District may offer degree program at two schools

Not a single school district in Idaho offers the prestigious International Baccalaureate degree program, but Coeur d’Alene may have the first – and second.

Coeur d’Alene’s School Board on Monday decided to allow both high schools to begin the application process to offer IB programs as early as next fall.

Originally, the school district had planned to offer the IB program at one high school and have the other specialize in Advanced Placement. At Monday’s board meeting, administrators from Coeur d’Alene and Lake City high schools asked the board to expand the program to both schools.

“If there were just one program, students in one school’s attendance zone would have to leave their school,” said Jim Facciano, the district’s advanced learning coordinator. “Some students would not do IB for that reason. ‘I’ve got my friends here.’ It also creates some bad cross-town feelings.

“It really is less problematic if the program has the opportunity to grow at both schools.”

The internationally accepted diploma program is offered at more than 426 schools in the United States, for a total of nearly 1,300 worldwide. Facciano said students who graduate high school with an IB degree are often accepted by colleges as sophomores, saving the tuition expense of freshman year.

The IB program has six core areas: English, foreign language, science, math, history and the arts. Degree candidates also must complete an extended essay, a Theory of Knowledge course, community service and participate in extracurricular activities.

Coeur d’Alene High Assistant Principal Warren Olson said the IB program “educates the whole person.”

“It forces you to go into your strengths and go into your weaknesses so you become rounded in your education,” Olson said. “I like that.”

Lake City Assistant Principal Tom Mollgaard said he’s happy both schools will be able to pursue the IB program. Both schools have worked closely on advanced learning programs and both sent teachers to participate as the district investigated the IB program, he said.

“This really needs to be a districtwide effort,” he said.

The Lake Pend Oreille School District recently announced that it also is looking to offer the program, funded by private donors. Coeur d’Alene will ask voters next spring to approve a supplemental levy to fund its IB programs, Facciano said.

Coeur d’Alene also is considering the addition of IB programs at the elementary and middle school levels to help prepare students for the diploma program.

School trustees had concerns about offering the program at both high schools, Facciano said. They wanted to know whether there were enough teachers between the two schools to staff the program. International Baccalaureate teachers undergo special – and continuous – training.

Facciano said trustees also wanted to know if there would be enough students to fill the classes.

Both schools came prepared with statistics. They shared the number of students who participate in honors and Advanced Placement courses.

Though the program will serve some of the “high achievers,” Facciano said the IB program is “not just an honors program.”

“It is an honors program in the sense that it provides academic rigor,” he said. “It’s also a program that encourages the more underrepresented populations: Students in poverty, minorities, under-achieving advanced kids.”