Mullan Road Elementary remodeling will displace students

Brian Petersen’s youngest daughter, Lillian, is looking forward to walking to kindergarten at Mullan Road Elementary with her older sister Ailie next year. Unfortunately, she might not get to do that, instead having to board a bus to Moran Prairie Elementary while her older sister stays at Mullan Road.

Lillian could be separated from Ailie because of construction at Mullan Road Elementary, which must add eight new classrooms only a year after it was remodeled to get ready for state-mandated class-size reductions. In addition, enrollment at the school is increasing.

“Our concern was initiated with the recent announcement that two kindergarten classes will be bused,” Petersen told the Spokane Public Schools board earlier this month. “Contributing to our frustration was the perceived lack of communication.”

During the construction period, some kindergartners will spend a year at Moran Prairie. Students will be selected via lottery. The kindergarten class was chosen because the youngest students have fewer ties to their school and rarely socialize outside of their class.

“Every education funding referendum that comes up on the ballot around here gets funded,” Petersen said. “Yet, we still have the same challenges and issues.”

District officials say the issue stems from a state mandate calling for significant class-size reduction combined with unforeseen population increases in some areas of Spokane.

“If we had that crystal ball and knew exactly where the kids are going to show up it would make staffing a whole lot easier for us,” said Mullan Road Principal Mike McGinnis. “Where there are places to build, that’s where you are going to get some growth and expansion. The rest of the city is pretty static.”

With about 630 students enrolled at Mullan Road Elementary, the school is bursting, McGinnis said. The band classroom was turned into a general-use room, forcing band students to practice in the hallway. Specialists, like art teachers, are teaching out of carts and don’t have their own classrooms.

“We don’t have many seats left,” he said.

McGinnis hesitates to blame the growth on a single development project but says new housing developments at Eagle Ridge, a proposed Regal Lumber Yard development and apartments built by Spokane Housing Ventures near Regal Street and 55th Avenue have added to the expansion.

On March 14, the Spokane City Council considered adding 42 acres to the city on the southeast corner of town via annexation. The council will vote on the proposed annexation on April 11. If it goes forward, some of the housing developments would pay less in city utilities once folded into city boundaries and could potentially increase development, which may encourage more student population increases.

Petersen said the district should have planned better.

“It seems like those things are foreseeable,” he said.

“Their concerns are well placed,” McGinnis said. “I don’t have any issue with what they are coming forward with.”

But, he added, it’s a complicated issue with no simple solution.

“If I had a magic wand and fairy dust and all of that to make it look different, that would be great.”