SCHOOLHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
The Five Mile Schoolhouse looks like a million bucks.
Make that $1.7 million, the approximate amount of taxpayers’ money spent to gut and gentrify the little brick schoolhouse at North Five Mile and Strong roads.
About six years after talk of demolishing the boarded-up school swept across Five Mile Prairie like a grass fire in late summer, the building will open Sept. 5 as the new home of the Mead Education Partnership Program, which combines home schooling with classroom time. Open houses also are in the works to showcase the Schoolhouse Gallery, depicting the history of the school and the land.
“I think the Mead School District answered some of the questions,” said Mt. Spokane High School Principal John Hook, while touring the school earlier this month. “How do you maintain the historical significance and integrity of the school and make it 21st-century functional?”
The answer is in the appearance of the 67-year-old landmark.
The brick has been restored and looks new. Shiny, new wood floors match the existing vertical-grain fir floors. New windows are dead ringers for the old ones. The classroom doors and original transoms add nice details, not to mention a flash from the past for troublemakers and chatterboxes who used to be forced to stand in the hallway.
The classrooms in the two-story schoolhouse, last used as a storage building for the district, are big and bright. There are seven, doubling the space of the current school. There’s also an elevator in the main hallway.
The building was saved in part due to the passionate campaign of the Five Mile Schoolhouse Preservation group, which led to the proposal for a $37.7 million school bond levy. Voters approved the levy in May 2004. Most of the money will be used to replace Mead Middle School and build a new elementary school.
Since the grass-roots group got the buzz going on the school, the building has been added to the national, state and city registries of historic places.
“There was so much community support, it wouldn’t die.” said MEPP Principal Pete Arthur. “And here we are. It has taken three years, but we’re here.”
Roughly 170 kindergarteners through seniors will use the building, although only 40 to 50 students will be at the school at the same time. There are 12 staff members.
MEPP was formed seven years ago, with about 30 students. Many students attend a minimum of five hours of class every week. Days and times are decided by the students and parents.
Until now, teachers and students used portable classrooms next to Mead Middle School. There was no plumbing, so bathroom breaks meant walking up to the main building. More recently, a portable bathroom was put in. The new school has a unisex bathroom on both floors as well as a boys and girls bathroom on the first and second floor, respectively.
“When I walked into the room I will be using, I was blown away,” said Jennifer Wheeler, an MEPP teacher since its inaugural year. “And I look out the windows and see a view of Mount Spokane. It’s beautiful.”
The school also will serve a living history lesson, thanks to the work of the preservation group. The gallery, designed by Anderson-Mraz Design, is in the main hall and entrance, where the hall is wide and the ceiling high. There are eight framed panels that tell the story of the school and an additional four panels that tell the story of Five Mile Prairie. “I’m happy for the kids,” Wheeler said. “It’s exciting to be part of a community that is preserving history and at the same time using 21st century technology. It’s reflective of the Mead community and the direction education is taking in Washington.”