnyl@spokesman.com (509) 927-2166

Parents and staff at Pasadena Park Elementary School are brainstorming ways to handle the delays and backups that will accompany the 18-month rebuilding of the Argonne Bridge.

Ideas to deal with the Argonne bottleneck range from the facetious - offer scenic ferry and helicopter rides over the Spokane River? - to the serious.

Starting kindergarten and fifth-grade classes at Pasadena Park is one of those proposed. Pasadena, like West Valley’s other neighborhood schools, offers only first- through fourth-grade classes now.

Kindergartners throughout West Valley attend the Millwood School. Fifth-graders in the district have for several years attended Seth Woodard Elementary School.

They also have the choice of the fifth- through eighth-grade City School; and Ness Elementary School is in its second year of including fifth-grade.

At this week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dave Smith praised the PTO’s work on the issue and asked the group to continue working and bring a recommendation to the board.

“It may start a new configuration in our district that could last for a long, long time,” Smith said.

“Just make sure that we take care of all the people involved.”

Smith also asked that representatives of the other West Valley grade schools be invited to sit on the committee.

Administrators will also be discussing ways to minimize delays for middle school and high school students.

Rebuilding of the Argonne Bridge is due to start in June and continue through fall of 2002. It will close traffic down to one lane in each direction.

West Valley School District buses cross that bridge many times a day.

That being the case, this much seems inevitable: “We are going to be late,” said transportation director Joe Dawson.

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