Plan A May Fix Overcrowding In Mead Schools Proposal Addresses Many Of Public’S Concerns
Julie Aller’s kids are happy at Meadow Ridge Elementary School. It’s where their friends and soccer teammates are and where their Camp Fire group meets. It’s close to their home in Pine River Park.
But chances are, it’s not going to be their school much longer.
Pine River Park is one of the neighborhoods slated for change under an elementary school boundary proposal recently presented to the Mead School Board. As a parent, Aller, like many others, does not want to move her kids. But as a member of the Citizens Boundary Review Planning Committee, she’s resigned to the proposal.
“There’s not a good educational process for the kids because of the overcrowding,” she said. “This is what’s best for the school district as a whole.”
The boundary review committee of nine parents was originally formed last year to study overcrowding at Colbert Elementary School. Three district staff members worked with the committee as advisers.
Based on that study, school board members decided to move Colbert’s kindergarten class to Farwell for one year to temporarily ease Colbert crowding.
This year, the board asked the committee to study whether there is a need to change elementary school boundaries because of current or projected overcrowding. The committee also was asked to make a recommendation that would eliminate a need for school changes for seven years.
What the committee found is that something needs to be done.
Mead is a wide district that covers 180 square miles from the Spokane County line west of Lookout Mountain, east to Mount Spokane, and from Five Mile Prairie north past Wild Rose Road.
The district’s seven elementary schools currently house 3,906 students. In the past five years, only Colbert has seen steady enrollment growth. But by 2004, Colbert and Midway are expected to exceed 637 students, the limit set by district officials.
“If you don’t set a limit, you conceivably could have an elementary school that’s bigger than a high school,” said Assistant Superintendent Al Swanson.
To determine the new boundaries, the committee projected future enrollment based on expected residential growth. They examined proposed housing developments and areas within the urban growth boundaries. They also looked at the size of each school and how many classrooms each could comfortably contain. The committee then determined that Colbert’s enrollment should be reduced by 130 students and Midway’s by 100 to 130 students. Committee members also decided that no students should be transferred to Evergreen because its projected enrollment puts it at maximum capacity.
The committee was asked by the school board to use the following guidelines in making its recommendations:
Maintain the feeder school system that keeps certain elementary schools linked to the same middle schools.
Minimize the disruption of neighborhoods and consider geographical boundaries.
Maintain safe and efficient student transportation.
Consider future residential growth.
House no more than 637 students in each elementary school.
After brainstorming, the committee whittled a list of 14 options to two. Those proposals were presented at two community workshops last month.
Parents said they worried about transporting their children to schools outside their neighborhoods. They worried about kids and buses crossing busy Highway 2, and they expressed concern about moving so many children.
Following the public comments, the committee recommended Proposal A to the school board on April 26.
The plan reworks and realigns the boundary configurations of much of the district. It shifts 132 students out of Midway to Brentwood and Farwell; 314 students from Colbert to Meadow Ridge, and 290 out of Meadow Ridge to Colbert and Farwell.
The committee suggested the plan be implemented in the 2001-2002 school year.
In their recommendation, committee members asked that the Colbert kindergarten class of 2000-2001 be housed at Farwell, that the board address the feasibility of sixth-grade students remaining at their current elementary schools for 2001-2002, and that the board consider housing the current Colbert kindergarten students from the Peone Northwest neighborhood at Meadow Ridge next year as first-graders.
The proposal would otherwise cause successive school changes for those students. Some sixth-graders, for example, would have to change schools according to the proposed boundaries and then change again when they graduate to middle school.
The committee also addressed many of the public’s concerns. Bus routes would be restructured to keep ride times as short as possible. Students would be prohibited from walking or riding bikes across Highway 2 unless they have parental permission.
And great importance was placed on moving whole neighborhoods together.
“We thought it more important to move more people in groups than to divide a neighborhood,” Aller said.
Last year, a proposal to alleviate crowding at Colbert by sending kids from part of a neighborhood to Farwell was criticized. “This way, no one is without a (friend). No one is without someone to relate to,” Aller added.
Swanson also thinks the plan is a good one.
“I think the committee did a fantastic job considering every angle that came to mind,” he said. “I don’t know what else could have been done to have a plan with better results.”
This sidebar appeared with the story: Areas to be affected by boundary changes
A detailed description of the areas that would be affected by the boundary change proposal follows:
Area transferred from Midway to Brentwood
Dartford (81 students):
North, up to but excluding Woolard Road
East, Highway 395
South, Dartford Road, including Minidoka Trail/Dartford community along a line west to the intersection of Nine Mile Road and district boundary
West, county and district boundary
Area transferred from Midway to Farwell
Lower Gleneden (51 students):
North, base of hill above Cincinnati Drive
East, both sides of Little Spokane River Drive to Shady Slope intersection
South, Little Spokane River
West, Highway 395
Area transferred from Colbert to Meadow Ridge
Peone Northwest (314 students):
North, Day/Mt. Spokane Road
East, Bruce Road
South, north side of Mt. Spokane Park Drive
West, Highway 2
Areas transferred from Meadow Ridge to Colbert
North Glen (12 students):
North, Riverside district boundary
East, Highway 2/natural bluff
South, Woolard Road/Little Spokane Drive intersection
West, Little Spokane River
Colbert west of Highway 2 north (122 students):
North, Big Meadows/Highway 2 intersection
East, Highway 2
South, Day-Mt. Spokane Road
West, from the south Hilltop Road and the river, from Woolard Road to the railroad tracks and Little Spokane River
Golden Estates North (22 students):
North, Colbert Road East, Hilltop Road
South, to the corner of Pine Needle Road and Triple Butte Circle
West, natural boundary of the Little Spokane River
Golden Estates South (28 students):
North, corner of Pine Needle Road and Triple Butte Circle
East, natural bluff
South, Golden Drive and branch roads
West, Little Spokane Drive to natural boundary of the Little Spokane River
Areas transferred from Meadow Ridge to Farwell
Pine River Park (45 students):
North, Little Spokane River
East, Denver Street
South, Brentwood Drive
West, Little Spokane River
Shady Slope (15 students):
North, from Little Spokane Drive along both sides of Shady Slope Road to Winger Road on the south
Peone Creek (46 students):
North, intersection of Highway 2 and Market
East, Market
South, Farwell
West, Highway 2
Meeting The next school board meeting will be May 10 at 6 p.m. at Meadow Ridge Elementary School, 15601 N. Freya. Board members will listen to public comment on the proposed boundary changes and set a date to make a decision.