LPOSD receives career readiness grant

PONDERAY — At the final board meeting before the start of the school year, Superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer announced that Lake Pend Oreille School District has been awarded a state grant to prepare students for the workforce. 

Earlier this year, LPOSD requested $4.77 million in funding from Idaho Career Ready Students for the construction of a career technical center in Ponderay. 

The district proposed the facility as a place for students to develop tangible career skills in sectors including forestry, hospitality, carpentry, and automotive repair. 

In the grant proposal, the center was pitched as being open to enrollment for students from the Lake Pend Oreille, West Bonner County, and Boundary County school districts. 

“I'm so pleased that we got it,” Meyer told school board trustees at their Aug. 13 meeting. “I rewrote that grant like 120 times.” 

Meyer didn’t share the dollar amount received by the district but stated that the funding will enable “some sort of career technical education, which will help our community immensely.” 

Tuesdays’ meeting also included staff updates on graduation rates, enrollment, and summer maintenance, and a presentation from Meyer of the district’s four goals for the upcoming year. 

First, LPOSD is aiming for 100% of students to be able to identify at least one trusted adult at their school they feel comfortable approaching with questions or needs. 

Last fall, 84% percent of students said they had a trusted adult at school. By the end of the year, the total rose to 97%. 

LPOSD also aims to raise its graduation rate to 95% for the upcoming year. Preliminary results from the past year indicate graduation rates of 80.6%, 98%, and 100% for Lake Pend Oreille High School, Sandpoint High School, and Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School, respectively. 

“The graduation rate is something that really stuck out, that we were not doing as well as I knew we could,” said Meyer. 

Meyer described the 95% mark as a “lofty goal,” but pointed out an upward graduation rate trend in recent years as a source of optimism. 

The district's final goals relate to standardized test results. In the next year, LPOSD aims to raise its math ISAT proficiency rate by 3%.  

“As a district, math is an area we want to focus on,” said Meyer. According to the superintendent, LPOSD implemented a new K-5 curriculum last year designed to improve math education. 

By next spring, the district aims for 80% of students to be classified as reading at or above grade level by Idaho Reading Indicator, a standardized test given twice each year to all K-3 students in the state. 

Last spring, 74.4% of LPOSD students reached the mark — a rate higher than the state average of 66.5%. If the district can reach 80% by the end of the year, it will almost certainly be among the highest scorers for its size. 

"We told the principals we're setting lofty goals," Meyer told trustees. "We're not going to be in trouble with you if we don't make the goals, but we want to set audacious, great goals."