CdA plans revise school attendance lines
About 100 children living in the north end of the Coeur d’Alene School District would be shifted to a different school next year, under proposals being considered by the district’s attendance zone committee.
Now that the remodel at Ramsey Elementary is nearing completion, that school has room to take students from more crowded neighboring schools: Skyway, Atlas and Hayden Meadows elementaries.
No one proposal would relieve crowding at all three schools, but the committee – made up of parents, principals and other school staff – must recommend a plan to the school board.
“Change is chaotic. People get a little attached to schools,” district Business Manager Steve Briggs said to committee members. But, he added, “leaving it the way is it now is untenable.”
On Tuesday the committee debated competing interests of transportation, funding, contiguity and stability in trying to decide which plan to recommend.
The plan that committee members talked about the most was Proposal 1, which would take students living in the Grouse Meadows and Oak Crest areas and move them from Skyway to Ramsey.
Parent Chris Sensel liked that this proposal allowed for some children to walk to school, but he noted a previously discussed downside: With this population shift, Skyway would lose enough of its students qualifying for free and reduced lunch that it would also lose eligibility for Title I funding, which helps struggling students read.
Briggs responded that there was a chance Skyway would grow itself out of eligibility anyway, that the district has other resources to help children with reading, and that with this plan, only two schools would be affected.
Proposal 2 would move children in the Grouse Meadows area from Skyway to Ramsey, and children in the area north of that from Atlas to Ramsey. A few people noted that with this plan, children in the latter area would pass two elementary schools on their way to school.
Proposal 3 would move Grouse Meadows-area students from Skyway to Ramsey, and Woodland Meadows-area students from Hayden Meadows to Ramsey.
Proposal 4 would move students north of Grouse Meadows from Atlas to Ramsey and Woodland Meadows-area students from Hayden Meadows to Ramsey.
The latter two ideas raised objections because children in the Woodland Meadows area would have to cross U.S. 95 to get to school, which Briggs and the district transportation director cautioned against because it would be time-consuming.
“No plan, no zone adjustment, no way is going to be perfect,” Briggs said at the meeting. “Pros and cons eventually need to be weighed.”
Once the committee decides on a plan, it will send it to schools for comment and hold a public forum sometime in May. It will then decide whether to adjust the plan based on the input it received and formulate a recommendation to take to the board near the end of the school year.
Ann Walker, the principal at Ramsey, said that whichever plan the committee chooses, it should not move children back and forth based on fluctuating enrollment numbers because that instability is detrimental to them. “I hope what you’re doing here is as permanent as possible.”