Improved Education Outweighs Drawbacks

Every day at 5 a.m., Angie Quinn wakes up at her Sandpoint home and gets ready for an hour-long drive to her school, the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy.

Quinn, a sophomore, says the long drive is worth it.

“The Charter Academy is a very unique school,” she said. “I drive so far to get away from the regular public schools, with the huge classes and the carelessness of teachers. At the Academy, the teachers and students want to be there, and that’s what makes it worth the hour drive every morning.”

Quinn isn’t the only one who gets up early and drives long distances. Unlike students at regular public schools, students at the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy come from a variety of districts, and do not have transportation provided. Students attend from Harrison, Careywood, Blanchard, Athol, Spirit Lake, Rathdrum and Post Falls. Despite the long drive, most of those students agree with Quinn.

“It’s definitely worth the 50-minute drive to school,” said freshman Brandon Jewell, who rides the public transportation NICE bus from Careywood every morning. “I’m coming here for the better education, and the long drive isn’t going to stop me.”

However, distance was a deciding factor in quitting the Academy for Jonathan Schreindle and his sister Jessica, who live in Athol.

“If you forgot a school book in the morning, there was no going back to get it,” said Jonathan Schreindle. “And in the winter, it was hard to get to school on time.” He added that there would be no time for homework when he got home from school, due to the long drive.

Eighth-grader Andrew Miles, who drives from Harrison every morning, said he feels the same way as the Schreindles. “I always get to school late because of the long drives, especially in the snow and traffic,” he said. “I like the school, but I sometimes get sick of living so far away from it and getting in trouble every morning for being tardy.”

Sophomore Amelia Dallen from Spirit Lake agreed that “it’s hard sometimes to get up so early in the morning, and to make it to school on time.” Dallen said she feels it’s worth the trouble, however. “Waking up early and driving a long way is worth the education at the Academy.”

Seventh-grader Allison Weimer from Spirit Lake said the drive was worth it, but the distance creates some problems. “The roads are really slick in winter, so I have to get up earlier to make it to school on time, at about 5:30.” Weimer, like Jewell, rides the NICE bus home from Coeur d’Alene. She said having to ride a bus home makes it difficult for her to play sports at Timberlake High School. “But overall, it’s worth it,” she said.

Kristin Lewis, who is a sophomore and her brother, Nathan, an eighth-grader who live in Athol, said they don’t mind the long drive from their home to school, because the Academy offers something they claim regular public schools do not: rigorous academics. “It takes about 45 minutes to get to school, but I’d say it’s completely worth it,” Kristin Lewis said.

Eighth-grader Anna Bierne drives from Rathdrum every morning. “The fairly long distance to school hasn’t really created any problems,” she said, “except for in the winter, getting to school on time is difficult then.” Bierne said the small class sizes at the Charter Academy give her motivation for the half-hour drive every morning.

Academy Principal John Sarchio, like Quinn, comes from Sandpoint every morning, and he agrees with the policy of accepting students from anywhere.

“So far it’s been working well with our long-distance students,” he said. “The only real problems that I can see are the icy roads in wintertime.”

Sarchio said the distances do create some problems with the distribution of public funds. “There has been some difficulty in determining the funding,” he said. “It is hard to determine if the money for each student goes to the district in which they live, or the district in which they go to school.”

Although the Post Falls School District borders the Coeur d’Alene School District, the lack of public transportation creates some problems. According to the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy Directory, 35 students come from the Post Falls area. Families have set up car pools and a parent who is on their way to work drives a few students into school every morning.

Freshman Jessica Bryan, who lives in Hauser Lake, said she has a hard time making it to school on time. “There aren’t many Academy students from Hauser Lake, so it’s hard to car pool. And getting me to school on time does not always agree with my parents’ schedules.”

Even within the Coeur d’Alene School District, parents have the added burden of transporting their children to a school without school buses.