LPOSD Board and Superintendent Pledge to Retain Lake Pend Oreille High School Property
PONDERAY, Idaho — The Lake Pend Oreille School District board and Superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer have formally committed to retaining the Lake Pend Oreille High School property as district-owned land, addressing community concerns that have dominated board meetings for the past three months.
The pledge came during Tuesday’s board meeting, where Board Chair Lonnie Williams was direct about the district’s intentions following the release of an independent property appraisal. The appraisal, conducted by local firm Valbridge Property Advisors, placed the North Boyer Avenue property’s value at $1.34 million and noted that residential development would represent its highest-value use if sold.
Williams quickly moved to put any sale speculation to rest. “We’re not selling the property. It is not going to happen,” he said, adding that the land will remain under district ownership regardless of what future use may be determined for it.
The Move and What’s Behind It
LPOHS is scheduled to relocate in 2027 from its current building to portable classrooms and a former driver’s education facility situated behind Sandpoint Middle School. Meyer has consistently framed the transition as a student-focused decision driven by two intersecting pressures: declining enrollment and deteriorating building conditions.
Enrollment at the alternative high school has fallen sharply. Approximately 50 students are expected to attend LPOHS in the coming school year, down from 78 in 2025. That drop has directly constrained the school’s staffing budget, limiting the range of courses the school can offer independently.
Currently, LPOHS students must ride buses to Sandpoint High School to access several elective courses — an arrangement Meyer described as both logistically unworkable and educationally inequitable. Relocating the school adjacent to SHS would give LPOHS students full access to the elective catalog available to their peers. “We cannot do that if they have to ride a bus to and from electives every period,” Meyer said. “It’s not fair.”
Williams offered a broader framing of the enrollment decline, characterizing it not as a failure but as evidence the district’s interventions are working. “We do not want to grow our population of at-risk students,” he said, noting that a shrinking LPOHS population reflects students succeeding through the district’s broader support systems.
Community Opposition Remains
Not everyone in the district is satisfied with the plan. Rand Rosecrans, a culinary arts instructor at LPOHS who has addressed the board at each of the last three meetings, acknowledged the fiscal and enrollment realities but maintained that the current relocation plan is the wrong solution.
Rosecrans spoke to the school’s distinct value for students who thrive in an alternative setting, saying the program has allowed him to positively impact lives in ways that differ from a traditional high school environment. He expressed cautious optimism following Williams’ pledge to retain the property. “Things can change,” Rosecrans said, suggesting the commitment to keep the building in district hands could eventually open other options.
Meyer also addressed perceptions that LPOHS has been specifically targeted for cuts, saying staffing reductions have occurred across the district as a result of broader enrollment declines — not as a deliberate effort to diminish the alternative school.
What Comes Next
The LPOSD board’s next scheduled meeting is June 9 at 5 p.m. at district headquarters in Ponderay. Community members can view recordings of board meetings through the district’s website at lposd.org. With the 2027 transition date approaching, district leadership is expected to provide further detail on transition planning and the long-term intended use of the North Boyer Avenue property in the months ahead.
The school district serves students across Bonner County, including Sandpoint, Ponderay, and surrounding communities. For related coverage of education and school funding issues across Idaho, see Gov. Brad Little’s recent veto of a bill affecting graduate medical education funding and local student athletic achievements including Sandpoint’s performance at the Moscow Middle School Swimming Invitational.