POCATELLO — Parents and community members spoke out against a possible school closure and redrawn boundaries at an emotionally-charged public hearing Wednesday night. 

District leaders, who face declines in enrollment and funding, say a school closure would consolidate students among fewer schools and provide them with more equitable access to a shrinking number of staff members and resources.

But multiple patrons said a school closure would negatively impact students and their learning. 

“My students are not just data points,” Stephanie Poppleton, a third grade teacher at Washington Elementary, said. “They are human beings, each with unique dreams, challenges and means. The relationships we build with them go far beyond what can be quantified on a report card or a stupid budget sheet … If Washington closes, where do those relationships go?”

About 100 people attended the hearing and 22 spoke, a dozen advocating for Washington Elementary to remain open, and seven pushing against boundary changes that would require some students to change schools in the fall. 

Trustees are considering closing an elementary — either Washington or Tendoy — and redrawing boundaries to address an enrollment decline of more than 900 students that led to a budgetary hit of about $8 million. To make ends meet, school leaders will ultimately have to cut dozens of staff positions — across all categories, including teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators and student support staff (like psychologists or speech language pathologists) — through attrition. 

But some patrons said closing a school would only drive away more parents and students and exacerbate declining enrollment. If trustees close a school, some said they would pull their children from the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District and enroll them in charter or private schools.

Others blamed the possible closure on what they said was the district’s poor decision-making and handling of finances, while some pointed to statewide issues, like underfunded schools and the looming possibility of taxpayer-funded private schooling.

Trustees will decide on the possible closure next week, but already, talks seem to have driven a wedge between patrons and school leaders. 

Further reading: Pocatello trustees grapple with shrinking budget and a school closure decision; Pocatello trustees consider elementary closure amid enrollment declines

Trustees did not respond to patrons at the meeting — which is standard practice — but will discuss their input at a special meeting Friday. School board members will vote on the proposed school closure at a regular Jan. 21 meeting.

The hearing was held hundreds of miles from the Capitol, where private school choice is primed to become the centerpiece of the 2025 legislative session. But talk of vouchers punctuated the Pocatello hearing — evidence that shock waves from the just-begun session are already rippling outward — as patrons shared their hopes, frustrations and anxieties about the future of public education locally and statewide.

Parents say a school closure will further drive away families

Closing a school is not the answer to addressing declining enrollment, multiple patrons said Wednesday. 

“We have ignored the issues of kids and parents leaving our district,” said Bethany Coffin, the parent of a student at Indian Hills Elementary who could be displaced by proposed boundary changes. “If you do what you propose to do to Washington, you will not solve the enrollment issue. It will continue to get worse.”

Another parent said her son struggled at other schools but found success at Washington Elementary: “He came back to life at Washington.”

“If it closes, I don’t know that we would continue to stay in a public school because of the issues that we’ve had at other schools,” she said. “What matters far more than the numbers … and the money is the kids, the people. Washington is more than a school, it’s a community and it’s a family.”

Kay Turner, a retired teacher and librarian, lamented what’s become of other elementary schools that have closed in Pocatello: “Whittier Elementary is now a parking lot. Emerson Elementary is now a junkyard. Roosevelt is a Montessori school. Bonneville … is a housing development. It is heartbreaking when a school closes.”

If Washington Elementary closes, she suggested that the organizers of a recent protest “should consider turning the school into a charter school,” sparking an eruption of applause. 

Megan Holmes said her children first attended a local private school but she switched them to Washington Elementary “because I believe in public education. If Washington closes, I doubt I’d make that choice again, especially with school vouchers on the horizon.”

Washington Elementary is located near Idaho State University, in a precinct that has historically been one of the strongest supporters of district bonds and levies. Holmes said closing Washington “will erode this support.”

“After seeing the district’s lack of transparency, inability to solve problems and poor decision-making, I doubt I will ever support another levy or bond,” she said. 

Idahoans must speak out against underfunded schools, vouchers, some patrons say

John Bulger, a father of school-age children, said state-level policies are contributing to school closures. 

“Unfortunately, this scenario will continue to play out in Idaho if citizens do not speak out, not so much to their school boards, but to their legislators. Public education has been devalued by the party that has dominated the Legislature for nearly a generation,” he said to applause.

Legislators’ failure to adequately fund public schools goes against what constituents want, Bulger said. He urged those present to make their voices heard “before, during, and after the legislative session,” and called vouchers a “disastrous idea that will lead to more closures and most teachers being let go.”

“I believe the greatest social ill currently facing our country is economic disparity. The well-heeled get by, but the have-nots will only see their lot diminished if we do not speak in a united voice of power,” he said. “Please, look at every means to keep schools open, to fight the shortsightedness of those who devalue public education.”

Ellie Ryan, a parent of Washington students, echoed Bulger’s sentiments, encouraging those listening to reach out to the governor and legislators to oppose vouchers. “We need to support our public education,” she said. 

Deferred maintenance and misused facilities dollars are part of the problem

Dakota Bates, representing the Washington Elementary Advocates, said the district “neglected Washington for decades, piling up ever-increasing maintenance costs, and then (turned) around and (used) those high costs against us as reasons to close the school.”

The school, which was built in the 1920s, needs $3.1 million in building upgrades in the next five years to remain viable, according to the school district. 

Bates also criticized the district for using the majority of the nearly $44 million the district will receive from the Legislature’s school modernization fund for Highland High, which was partially destroyed in a 2023 fire. 

“This money was specifically appropriated by the Legislature to address the aging school infrastructure. However, you have decided instead to spend roughly 90% of those funds on Highland,” Bates said. 

Now, an elementary might be shuttered. 

“As a parent of children in Washington,” Bates said, “that’s a very bitter pill to swallow.”

At the meeting, a few patrons also spoke out against closing Tendoy, and seven — including a middle school student — opposed boundary changes that would impact students district wide.

In addition to possibly closing a school and changing elementary boundaries, trustees are also considering boundary changes for middle and high schools.

Pocatello/Chubbuck trustees will discuss patron input at a special meeting to be held at 3:45 p.m. Friday. 

Idaho Education News data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.