Several CV programs to move

Tue., May 9, 2006

By Kandis Carper kandisc@spokesman.com

The Central Valley School Board unanimously approved the relocation of several programs Monday night in an effort to use current facilities to ease the district’s growing pains.

Liberty Lake and Greenacres Elementary School kindergartners and their teachers will move to the Barker Center at 1512 N. Barker Road. The center will be renamed the Central Valley Kindergarten Center.

The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, or ECEAP, and child care programs at the Barker Center will remain there and share a classroom.

Enrollment will be on a first-come, first-served basis after first slots are offered to current child care families. If interest exceeds capacity, those parents will be referred to child care and ECEAP at the University Center.

Barker High School, an alternative school, the Teen Parent Infant Toddler Program, School to Life Program for students ages 18 to 21 with special needs and Barker Special Programs, which provides special service alternative programs for high school students, will move to the Summit School building (formerly Blake Elementary) at 13313 E. Broadway.

The Summit School, a choice school for grades K-8, and Spokane Valley Learning Academy, or SVLA, a parent partnership program for home schooling families of K-12 students, will share a campus at 612 S. McDonald Road (formerly the Keystone Center).

The other five programs at the Keystone Center – the ECEAP program, child care program, Even Start (a family literacy program for low-income families), Spokane Community College Adult Education Program and Native American Program office will be moved to the University Center (the old University High School) at 10212 E. Ninth Ave.

Because of funding issues when the new Central Valley and University high schools were built, the state has said that the district isn’t allowed to serve basic K-12 students at the facility but can house preschool and adult programs.

To ease crowding at University Elementary, the 2006-2007 kindergarten classes will move to Ponderosa Elementary. This will create two open classrooms at University Elementary and fill two empty classrooms at Ponderosa.

Although the University kindergartners will register at University, they will become part of Ponderosa during their year there. Two classrooms will be used for all-day kindergarten, depending on enrollment.

To alleviate crowding at Greenacres Middle School, the overflow will attend Evergreen or North Pines during the 2006-2007 school year.

District Superintendent Mike Pearson said transportation issues related to child care will be further reviewed and announced later.

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