Real plan for Cheney High School needs further discussion

Cheney School District has a unique identity because of its diversity. A university town serves as its anchor supported by yet another small town with its commercial/manufacturing weight.

We extend to Eagle Ridge, slide over Four Lakes and down Interstate 90 and fence in Medical Lake. It is an amazing footprint that eventually feeds all upcoming ninth-graders into the high school.

District information states that passing the new bond will expand the high school to house 1,600 students. This will serve us, it says, until 2028. At an information meeting, the district compared future expansion to what Mead School District does, and Mead looked at a maximum high school size of at least 2,000. The latest Community Connections newsletter indicates that 2,580 could be the high school’s final size.

It is not just a question of what happens then, as a question as to what about now. Even now the high school struggles to figure out parking and drop-off routes with just the current student body. Proposed solutions to student parking/bus drop-offs have been: drop bussers at Betz and have high school students cross the parking lot, and/or divert student traffic to North Eighth Street — a residential street. The most recent proposal is to route buses in front of the high school, unload students, and then run the buses across the parking lot to unload elementary kids. Envision the rodeo between high school drivers, buses and pedestrians.

It appears that the present site may become inadequate for full future expansion. If this is so then let’s address that issue. In the last two budgets, the district has set aside $500,000 each year for the purchase of land. They intend to add another $250,000 with this bond. There are large vacant parcels within the district. What is the plan? If we continue at this site, we will end up with a two story high school surrounded by parking lots.

Susan Johns

Cheney