Students could get head start

Coeur d’Alene students might soon be able to get a jump start on college.

For the past couple of years, the Coeur d’Alene School District has researched the possibility of bringing an International Baccalaureate degree program into Coeur d’Alene schools. Students can often get college credit for taking International Baccalaureate classes in high school, said Jim Facciano, advanced learning program facilitator for Coeur d’Alene schools.

“Pacific Lutheran University will accept International Baccalaureate diploma graduates as sophomores right out of high school,” Facciano said. “That’s saving $24,000 tuition right there.”

Monday evening, Facciano will ask the Coeur d’Alene School Board to support the next phase in bringing the program to Coeur d’Alene. That would include finding funding for the program, possibly through a supplemental levy, and sending teachers to training, Facciano said.

“We’re at the stage where we need a more serious commitment from the board,” Facciano said.

The school board will meet at 5 p.m. Monday at the district office, 311 N. 10th St.

Facciano said the program likely will be offered at only one of the district’s high schools because of the support required for the program, but enrollment would be open to students from either school – and possibly students from outside the district.

“There wouldn’t be a real strict screening process that would close the doors to a lot of students,” Facciano said. “Instead, it would be, ‘You want to give it a try? Go for it.’ “

Students could take all of the International Baccalaureate classes the district would offer and go for the degree, or could opt to take just one or two classes and receive a certificate.

Facciano describes the International Baccalaureate diploma as the “the champagne of academic rigor.”

The program also requires students to perform community service and write a 6,000-word essay.

•Also at Monday’s meeting, trustees will discuss declining enrollment in the district’s southern schools.

For about the past 8-10 years, enrollment at Fernan, Borah, Bryan, Sorensen and Winton elementaries, and Lakes Middle School, has declined, Superintendent Harry Amend said.

“The main cause is that the new housing developments are up north, primarily,” Amend said. “That’s where the housing developments are going in, so that’s where the kids are.”

Amend said new developments on the west side of the district, near Atlas Road, also are having an impact.

The middle schools in those areas, Canfield and Woodland, have about 800 students each. Lakes Middle School has fewer than 600 students, Amend said. “What we have to do each year is bus students from overflowing schools down to schools that have space,” he said.

As the district plans to build a new school to replace Lakes, Amend said the timing is right to look at the enrollment trends and how to manage growth within the district.

The district’s long-range planning and attendance boundary committees, both composed of community members, have been invited to Monday’s public meeting.