Lakeland school bond faces test at polls
Overcrowding in Lakeland School District’s elementary schools has led to some creative uses of space.
At Betty Kiefer Elementary, the stage in the multipurpose room is being used as a first-grade classroom. At Garwood Elementary, special education students were moved from a classroom to a small room off the school library to make room for another first-grade class.
“We’ve created classrooms out of spaces that were not intended to be classrooms,” Superintendent Chuck Kinsey said. “Classroom space has become a critical issue.”
Voters on Tuesday will be asked to approve a $14.2 million bond to build another elementary school to take the pressure off existing schools, remodel and expand Lakeland High School, and acquire land for a future secondary school.
Because of the growing tax base in the district and other factors, Kinsey said it will be possible to fund the bond without raising the tax rate. The district said its overall levy rate is expected to decrease from $5.92 per thousand dollars of assessed property value to $4.75.
Tuesday’s bond proposal includes:
“$6.2 million for an elementary to house 350 students, with the possibility of expansion, near Twin Lakes. Expansions to the lunchroom at Garwood Elementary and the office and main entry at Spirit Lake Elementary are also included.
“$6.3 million to remodel and expand Lakeland High School.
“$1.2 million for land acquisition and expansion of the district’s food services facility.
The Lakeland School District plans to move Rathdrum’s ninth-grade students from the junior high to the high school if the levy is approved. The proposed addition of 10 classrooms at the high school and the expansion of its recently added gymnasium would help accommodate those students, Kinsey said.
Moving ninth-graders to the high school would free up space at the junior high, which had an 8 percent increase in enrollment this year, Kinsey said.
Resident Paul Morton has been vocally opposing Tuesday’s levy. He questions nearly all aspects of the district’s proposal, especially the decision to add on to a high school in a congested area of town with little parking.
Kinsey said there’s still life left in Lakeland High, which was built in 1978.
“It’s a good facility,” Kinsey said. “Realistically, it’s a facility we need to extend the life of.”
The bond would also allow the district to increase the size of the high school library, improve science labs, upgrade the heating system and remodel the front office.
The practice gymnasium that the district added through its last levy election would be expanded to become the district’s main competition gymnasium. Kinsey said the district had the gym built with walls in concrete sections that can be moved to accommodate the proposed expansion.
Morton said he believes the district should build a new high school instead of again adding on to Lakeland High – and putting the high school somewhere less congested, like the outskirts of Rathdrum. He has also raised concerns about the proposed location of the elementary school.
A major explosives storage facility is located off Scarcello Road, less than a mile from the proposed school site on Rice Road. The vice president of safety for the explosives company, as well as local officials, said recently that students wouldn’t be in danger if there was an explosion there.
The facility is permitted to store 125,000 pounds of dynamite, 280,000 pounds of prilled ammonium nitrate, 150,000 pounds of blasting agent, 10,000 gallons of diesel and 7,000 gallons of oil, according to records on file with the Panhandle Health District.
The 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City used 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil.
Kinsey said the county would never allow a school to be built in a dangerous location.
“We are way beyond what would be any kind of danger zone,” Kinsey said.
If the bond is approved, the new elementary could open in fall 2007 and the remodel at Lakeland High could be completed about the same time, district officials say. Remodel projects at Garwood and Spirit Lake elementaries could be done by fall 2006.
Polls will be open noon until 8 p.m. Tuesday at Athol Elementary, John Brown Elementary, Spirit Lake Elementary, Betty Kiefer Elementary, Garwood Elementary, the Hauser Lake Fire Station, the Bayview Community Center and the Twin Lakes Fire Station.
The measure requires approval by two-thirds of voters.