New LR school opens with plenty of fanfare and lots of students

The new school complex in Coulee Dam opened Monday without a serious glitch.

But there were kids, kids, and more kids. Following years of declines, student numbers on Monday were 22 percent more than the district had budgeted, a number that can substantially boost the amount of operating money the state allocates to the district.

The first-day count was 394 for the elementary wing, plus 350 in the junior-senior high wing for a total of 744 students. The official beginning count won't be taken until Thursday.

The Grand Coulee Dam School District board had set a conservative estimate of 610 students for the new school year when preparing its budget. The student resulted from a combination of people moving into the area and students coming from Nespelem, one school official stated.

Lisa Lakin, principal of Lake Roosevelt Elementary, when ask-ed how many students showed up opening day, said, "A lot."

The district unveiled its new school Friday, opening for tours in the morning after a ribbon cutting and again in the evening. Both the a.m. and p.m. tours were highly successful, with hundreds of people going through.

At the ribbon cutting, Superintendent Dennis Carlson disclosed that the furniture for the elementary cafeteria was scheduled to arrive the next day.

The furniture arrived Saturday on schedule and both the secondary and elementary students had a sit-down breakfast Monday, as workers labored over the weekend assembling cafeteria seating and getting it placed for the first day of school.

Prior to the new cafeteria setting, students at the old high school had to eat in the halls or wherever they could find a place to eat.

The opening tours saw a large number of families show up. Students were anxious to see their new rooms and meet their teachers. Then the younger ones were out to the playground to see and play on the new equipment.

Honored at the ribbon cutting, and the keynote speaker, was State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette.

Parlette is credited with shaping the Legislature's $31.5 million funding for construction of the new facility. She was honored with her photo and an appropriate plaque placed inside each of the main entrances to the building. The Colville Confederated Tribes presented her with a blanket, and the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International presented her with an honorary lifetime membership to the "organization of key women educators."

Then, when Carlson presented her a new Raider T-shirt, Parlette said to applause and laughter, "An old Chelan Goat is proud to wear a Raider shirt."

In her keynote, Parlette related how the funding packages had come about after then-school board chair Donna DeWinkler hounded state and federal legislators into attending a meeting at the old high school to see it in person in 2008. At the insistence of her aid, Shilo Schauer, who had attended that meeting, she did her homework, Parlette said.

"There is no way this district could ever have had a new school," Parlette said, "because you don't have the tax base to make it happen" because of federal land ownership.

She noted she is still trying to gain federal support for a new gym, which wasn't included in the state funding, recently having written to two senators and two members of Congress. "Sooner or later, someone will open that door," Parlette said.

The event was also attended by Colville Business Council members Billy Nicholson, Andy Joseph Jr., Nancy Johnson and Ricky Gabriel; 12th Legislative District Rep. Cary Condotta; Okanogan County commissioners Jack Detro and Sheilah Kennedy; Douglas County Commissioner Dale Snyder; Grant County Commissioner Carolann Swartz; and school board members Joette Barry, Susan Chaffee, Ted Piccolo and Carla Marconi.

Laurence Rose and Cameron Golightly, from the architectural firm Design West in Pullman, both attended, as did representatives of Walker Construction, the general contractor. And honor songs were performed by NorthWest Outlaws.