NORTHWEST BOISE, Idaho — As Boise School District gathers public feedback on its Long-Range Facilities Master Plan, some Northwest Boise families are raising concerns about potential school boundary and feeder pattern changes that could impact where their children attend school.
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The district says it's facing declining enrollment, excess building capacity and rising maintenance costs, prompting discussions about consolidating or repurposing some schools. No final decisions have been made, and district leaders say community feedback will help shape future recommendations.
Among the concerns being raised by some families are scenarios that could reroute students currently attending schools in the North Boise area.
For Willy Owens, a father with three children at Taft Elementary, the conversation is about more than school buildings.
"Nothing like that exists, and the thought of that going away tears at our heartstrings a little bit because I can see in my sixth grader that's been going there her whole life how it shaped her," Owens said, referring to the school community his family has come to value.
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Owens said one of the reasons his family chose the neighborhood was its connection to nearby schools and bike-friendly access to daily destinations.
"With Hillside right there, I mean you can't beat it," Owens said. "We bike, we're on those trails all the time, so their whole lives we've been looking down at saying, you know, 'Oh look, can't wait to go to middle school right here.'"
Athena Towsley, whose son recently started kindergarten at Collister Elementary, said many families are concerned about preserving neighborhood connections.
"It's really important for us to maintain that sense of community identity," Towsley said.
Towsley said families in the Collister and Sunset neighborhoods value the current pathway that allows students to progress from local elementary schools to Hillside Junior High and eventually Boise High School while staying connected to classmates and neighborhood friends.
She is also concerned about transportation if students are reassigned to schools farther away.
"If our junior high was to switch to River Glen, it would be a good sometimes 15 up to 20 minute commute if we were stuck in traffic during those time periods," Towsley said. "Even without traffic, it's quite a jaunt."
Parents say longer commutes could mean fewer opportunities for students to walk or bike to school and more vehicles on the road during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times.
Owens said the possibility of multiple changes happening at once has been difficult for some families to process.
"When it gets compounded and you think we might lose Taft, we might lose Hillside, and on top of that we're going to get pushed to Capital, it's just a different version of how we pictured our lives and why we moved here specifically," Owens said.
Boise School District has emphasized that the scenarios currently being discussed are preliminary and that no final decisions have been made. The district is encouraging community members to review the options and provide feedback as part of the planning process.
The district's Scenarios & Concepts Survey remains open through Oct. 18.
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