District may close Naples

BONNERS FERRY — A throng of parents turned out Tuesday for the Boundary County School Board meeting wanting to know why the board is considering closure of Naples Elementary School.

With Idaho's education budget growing ever-tighter, the district is once again faced with the need to make drastic cuts.

The board sees the consolidation of Naples into Valley View Elementary as the solution, though a painful one that will result in the most savings and inflict the least impact on students district-wide.

Board member Lisa Dirks, who attended Naples Elementary, conceded that as distasteful as the possibility of closing the school is, it is the least painful of all the alternatives the board has considered.

“Why Naples? Naples is not considered a rural school,” said board member Melanie Staples. “We get paid more money for rural schools,” said Sup. Don Bartling,

Idaho funds  rural schools at a higher rate than non-rural schools. A school must be located 10 or more miles from a district office to be considered rural.

Naples is  located nine miles from the district office, which is located in the Boundary County Middle School.

The district receives $372 less per child for Naples Elementary School than it does for Evergreen and Mt. Hall schools, which are rural schools.

Closing Naples Elementary would require that a district-wide election be held.

If an an election is held, it would take place June 1.

A meeting to discuss the possibility is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, in Becker Auditorium.  Board chair Melanie Staples promised the board will disclosure of all the facts it considered before contemplating the Naples option.

She also said the board will address the alternatives should voters reject the measure.

“We didn't want to come to this decision,” she said.

“We had to look at what would have the least impact on students It's a brutal thing, and this isn't a complete solution, as we'll probably have to face more cuts in the future.” 

Faced with the need to cut more than $800,000 from an already tight budget, the board and district administrators looked at multiple options, from cutting teachers and administration to food service, transportation and facility maintenance, and came to the conclusion that Naples, Evergreen and Mount Hall elementaries are pulling resources from all the schools.

Closing Evergreen would save about $235,000; Mt. Hall about $186,000 and Naples $250,000. 

“It is logistically more feasible to bus Naples students into town,” said Tim Bertling, board Vice-Chairman.

Naples students could be integrated into existing classrooms at Valley View , and Naples teachers into the restructured system so that each had a classroom in which to greet and teach their students, the board concluded.

There would be no need to build new classrooms or pay for bringing in portable classrooms, just a shuffling of the space already available. 

“We looked at what would have the least impact to all students,” said curriculum coordinator Jan Bayer.

“With the savings, we could maintain teachers to provide  music, art and physical education programs on a consistent basis to each elementary student, district wide. These programs are proven to increase the chance of a student's success.” 

“We would have a classroom for each teacher, no portables, no closets,”said Valley View principal Cindy Orr. 

Staples added that this year, voters will not merely be faced with the vote to close an admittedly excellent school with a long and storied history of student achievement and community support, but will be asked whether or not to locally fund various cherished programs, including athletics, through an upcoming maintenance and operations levy. 

Attendees also asked what they could do to help.

Long-time Boundary County teacher and education advocate Jan Studer threw her hand in the air and advocated a Website, www.raiseyourhandidaho.com, linking to an organization established to form a statewide coalition of people committed to work with the legislature to prioritize education funding in our state. 

“It's not these people who are to blame,” she said, pointing to the members of the board. “The problem is higher.”

Laura Roady contributed to this story for The Herald.