By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
July 3, 2009
Moscow's newest school is a hub of activity these days.
The Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning will become Moscow's second active charter school this fall, and one of the six sanctioned by the state of Idaho to open each year.
Parent and trustee committees are hard at work planning school lunches, student nutrition programs and playgrounds.
Architects, contractors and volunteers have been moving, cleaning, painting, pouring concrete, erecting walls and making plans for several months now, and hope to have their building ready for students by mid-August.
School Director Summer Clayton officially began her appointment July 1, and is already diving into work, and facility upgrades are in the home stretch.
"I feel like things are coming together, it's happening really fast," Palouse Prairie School Board member Lahde Forbes said.
Hearing the sounds of construction has been a relief for school board members who say securing a building has been their toughest task to date.
"Because we couldn't get our charter through the charter commission in Boise before we had a building that fits our needs," Forbes said. "That's what took a really long time, was simply finding a facility that works. And once that happened we could say, 'OK, this is when the first day is, this is what will happen next.' "
Plans for the building have steadily been moving forward since Brotnov Architecture was hired in January, with the exception of a few financial hiccups.
The school will be housed in the old Brown's Furniture building on South Main Street, and the board of trustees had hoped to spend about $120,000 on "phase one" of construction.
But bids came in around $200,000 and the board was forced to take out a loan to cover the rest of the cost.
Charter schools have only been around for a decade in Idaho, but already have a history of finding themselves unable to purchase facilities or make upgrades.
While they receive funding based on the same state formula as any other public school, charter schools are not included in a taxing district and cannot run bond or levy elections to pay for capital projects.
"Any little bit (of money) helps us, just because there's not much in the federal grant or coming from the state," school board member Daniela Monk said. "We're going to try some fundraising, but mainly the hope is going to be apply for grants."
Work this summer includes the most necessary upgrades like remodeling bathrooms and pouring concrete sidewalks outside the school, Monk said.
Phase one also includes erecting walls for the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms, although budget constrains prohibit doors, Monk said.
The building had a number of existing walls from its previous use as a furniture showroom, and the combined second- and third-grade classroom will be mostly enclosed with those walls.
The fourth- and fifth-grade area will be housed in the northwest corner of the building, and will be separated by bookshelves and other creative dividers.
The building itself is sunny and open, and Monk said part of the board's goal was to leave as much open wall space as possible to display student artwork.
Keeping walls open is just one example of the many ways school board members worked to keep the remodeling project in line with their priorities for the school.
"I can't say our facility is 'green,' but it's an adaptive reuse of a facility," Forbes said, adding that the bathrooms also will feature low-flush toilets and waterless urinals to stay true to the school's goal of using and reusing local products.
Halley Griffin can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at hgriffin@dnews.com.
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