Pocatello/Chubbuck trustees are considering closing an elementary school due to declining enrollment district-wide. 

A half dozen parents and community members spoke out against the potential closure of Washington Elementary at a regular board meeting Tuesday. No decision was made, and the public will have more opportunities to provide feedback before trustees vote on the matter. 

“The school is the literal beating heart for our large, centrally-located Pocatello neighborhood,” said Ellie Ryan, whose children attend the nearly 100-year-old school. “If you’ve been in the school, you know that it’s hot in the summer … cold in the winter … and it’s leaky when it rains. But it also has a sense of warmness, acceptance and belonging.”

The discussion about Washington Elementary comes as school closures are becoming more common statewide — and nationwide — largely due to declining enrollment and budget deficits. Last school year, at least four districts in Idaho, including West Bonner, Caldwell, Coeur d’Alene and Nampa, decided to close one or more schools. 

Related reading: School closures impact vulnerable students — it’s unclear what that means for their education

Built in 1925, Washington Elementary is one of the oldest in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District. And that’s a reason for saving it, said Trissa Cameron, member of the College Neighborhood Association. 

“We don’t want to have a legacy of abandoning beautiful, historic buildings,” she said. “Instead we want a legacy of finding creative solutions to keeping and finding pride in these gems.”

Washington is located in the center of Pocatello and near Idaho State University, so the neighborhood has diverse residents who include “many students, faculty and staff at ISU,” Cameron said. For them, having a school within walking distance is important. 

“Closing a school in a historic neighborhood not only affects the learners, the families, and the teachers, but it significantly impacts the neighborhood, the city, and in this case, the university,” she said. 

But the building’s age means it’s in need of a number of repairs and upgrades, from fixing leaks to ensuring it’s accessible to those with disabilities, said Trustee Jim Facer. 

“It would be a million-plus dollars to fix that up like it should be,” he said. “Do we want to spend the money to do that? And the time?”

But if the district closed Washington, there would be no elementaries in that part of town.

“We need to have a neighborhood school around there somehow,” he said. “I personally am torn about what to do.”

In addition to the six patrons who spoke about Washington at the meeting, another nine wrote emails to the board opposing the possible closure, and two wrote in with concerns about proposed elementary school boundary changes. 

Trustees are considering the closure based on a preliminary recommendation from a committee of 13 stakeholders, including four administrators, two teachers, and seven parents. The committee is one of three — one each for elementary, middle and secondary schools — tasked with finding a way to better use school buildings amid an enrollment decline. 

The elementary committee also recommended boundary changes to the district. 

This school year, the district’s enrollment is the lowest it’s been in more than a decade, according to state data.

Board Chair Deanna Judy cited three reasons for the decline: a drop in the birth rate; Pocatello “not growing at the same rate as other cities”; and students increasingly attending charter schools or private schools, or opting for homeschool.

Elementary enrollment has decreased by 742 students in the past seven years. And, according to school district data, Washington is the elementary least at capacity. 

Washington’s age and limited parking also played into the decision to recommend its closure, an elementary committee member said at the meeting Tuesday. Simply redrawing boundaries wouldn’t have solved the problem of underutilized schools, the committee member said. 

If the school closed, students would be moved to either Indian Hills Elementary or Greenacres Elementary. Teachers would keep their jobs, but be moved to another school. 

If the school were closed it would not be this school year, Trustee Heather Clarke said. 

It was unclear when the board might vote on the school closure, but the district said there would be further opportunities for input before that happens. The elementary committee recommended that the board gather stakeholder feedback via avenues that could include community meetings, informational materials and updates via email or social media.

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