Naples parents concerned about education

NAPLES — A sincere concern for the education of elementary students was prevalent at an informal gathering of parents at Naples Elementary School on Monday.

The Boundary County School District Trustees voted Monday to hold a special election on Tuesday, June 8 regarding a proposal to close Naples school.

If residents vote against the proposal, it could not be brought to voters again for another nine months. For the measure to pass, it requires 50 percent plus one yes votes.

Registered voters can vote at any of the elementary schools or the middle school between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Absentee ballots are available at the school district office and at all the schools.

Since 1932, children have been educated in the county’s southern most school, first in the brick building and now in the new building. The school has 122 students.

In the early 1990’s, Naples was named one of the top six model schools in Idaho. Studies have shown that rural schools are more effective for student’s achievements, socialization and discipline.

“The school board is reacting too quickly,” Shirley Anderson said.

Anderson said that the cost analysis presented at the last school board meeting did not reflect accurate figures, such as omitting food service costs at Mt. Hall and Evergreen Elementary.

At that meeting, Jim Adamson questioned how the the school board came to its conclusion to close Naples, saying that the board had more money to use than was being identified.

Adamson, a fifth grade Naples Elementary teacher, since changed his mind after attending the Board of Trustees workshop Monday.

“As I listened, it dawned on me that my assumptions were wrong,” Adamson said. “Once I got the misconception out of the way, it made sense. The numbers are good.”

Adamson said he learned the district did have a $909,000 holdback in funding this school year and they put all the carryover from prior years towards the holdback, but it wasn’t enough.

The district was still left with a fair amount of debt. Nobody knows about the holdback for next year, not even the Legislature, because of all the variables involved Adamson said.

“As much as I love this school, I don’t know how we’ll get out of debt if we don’t close it,” Adamson said . “They (the Board of Trustees) have to do what they are doing. They are telling the truth.”

Parents are concerned that the board’s decisions are based on potential money cuts that may not happen. In a conversation with Sen. Shawn Keough, Adamson learned that the state does not intend to have a holdback for K-12 this year.

A few points reiterated by parents were that Naples is the only area of the county with a growing school population and it has the newest elementary building in the county, built in 1994.

Students also will have longer bus rides — up to 1.5 hours each way and larger class sizes, they said. If Naples consolidates into Valley View, class size would be around 28 students, an increase from the current average of 17.

Parents of upcoming kindergarteners were concerned about the long bus rides on top of the new all-day kindergarten.

Also kindergarteners would be riding the bus with middle and high school students. Parents were also concerned about fewer resources per child and less time in the computer lab, art, music, and physical education because of the sheer number of students at Valley View.

“We are going to overload the staff and the building,” Anderson said. Valley View has 342 students and with the addition of Naples students that would increase to 472 students.

“We are not anti-Valley View, we are anti-big class size.”

The district does have a class size reduction grant for kindergarten through third grade, but it expires in one year. Class sizes would then be similar to the size of the fourth and fifth grade classrooms for the 2011-’12 school year.

An underlying concern is that closing Naples Elementary is part of the school district’s 2004 strategic plan.

Consolidating all elementary schools into Valley View would cost about $1.2 million, but Valley View cannot accommodate all the county’s elementary students. Cost to build a new centralized elementary would be about $4.1 million using the 2004 estimate. Construction costs have dropped considerably since the plan was created, however.

“This is the only chance to stop the centralization,” said Nadine Colegrove. “It is not fair for our children.”

“This isn’t just about Naples, it is about all the elementary schools,” said Linda Rigney. “It is about the kids. All schools are needed.”

“We don’t want them to close any outlying schools,” said Laura Cromwell. “Our family moved to Naples for the school.”

“Kids are connected here, they have relationships with their teachers, other kids and their school,” said Theresa Wardle. “We want to stress that all schools have their strengths but the answer isn’t to close schools.”

“We don’t feel like they have exhausted all the possibilities,” Wardle said. “There has been no time to react.” The school board announced the potential closure on May 11, so the public has only known about it for two weeks.

The district is required to hold the election because Naples was part of a different school district prior to 1947. However, trustees could close schools not in operation before that date without a vote.

“There will not be an option to re-open the schools,” said Wardle. “We need a long-term solution, not a short-term, rash decision.”

At the meeting, the Board of Trustees was still brainstorming alternatives to closing Naples school. The alternative cuts will be decided after the election.