West Bonner County School District to consider selling office at Wednesday board meeting
ERIC WELCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 months AGO
Courtesy photo
PRIEST RIVER — In a newsletter to community members, West Bonner County School District Superintendent Kim Spacek announced that school board trustees may decide to sell the district’s downtown Priest River headquarters during their April 16 meeting.
Deliberation surrounding a potential sale has gone on for months. Earlier this year, trustees voted to have the property appraised and sought proposals from movers to determine what it would cost to relocate administrators to the former Priest River Junior High building.
Concerns about the Junior High’s ability to accommodate the offices and quotes from contractors that indicated the move would be more expensive than anticipated paused the initiative in February.
WBCSD trustees have also examined the possibility of selling a one-acre parcel of land along Hoo Doo Loop Road 1/2 mile east of Highway 41. The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting includes “Consideration to Surplus District Real Property” as an action item.
Staff, trustees and community members have had broader discussions about reducing WBCSD’s facilities footprint for years; the topic came to a head in June 2024 when trustees voted in a split decision to close Priest River Junior High and consolidate grades 7-12 at Priest River Lamanna High School.
Since then, the Junior High has not hosted classes, but portions of the building including the gym and auditorium have continued to be used by community groups and student organizations.
To help offset the costs of utilities and maintenance at the facility, district staff announced in February that WBCSD would lease time in the auditorium to Real Life Selkirk, a Newport church.
Spacek said in the April 11 newsletter that the agreement stands to generate $17,840 for the district in the coming year, and that, “moving forward, the district plans to continue to maintain Priest River Junior High School and is exploring creative ways to utilize the space.”
Over the past year, staff and trustees have also discussed the feasibility of keeping the outlying Idaho Hill and Priest Lake elementary schools open for the 2025-2026 academic year and beyond.
A closure of either school would introduce transportation challenges and almost certainly result in a reduction in enrollment, which under Idaho’s public-school funding model would correlate with a reduction in state funding.
District personnel have emphasized the importance of the district’s proposed two-year, $2.35 million-per-year levy that will come before voters in the May 20 election. Without levy funds, trustees and staff have said, there’s a very real possibility one or both of the schools may shut their doors after June.
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