PONDERAY — The Lake Pend Oreille School Board is scheduled to vote on the pending relocation of the alternative high school during a regular board meeting on Tuesday, July 14 at the district office.

The district announced earlier this year that it planned to move the alternative high school from its current location on North Boyer Avenue to two portable classrooms and a former driver’s education building. 

District officials said the decision to relocate the school stems from reduced funding due to declining enrollment and an aging facility that falls short of many modern standards for accessibility, systems, and functionality.

However, many community members are pushing back against the move, advocating that the alternative high school should remain where it is. Moving the school would mean sharing a campus with Sandpoint High School, creating a hardship for many students who moved to the alternative school. Having a separate campus — in a separate location — has created a haven for many students, LPOHS students and staff said.

They also point to the need to bus alternative high school students from LPOHS to Sandpoint High School last year to attend elective classes, an arrangement that will continue in the upcoming school year.

District officials said the current transportation schedule reduces instructional time, and relocating the school would give students equal access to electives and career pathways needed for graduation.

On June 30, a coalition of residents, parents and educators filed a 30-page statutory grievance, demanding the district freeze the relocation. 

The grievance alleges administrative concealment of structural risks, and includes claims of attendance and cohort manipulation, a top-heavy administration, and federal IDEA Placement breaches for alternative learners.

The LPOSD refuted many of the claims as false or incomplete, stating that staff carefully follow all state and federal regulations.