Easing the overcrowding
POST FALLS – Christine Booth is still trying to get a handle on how Post Falls School District’s elementary school boundary changes will affect her family.
Booth has seven children, two of whom attend Prairie View Elementary School. But if the district’s proposed new elementary school boundaries are implemented, her kids – grades 2 and 4 – would be within Ponderosa Elementary School’s attendance boundaries.
“My other children have all gone through Prairie View. It’s only about three miles away,” said Booth, who added she will have to get more information about the proposed changes before deciding what to do.
The adjustments are necessary because the district is opening its new $8 million West Ridge Elementary School this fall.
West Ridge, located by the Montrose subdivision near Seltice Elementary School in the northwest corner of the city, is needed to correct overcrowding at the district’s four existing elementary schools, said Post Falls School District Superintendent Jerry Keane.
Easing that overcrowding is the top priority, but the district is trying to accomplish that goal by moving as few students as possible to different elementary schools.
Seltice Elementary School is the most crowded school with nearly 650 students. Prairie View has about 565 students, with Ponderosa near 500 and Mullan Trail at about 415.
Deanna Wright’s son is in the third grade at Seltice. Wright said the school is too crowded and that reducing the number of students would be “wonderful.”
The new boundary proposal would place enrollment at all five schools between 344 and 510 students.
About 150 students have to be moved to meet that goal, Keane said.
“Parents are concerned,” said Mary Gomer, president of the Prairie View Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. “They are happy with the school their children are attending and don’t want to move them.”
Booth initially thought that her children wouldn’t be impacted by the changes since they live on the eastern side of Prairie View’s current boundaries, far from the new schools. But Keane said that Prairie View students living east of Highway 41 had to be moved to Ponderosa Elementary School to keep other students within walking distance of Prairie View from having to be bused.
“To move enough students out of Prairie View to make enough room is challenging because so many students live very close to the school,” Keane said.
He added that he understands the attendance boundary changes may be stressful for some students and parents.
“We know we’re affecting families and kids,” he said. “But there’s no way to alleviate overcrowding and not move some kids.”
To make the changes less difficult for older students who have been at a school for some time, children who will be in the fourth or fifth grade next year will be able stay at their current school even if they don’t reside within that school’s new boundaries, said Keane. But in those cases parents will have to get their children to and from school because district buses won’t be provided. Those students’ younger siblings may also apply to attend the same school.
Boundary changes have been complicated a bit by the fact that three of the district’s elementary schools will be close to each other in the northwest part of town – the new West Ridge, Seltice and Mullan Trail elementary schools.
“That’s problematic, but I realize that it’s hard to find land for a new school,” Booth said.
Keane said West Ridge Elementary School should be able to fulfill the district’s elementary capacity needs for the next five years. After that another school will likely be necessary.
“We would like the next school to be on the east side of town – east of Highway 41,” he said.