Plan moves fewer students

The committee charged with revising the Coeur d’Alene School District’s elementary attendance boundaries is asking district officials to look into the feasibility of turning Hayden Lake Elementary into a kindergarten center.

Hayden Lake students will be moved to the district’s newest facility – Atlas Elementary – when school opens this fall. The district had planned to use the old brick Hayden Lake school to house students from other schools during extensive remodels planned for coming years.

The district’s attendance zone committee on Tuesday suggested the facility instead be made into a kindergarten center to free up classroom space in the overcrowded northern schools.

Next Tuesday, the committee will meet again to hear feedback from the district and possibly make changes to the committee’s draft attendance zone plan.

The committee has met for more than a year to create attendance boundaries for Atlas Elementary and address crowding in the northern elementaries due to development on the prairie. Last month, the committee made public a plan that would move most students from Hayden Lake Elementary to the new school, along with students from Skyway Elementary – the district’s fullest elementary.

To leave room in Atlas and Skyway to accommodate expected growth in those neighborhoods, the committee had suggested shifting some students toward the south, creating a domino effect of change.

Based on feedback from parents, a subcommittee on Tuesday presented a less aggressive plan that would affect fewer students. Committee members spoke favorably about the plan Tuesday, but some said it still didn’t leave enough room for growth in the northern schools.

That’s when the idea of a kindergarten center surfaced.

Committee member Helen Hanna said parents had challenged the committee to do something besides “moving lines like we always have” to address crowding.

She said she felt the kindergarten center would free up space at the elementaries and also provide a good atmosphere for kindergartners.

Hayden Lake Principal Kathy Kuntz said she had visited the Post Falls School District’s KinderCenter and was impressed. The school had a computer lab so entire classes of kindergartners could use computers at one time.

Having kindergartners isolated in a single facility also means less chance of picking up “bad behavior” from older kids, Kuntz said.

District Business Manager Steve Briggs said the idea has merit, but expressed concern over the costs. The district is incurring a lot of expense opening Atlas Elementary, he said. The additional cost of utilities and staffing keeping the Hayden Lake facility open could be a burden.

Kuntz suggested the district consider altering or adding to the levy it plans to put before voters in May. Another committee member suggested the district look to voters for support for another new facility to house the kindergarten center.

The attendance zone committee meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the district’s new meeting room on Linden Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. Another meeting is planned for 4 p.m. March 8.

A final public forum will be scheduled and then the committee hopes to have a plan to present to the district’s board of trustees by the end of March.