Community takes a look at second Cd’A boundary proposal

COEUR d’ALENE — Change isn’t always easy.

As Coeur d’Alene High School senior Hope McWilliams knows, it can be tough to be the new kid.

“Coming from (Coeur d’Alene) Charter Academy to CHS, I had like three people that I knew well,” she said.

Her friend, Dalton Cone, is also a CHS senior, but lives in Post Falls and has been an out-of-district transfer his entire school career. When he was in third grade, Ramsey Elementary became a magnet school and he had the luck to be grandfathered in. The district tightened its policy on out-of-district students when he hit high school.

“I had to fight to stay in the district,” Cone said.

He said he’s grateful he didn’t have to change districts and leave the kids he’s known his whole life.

“If I had to get separated from them, it really would have sucked because I didn’t have a lot of friends at home,” he said. “But in the moment, I was worried that I wasn’t going to get to go to school there and have all the opportunities.”

McWilliams and Cone attended the Coeur d’Alene School District’s second boundary review open house Tuesday evening at Woodland Middle School to see what changes are being proposed to existing school zones.

Although they will graduate before the rezoning begins, they have younger friends or siblings who will be affected.

“I get a little nervous about the kids that are going to have to switch halfway through or the kids who thought they were going to be going to one school but now aren’t,” McWilliams said. “But the boundaries that are set up right now (in this proposal) do make a lot more sense geographically.”

Scores of parents and community members have been involved in this process as they are on the boundary review committee, attend board meetings and open houses or share opinions with district officials through surveys.

Parents Matthew and Lindsey Pooler have been paying attention to the process because they have two kids at Atlas Elementary, where Lindsey also teaches.

“We like the second proposal better,” Lindsey said. “The high school changed for us. We were slotted for CHS and now we’re at Lake City, which makes more sense because Woodland is a feeder school for Lake City, so they solved an issue there.”

Matthew said he likes the emphasis on neighborhood zoning, but he’s concerned about kids crossing busy Prairie Avenue to get to Northwest Expedition Academy’s new site.

“This is a four-lane busy road,” he said. “As a parent, I wouldn’t be comfortable with my kids crossing four lanes of traffic, even though the school is across the street.”

Where some of the boundaries shift is also an important thing to consider.

“Main roads are good places to draw lines, not through the middle of a neighborhood,” Matthew said.

Numerous boundary review committee members were on hand to field questions and engage with curious and concerned parents about this process, which has been in the works since late last fall.

Coeur d’Alene School District parent and boundary committee member Alethea Carpenter said the work of the committee has brought to light the difficulties the district faces on a regular basis.

“It has been a challenge to find boundaries that would meet the directives given by the board,” she said. “However, as I’ve participated in the discussions, the one thing that has remained unchanged is the location of the schools. Therefore, we have tried to be aware of the needs of future generations to attend a truly neighborhood school, instead of driving by one or two schools to attend the school in the relevant zone.”

She said capacity issues will be relieved when future schools are built in the northwest portion of the district, but in the meantime, the district and the school board have the responsibility “to determine the resources that will support each of the schools and their needs, whether they be socioeconomic or capacity-driven.”

“It is the responsibility of the boundary committee to create boundaries that are logical to the school without being excessive with capacity,” Carpenter said. “It’s also important for families to recognize that individual homes are not being rezoned, but neighborhoods and friends. In most cases, the kids will stay with their friends, they will just be surrounded by different walls. I have lived in this area for over 20 years and have known faculty, staff and families at each one of our schools. The schools in this district are amazing. The support and care the faculty and staff have for each of the students is truly inspiring. I am confident they will meet the needs of the students who have been rezoned with understanding, love and compassion.”

The final boundary proposal will be presented to the school board March 2. The public will then have about two weeks to review it and provide further comments.

The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed new zones at a special meeting March 18 at 5 p.m.