LPOSD seeking solutions to budget woes

SANDPOINT —  Northside Elementary parents believe other solutions can be found to district budget woes besides closing their school.

Among the suggestions made at a public input meeting Thursday were eliminating kindergarten district-wide because it is not required in Idaho.

Lake Pend Oreille School District Supt. Dick Cvitanich said that would be a mistake because less than 50 percent of kindergartners in the district have the skills they need when they begin school.

“A great many kindergarten kids come in way below grade level,” he said.

Unless those children catch up on reading skills by third grade, studies show they will remain behind, he said.

The comments and questions were read to Cvitanich from index cards filled out by audience members.

The district is trying to come up with ideas to save money and teaching positions based upon what could be a 7 to 10 percent decrease in funding from the Idaho Legislature for the 2010-’ll fiscal year.

LPOSD should have a better handle on those numbers once the Legislature sets the budget, expected some time in March.

“Now we’re at the whim of the Legislature,” Cvitanich said.

Other suggestions from the meeting include:

n Closing Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High and busing students to Sandpoint High School. The suggestion also was made for Lake Pend Oreille High School.

Neither suggestion would work, Cvitanich said.

Both schools receive more funding than North-side. CFHS is considered a rural school since it is more than 10 miles from the district’s Ponderay office (and almost pays for itself), while alternative schools also receive additional funding because of the nature of the education they provide, Cvitanich said.

Expecting students to travel between Clark Fork and Sandpoint raises safety concerns, Cvitanich said.

LPOSD does not require students to ride a school bus and students driving 27 miles to school one way would be a problem, he said.

“It’s not necessarily something I would want my own children to do,” Cvitanich said.

District transportation supervisor Richard Wright estimates if Northside School were closed, an additional 10-12 minutes would be added to those students’ bus ride.

One parent questioned how much earlier students who have to catch a bus and whether Kootenai’s start time would be delayed because some children are catching the bus as early as 6 a.m.

That issue will require research, Cvitanich said.

n Several people also recommended closing Sandpoint Middle School and adding middle school classes at each elementary school.

n Suggestions also included closing Washington Elementary and transporting the students to Kootenai School, outsourcing transportation and food services, relocating the district office so that Kootenai Elementary can regain its rural schools status and selling the district office.

Closing Washington does not make sense because of the time it would take to transport those students to Kootenai, Cvitanich said. Many students in that community either walk or ride bicycles to school or are delivered by their parents.

Washington has 306 students while Northside has 176, including a sixth grade class with students from Kootenai Elementary. Kootenai has 135 students and Farmin-Stidwell has 610.

LPOSD plans to change school zone boundaries to correct some irregularities that includes sending students to Farmin-Stidwell when they live on Kootenai Cutoff Road.

Outsourcing certain services is a mixed bag — it has worked in some school districts and not in others, Cvitanich said.

It also would a challenge to move the district office because LPOSD uses it for its IT (computer services) and as a storage warehouse, he added.

Additionally, the district is in the process of purchasing the building and relocating the district office would take time, he said.

Four years ago, Northside Elementary lost its rural school status and $100,000 a year after Cvitanich discovered the school was less than 10 miles from the district office and reported the matter to LPOSD’s trustees.

Cvitanich clocked the distance between the district office and the school to report vehicle mileage for reimbursement when he discovered two are 8.5 miles apart.