Plummer-Worley asking for new school

WORLEY – Worley’s Lakeside Elementary School isn’t aging gracefully.

Money the district’s spent on repairing the 71-year-old building would be wiser spent on a new facility, according to supporters of a May 20 bond election.

“It’s foolish to keep putting that kind of money every year into a building we’re going to have to replace. Its time has come,” said Don Parker, a member of the Plummer-Worley School District’s facilities committee and a 45-year resident.

The district will ask voters May 20 to approve a $10 million, 15-year bond to build a new elementary school in Plummer. The 35,000-square-foot elementary would be built on property the district already owns west of Lakeside Middle School.

If the bond passes, it will be the first time voters in the district, which serves students in southern Kootenai County and Benewah County, have passed a school bond or levy since 1980.

The district needs a supermajority of votes in support of the bond for the measure to pass. Residents would see an increase in their tax bill of $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed taxable value.

Costly and constant repairs to the electrical and plumbing and a leaking roof are just some of the issues with the school, Parker said.

The school is adjacent to Highway 95, and there will be even less space between the two once improvements to the highway are complete.

“I certainly wouldn’t build a house that close to the highway,” Parker said.

Construction would begin in April 2009, and the building would be complete in time for the start of school in August 2010.

A town meeting to discuss the bond is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Lakeside Elementary gymnasium.

Polls will be open noon to 8 p.m. May 20 at Lakeside Elementary School, the Coeur d’Alene Casino Events Center, the Benewah Market, the District Administrative Office in Plummer and the Tensed Senior Center.

Anyone who has lived in the district for 30 days prior to the election can vote, and voters can register at the polls.