With more charter schools popping up every year and subsidized private schooling around the corner, traditional districts are facing increased pressure to compete for students.
To attract learners, some districts have established online schools, more are turning to four-day weeks and at least one has launched a marketing campaign.
West Ada, the state’s largest district, has taken another tack. Since the early 2000s, it’s been developing a string of 10 “schools of choice,” or magnet schools.
Magnet schools are like charter schools in that they have a theme or focus — like science or fine arts — and students often must apply to enroll. But there is one big difference: magnet schools are part of a traditional district. That means districts keep the students — and the state dollars they bring in — while providing kids an education tailored to their interests.
West Ada’s schools of choice are something of a secret weapon in the Treasure Valley, where competition for students is the fiercest in the state amid the concentration of charter and private schools.
“We believe parents should have a choice in a child’s education,” said Marcus Myers, West Ada’s chief academic officer. “We believe that we should have a strong degree of customer service and our customers are our students and our families … I think we keep a tremendous number of families as a result of that.”
The schools of choice are successful — they often have waiting lists and are among the top-performers on statewide exams.
Statewide, magnet schools are relatively rare. A recent report from the State Board of Education indicates that there are only 21 in Idaho, and most are in the Treasure Valley.
But in the few districts that have them — like West Ada, Coeur d’Alene and the tiny outlier of Kellogg — the schools are in demand.
At Canyon Elementary Science Magnet, enrollment is booming
Last fall, students at Kellogg’s Canyon Elementary Science Magnet School in tiny Cataldo, Idaho, worked together to create a life-sized blue whale.
They also dissected octopus and squid, explored filter stations that mimicked whale baleen and got to hear from a whale migration scientist.
“It’s much more fun to participate in something than to read about it,” Jenny Ferreira, principal at the school, said.
That’s the philosophy at her school, and it’s long been that way.
Ferreira is a former Canyon Elementary student herself, and said she remembers teachers creating outdoor classrooms, leading students on a nature trail and bringing in local foresters to talk about different species of trees.
District leaders formalized the school’s approach in 2009 when they made the school a science magnet. At the time, it was something of a last-ditch effort to increase enrollment at the isolated school.
When area mines shut down, both Kellogg and Wallace school districts saw declines in student numbers, said Lance Pearson, the Kellogg superintendent.
But the community had an “incredible pride” and “vested interest” in the school, where many families sent multiple generations of students, Pearson said. Over the years, they’ve banded together to support the school, including via fundraisers.
“We lean on the community, and then the teachers and staff members at Canyon are really dedicated and believe in what we’re doing,” Ferreira said. “They put in a lot of extra effort.”
That, paired with some good timing, helped the magnet succeed.
Enrollment at the school has doubled in the last three years, Ferreira said. Part of that is because of a post-pandemic influx of newcomers to the area, who seek out its affordable housing.
And the school’s engaging curriculum brings some in, as well.
Every six weeks or so, the school hosts a science Thursday — featuring hands-on science stations and local scientists serving as guest speakers. Recently, the topic was air pressure and the science of sound.
When you can give kids “a glimpse into something beyond what a textbook or traditional classroom looks like, those are the kinds of opportunities that shape what they remember about elementary school” and can impact their career aspirations, Ferreira said.
A school that once faced possible closure due to enrollment declines is now bursting at the seams, Pearson said. The district is currently looking for portable classrooms to meet the demand.
And that’s in an era when falling student numbers are driving districts statewide to shutter schools.
“In our case, the timing was right, the place was right, the people, the culture of the building and the history of the school … it was all very conducive to a magnet school,” Pearson said.
At Coeur d’Alene, magnet schools retain students and help them excel
While Kellogg’s Canyon Elementary proves that a small rural district can start up a magnet, larger districts do have the advantages of more students and schools to work with, said Shon Hocker, superintendent at Coeur d’Alene School District.
His district is home to four magnet schools, with focuses on science, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), arts and humanities and expeditionary learning.
The district’s Fernan STEM Academy is “one of the few nationally certified STEM schools,” and it and the Sorensen Magnet of the Arts are frequently among the state’s top performers on standardized exams.
The schools help Coeur d’Alene compete with a number of charter schools in the area, although Hocker says that’s a “side benefit.” Their true purpose was to “create choice and opportunity” for students. Plus, they help students make connections between the curriculum and the real word.
“Math and English and science (become) more real, more applicable to everyday life,” Hocker said, “and that greatly helps the students to master what they’re supposed to master.”
