Coeur d’Alene School District open to hearing public opinion on proposed boundary lines

February 18, 2020 5:42 PM

Emily Oliver, Elenee Dao,

Posted: February 18, 2020 5:42 PM

Updated: February 18, 2020 6:37 PM

by Emily Oliver, Elenee Dao

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — Come August, as many as 1,400 students might have to switch schools in the Coeur d’Alene School District.

Boundaries are changing for the schools, and the district is still working to figure out what’s best for kids.

Moving schools isn’t easy for students or parents.

Angela Barnett has three children who attend a Coeur d’Alene School. If what she’s seen so far of the new boundary change proposals, two of her kids will have to move schools this next school year.

“One has gone to school with the same people all his life. With my daughter too, it would be different because most of the kids… and friends they have now, would be at opposite schools that they’re going to now,” she said.”

One of the more common comments the district is hearing from parents is that they do not want to move their children.

Jeff Voeller, the school district’s director of operations, said he understand that. However, the school district has to think about the future – at least five years down the road – it’s trying to accommodate future growth and have the schools at the right capacity.

“We don’t have enough capacity and we still could use a couple more schools in the future as well,” Voeller said.

No plans are certain yet, and things can still change. The district is looking at many options.

“Part of it too is, is there an option that we can strategize through that with what we call grandfathering. Would we maybe take fifth graders and maybe let them stay at their school and finish that out or same thing with eighth graders as we transition into the older grades,” he said.

In the last open house for parents, the district received about 300 comments. That input helped change some of those boundary lines a little bit.

The school board will get a first look at plans from the boundary committee on March 2. It will be open to public comment then. The final school board approval on boundary lines is on March 18.

There’s still time to get your opinion in through public comments. If you were unable to make it to a meeting, you can CLICK HERE to leave your input until Thursday.