Open house Tuesday will welcome public comment on attendance zone changes

COEUR d’ALENE — The community will be able to weigh in on the Coeur d'Alene School District's boundary review process during the first public open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Coeur d'Alene High School commons.

Attendees can look at the first proposal for new boundaries for attendance zones and share their opinions with district officials and boundary review committee members. Committee members will be on hand to explain the proposed map changes and how the new zones, if adopted by the school board, could help address concerns with the existing attendance zone map.

The roughly 40-member committee comprises administrators and parent representatives from each potentially affected school, members of the district's long-range planning committee and members of the superintendent advisory committee. It was created last fall to go through details with a fine-tooth comb as the district implements changes needed for growth and safety reasons, as recommended in the curriculum audit conducted last spring.

"This work is rigorous and complex," said committee member and Dalton Elementary Principal Jody Hiltenbrand. "Our proposal is one that attempts to balance the competing demands of this kind of work: create zones that honor the community's survey preferences for neighborhood schools and a feeder system to the middle and high schools; offset some of the socioeconomic gaps between schools as much as possible; and meet more realistic expectations for school capacities."

The open house will include proposed zonings for elementary, middle and high schools, including magnet school overlays for Ramsey and Sorensen and circles indicating the 1.5-mile walkability distance around each elementary school.

The proposal is a working map and a conversation piece; the committee will meet several more times to process feedback and continue working on the zone updates.

"Our proposal is a first attempt at addressing neighborhood schools and a potential K-12 feeder system," Woodland Middle School Principal Mike Lindquist said. "The proposal also protects the current status of our magnet elementary schools."

CHS is at 5530 N. Fourth St., Coeur d'Alene. People are welcome to drop in any time during the two-hour window to share their thoughts.

An updated proposal will be presented at the Feb. 18 open house from 6 to 8 p.m. at Woodland Middle School, 2101 St. Michelle Drive, Coeur d'Alene.

Committee Proposal No. 1 and maps of proposed zones for elementary and secondary schools can be viewed at www.cdaschools.org.