CV School District requests boundary review committee

Liberty Lake and Greenacres students could be on the move in the coming years.

Central Valley School District Superintendent Mike Pearson asked the school board at its regular meeting Monday to consider convening a new boundary review committee to examine the boundaries in anticipation of two new schools that could be built in those areas.

“The question has surfaced…when we build the new schools who would attend those schools,” Pearson said. “We know all these homes are going in, but what might the boundaries look like?”

Currently the district is looking for property for a new elementary school in the Greenacres area, on Mission Avenue from Harvard to Sullivan Roads, Pearson said.

The district already owns a 21-acre site next in Liberty Lake’s MeadowWood subdivision, adjacent to the elementary school. In 2003, voters rejected a $25 million construction bond to build a new school on the site, which has always been reserved for a middle school.

In October, district officials unveiled a new proposed facilities plan, and are currently in the process of gathering community input.

The proposed plan is based on the findings of a committee charged last year with investigating growth in the district over the next six to eight years, and includes building two new schools, remodeling and updating six other buildings, and relocating, transitioning, and replacing other schools.

The school board voted in November to ask community members for their thoughts before moving forward and placing a bond issue before Spokane Valley voters.

On Monday, Pearson asked the board to consider assembling a boundary review committee in the early stages of that planning process. The discussion of developing a committee could be on the agenda for the Jan. 24 board meeting, he said.

“Before we even go out to the voters, we can say here’s where the boundaries will be based on the projected growth,” Pearson said. “But those boundaries could always change, and I think this would let people have a firmer feeling on ‘where would my students go?’.” before the building process even begins, Pearson said.

The last time the school board approved boundary changes was in 2003, when several elementary school boundaries were shifted as the result of the district’s transition from junior high schools to middle schools. Sixth grade was moved up to middle schools leaving extra elbow room in the elementary schools. However, the shift in 2003 did not affect any students at Liberty Lake Elementary school.

Boundary changes were also made when the two new high schools were built, Pearson said.