Back-to-school makeover

For 10-year-old Cole Schneider, the newly renovated Ramsey Elementary School feels bittersweet.

The soon-to-be fifth-grader has attended Ramsey since kindergarten. The new gym, 10 additional classrooms and shiny tile floors completed this summer are spectacular, he said, but he’ll be able to enjoy them only for a year before he heads off to middle school.

“I’m kinda sad I have to go,” he said.

Cole was one of five students who led tours of Ramsey on Tuesday afternoon after a short ceremony honoring the completion of what is now the largest elementary school in the Coeur d’Alene School District.

“You go in there and you’re going to get goosebumps,” district Superintendent Harry Amend said before the ribbon-cutting. “It’s unbelievably beautiful.”

At about 61,000 square feet, the school can comfortably hold 600 students. The old Ramsey only had capacity for about 435, and portable classrooms were used to accommodate extra kids.

Renovations totaled $4.4 million, nearly twice as much as what was planned. The money came from the last school plant facilities levy, approved by voters in 2002. The original cost was pegged at $2.3 million, but rising construction costs pushed it higher.

Money from the four-year levy that was to go toward remodeling or replacing Lakes Middle School was used for the Ramsey renovations because increased costs made it impossible to do both. Voters rejected in March the latest plant facility levy, which asked for, among other things, $17.75 million to replace Lakes. The district has not decided yet when it will present another levy to voters.

Amend and district Board of Trustees Chairman Vern Newby commended taxpayers for supporting the 2002 levy, as did Ann Walker, principal of Ramsey.

The 10 new classrooms make the portable ones behind the school unnecessary.

“This is a real treat to be able to put our kids in a building and not in modulars,” she said.

The new gym is a bit of a luxury.

This will be the first year students won’t be eating in the room where they attend gym class. Also, both the old and new parts of the building have a type of insulation that allows for maximum energy efficiency, according to the district. The new lights at Ramsey qualified the district for a $1,200 energy rebate from the Kootenai Electric Cooperative.

Michele Kramer brought her son Carson and daughter Bailey to see the school. Carson will be in first grade this fall and Bailey in third. A lifelong Coeur d’Alene resident, Kramer remembers playing softball on the field where the additional classrooms now stand.

Seeing the new additions was “awesome,” she said.

The original part of the school saw upgrades, too, with the addition of storage cabinets and new tiles to match those in the new hallways.

“Even this old part looks like a new school,” said Debbie Christianson, who used to teach at Ramsey and now works at Atlas Elementary. “It has that fresh, clean look.”

Night custodian Helen Swofford said school officials have been working all summer to ensure the school was ready for the fall.

Practically everyone in the school had to move to a different room, she said.

“It’s just been a huge, massive effort,” she said. “It’s great, but I’m so glad it’s almost over,” she added, smiling.