Sun hasn’t yet set on Sorensen

The Coeur d’Alene School District’s long-range planning committee voted 10-8 Monday evening in favor of keeping Sorensen Elementary School open.

The vote will be presented to the school board – which has the final say on Sorensen’s fate – at its meeting Jan. 16, along with a summary of the pros and cons the committee came up with during the several hours members spent discussing the issue.

The 18 members of the committee who voted did so in secret. There was some question about whether the group would even cast a vote, but members decided that, given their role as an advisory committee to the school board, a vote was warranted.

The vote to keep the 216-student school open won’t serve as a recommendation to the school board to do so – it will merely serve as an information item so board members know where members of the long-range planning committee stand on the issue.

One thing district officials have made clear is that the proposal to close Sorensen is all about money.

“We didn’t do this because we wanted to close a school,” Assistant Superintendent Hazel Bauman told committee members. She later said the district welcomes any monetary support for Sorensen from the city groups lobbying to keep the school open.

Low enrollment forced the district to slash about $2.1 million from this year’s budget. Twenty-four employees who retired weren’t replaced. District officials hope to use the money saved from closing Sorensen – estimated to be about $400,000 per year – to change that.

But the proposal to close Sorensen – one of the district’s oldest and smallest schools, and one of the few located near or in the downtown area – has been emotionally and politically difficult.

The Sorensen PTA has led the charge against the proposal, followed by city groups such as the Lake City Development Corp., the Downtown Association and the City Council. Sorensen supporters have packed every school board meeting since the possible closure was first pitched in November. Principal David Miller and staff are working, and have been since before the closure was suggested, on a plan to turn the school into a magnet school for the arts – a school that would attract students from across the district and even the region.

It’s those issues that seemed to drive the committee members’ discussion Monday.

“I’ve been hearing lip service paid to the idea of a magnet school the whole time I’ve been involved in the school district,” Russ Hansen said. “This is the first real attempt I’ve seen at starting a magnet school. It’s a little bit exciting.”

One important thing to consider, some committee members said, is that those in favor of closing the school won’t be nearly as emotional about it as those who want to keep it open.

“We haven’t heard from them,” Jill Neal said.

For some, the emotion shown by Sorensen supporters has made it difficult to look at possible reasons for closing the school.

“I have lost sleep over this issue,” said Fernan Elementary Principal Lana Hamilton, choking up slightly. “I feel like it’s hard for me to ask questions about why we should close (Sorensen) because it’s become so emotionally charged.”

But, Hamilton said, it’s important that she be able to ask those questions “and not feel like I’m hurting a puppy.” With that, Hamilton said one of the biggest areas she feels the committee should look at when considering the closure of the two-story school is the facilities, which most agree badly need upgrading.

“If you’re going to keep it, then you’d better figure out how you’re going to fix it, because it’s going to bite you,” said Bryan Martin, maintenance director for the district. “A person in a wheelchair cannot get to the office at Sorensen.”

Everything discussed by the committee regarding Sorensen will likely be readdressed by the school board. A vote has not been scheduled and probably won’t occur until at least mid-February.