LPOSD: Lack of space hurting education

SANDPOINT — When Supt. Dick Cvitanich walks through Farmin-Stidwell Elementary, he is bothered by a dearth of privacy afforded the school’s special services students.

Like Sagle, Washington and Southside elementary schools, Farmin-Stidwell lacks space for the special services that districts are required to provide.

But Cvitanich is hopeful voters will approve an upcoming $14.1 million plant facilities measure that would ease the space shortage at Farmin-Stidwell by moving out-of-district students into a completed Kootenai Elementary School.

The election takes place Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It needs 55 percent plus one vote for approval.

The levy includes $6.8 million to add 11 classrooms, a gymnasium, library, kitchen and administration offices at Kootenai Elementary.

Existing Kootenai classrooms would be used for Title 1 and special education services, a computer lab and kindergarten classroom, while portable classrooms would remain in place in anticipation of additional growth.

“Kootenai looks nice, but it is a work in progress,” Cvitanich said.

Ideally, Farmin-Stidwell should have 500 students, but with an enrollment of 637 children, it far surpasses what district officials consider in the students’ best interest. Kootenai currently has 157 students.

Farmin-Stidwell would actually have classrooms designated for special services rather than the existing situation in which room for those services has been carved out of spaces not intended for that use, Cvitanich said.

Behind the curtain hanging on Farmin-Stidwell Elementary’s stage students receive occupational therapy rather than using the space to perform a play.

Until recently, those students underwent therapy in a center space in the school’s newer Stidwell addition that once served as a library, walkway and space to present assemblies.

But the sounds of children receiving therapy frightened the school’s smaller children who thought their classmates were being hurt, said principal Anne Bagby.

Within that center space separated by portable dividers, one now can find storage space for teaching supplies, special services and a teacher’s lounge.

What once was Farmin’s entry way and storage space for students’ outer gear is used for Title 1 and special services.

Divided by portable walls, these spaces look more like voting booths than offices. The lighting is poor — designed to light a hallway, not for learning.

“We have to have staff (teaching) in hallways,” Bagby said.

Bagby said even then, the spaces function in a limited capacity. For example, the Title 1 office has enough room to help two children at a time, she said.

Title 1 provides math and reading help for children who test below proficiency levels in those respective services.

An old, inefficient boiler at Farmin and several other schools also are slated to be replaced if the levy is approved. The Farmin boiler is older than she is, Bagby said.

She compared the situation of the district’s schools to a children’s fairy tale story.

“The emperor has no clothes,” Bagby said.

Cvitanich said in his 30 years as an educator, he is impressed with the work done by Lake Pend Oreille School District’s educators.

“I just think the teachers do a remarkable job in the facilities they are in,” he said.

The levy includes $1.2 million to add four classrooms at Sagle Elementary, about $5 million in health, safety and district-wide improvements, plus $1 million for construction contingency.