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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Cheney School District
Cheney School District No. 360 is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington and serves the towns of Cheney, Airway Heights, and the surrounding area. The district offers classes from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

As of 2018, the district had an enrollment of 4,743 and serves an area of 378 square miles (980 km).

Schools

High schools

Middle schools

  • Cheney Middle School
  • Westwood Middle School

Elementary schools

  • Betz Elementary School
  • Salnave Elementary School
  • Snowdon Elementary School
  • Sunset Elementary School
  • Windsor Elementary School

Enrollment

Enrollment in Cheney School District (32360)
Year Total Grade
PK K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2010–11 3,989 49 324 317 299 286 291 295 299 275 325 308 291 336 294
2011–12 4,094 62 342 337 328 309 283 292 299 307 300 335 303 295 302
2012–13 4,156 52 360 340 334 329 295 297 293 308 319 315 343 307 264
2013–14 4,224 72 363 346 328 332 318 298 299 314 336 302 300 340 276
2014–15 4,465 103 366 370 353 336 345 331 320 320 328 346 309 313 325
2015–16 4,555 108 363 352 364 385 328 355 350 342 338 320 335 304 311
2016–17 4,699 111 381 381 352 360 386 356 359 345 361 330 318 339 320

History

Cheney School District was established in 1887, four years after the incorporation of the city. William J. Sutton served as the first principal. By 1960, Cheney encompassed the largest area of any school district in the state of Washington. The district serves residents in a 378-square-mile (980 km) area, comparable to the size of Dallas, accumulating 550,000 miles (890,000 km) annually on 47 buses.

Cheney School District administration was based in the Fisher Building from 1977 to 2012, formerly built as Cheney High School in 1930. In 2012, administrators moved into the site on Andrus Road, a former Nike missile facility designated F-37 (for the defense of nearby Fairchild Air Force Base) which the district had purchased for $29,000 in 2009.

In 2023, Cheney School District was sued for $2 million after a former student had claimed to have been sexually abused by Cheney High School music director Michael Alstad.

Robert Reid Lab School

Present-day Eastern Washington University (EWU) started as the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in 1882 and when Washington gained its statehood in 1889, became the Washington State Normal School at Cheney. As part of the normal school's mission to train prospective teachers, a separate Campus School was established in 1892 to facilitate instruction of education students and student teaching of children. A separate building for the Training School was completed in 1908, funded by a $65,000 appropriation. In 1912, a fire destroyed the main building of the Normal School, and the Training School building was appropriated for Normal School classes, with Training School being held temporarily in an 1893 building owned by Cheney Public Schools. A new building, named Martin Hall (after Governor Clarence D. Martin), was completed for the Training School in 1937 at a cost of $284,000. The old Training School building was condemned and demolished in 1940. The Campus or Training School changed its name to the Laboratory School in 1937 with the move to Martin Hall.

The modern building for the Laboratory School, named the Robert Reid Lab School, was built in 1959 immediately west of Martin Hall as a laboratory school at a construction cost of $363,754 for the structure and $41,950 for the land. EWU operated Reid as a separate school district (No. 365) until the 1986–87 academic year, when it began to be jointly operated by the Cheney School District and EWU. EWU was responsible for the costs of operation, and Cheney School District provided teaching staff and equipment. When parents, faculty members, and education students learned that Reid may be closed as other campus capital projects held higher priorities, they held a march in 2007 in protest. Reid retained features unique to laboratory schools, such as one-way glass, microphones, and observation towers to allow education students to observe classes in session with minimal disruption. Following the 2008–09 academic year, Reid was permanently closed as the required overhauls could not be funded as the building was owned by Eastern, not Cheney School District, and few student teachers were using the facilities. The building was demolished in 2015 to make way for new science facilities on campus.

Cheney High School (Fisher Building)

Fisher Building (photographed in 2015)

With the incorporation of several neighboring school districts in 1929, existing school buildings were expected to be overcrowded due to the influx of new students. A plan was presented to local voters proposing that an existing school building (built in 1893) would be demolished and its bricks salvaged to create a new high school at the same site (520 4th St), to cost no more than $125,000. The first event in the new three-story high school was a basketball game, held on January 7, 1930; classes started approximately two weeks later, on January 22.

A new high school was built at 460 N. 6th in 1966, and the 1930 building was repurposed to serve as the junior high school until 1977, when the new Cheney Junior High opened on the edge of town. At that point, the building (then renamed the Fisher Building in honor of educator and Cheney mayor George Fisher) served the district as administrative offices and for special functions until 2013. The building was declared surplus and sold to a developer in 2014. One of the first developers to express interest in the Fisher Building was Cheney alumnus and former NFL player Steve Emtman.

After several failed sale attempts, the Fisher Building was sold to a Seattle developer and converted to Multi Family Housing called the "School House Lofts" in 2017, with 36 apartments aimed at students attending neighboring Eastern Washington University. Portions of the building were preserved in their original configuration, including half the gym and a portion of the balcony on the gym's perimeter. The buyer of the Fisher Building, Eastmark Properties, placed the building on the Cheney Historic Register before finalizing the sale, enabling it to take advantage of tax credits for refurbishing historic buildings.

Cheney and Westwood Middle Schools

Two identical buildings were completed in 2012 to serve as Cheney Middle School (adjacent to the site of the junior high school constructed in 1977, at 2716 N. 6th) and Westwood Middle School (at the site of Windsor Elementary in unincorporated Spokane County, near Spokane International Airport). The exterior of Cheney Middle School was painted blue, and Westwood was painted red. Each building is 110,705 square feet (10,284.8 m) and had nearly identical costs of $24 million (Cheney) and $26 million (Westwood), with the extra cost for Westwood required for site preparation. The buildings were designed by NAC Architecture.

Snowdon Elementary

Ground was broken for a new elementary school in 2012. Cheney School District opened its eighth school building, Snowdon Elementary, for the 2014–15 academic year. Snowdon was named in honor of the late Phil Snowdon, who had served as superintendent of Cheney School District. Students at Snowdon were drawn from the existing Windsor and Sunset elementaries to relieve district overcrowding. Snowdon has 55,500 square feet (5,160 m) and was also designed by NAC Architecture.

References

  1. ^ "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Cheney School District". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "Enrollment". State of Washington, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  3. ^ "History: Cheney". Cheney Museum. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  4. ^ McDonald, Rob (August 19, 2005). "Gas prices drain school budgets". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  5. ^ Francovich, Eli (May 13, 2017). "Cold War era missile base now administrative heart of Cheney schools". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  6. ^ "/www.kxly.com".
  7. ^ "www.columbian.com".
  8. ^ "EWU History". Eastern Washington University. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  9. ^ Altenbaugh, Richard J., ed. (1999). "Laboratory Schools". Historical Dictionary of American Education. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 207. ISBN 0-313-28590-X. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  10. ^ Mutschler, Charles V. (July 8, 2005). "Chronological History" (PDF). Eastern Washington University. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  11. ^ Brunnenkant, Arthur. "Robert Reid Lab School". Spokane Historical. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  12. ^ "Halls, Buildings & Facilities". Eastern Washington University. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  13. ^ Leaming, Sara (April 12, 2007). "education, cheney public schools, eastern washington university, reid elementary school, school closure". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  14. ^ "Reid garden intended to keep memory of EWU lab school alive". The Spokesman-Review. August 19, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  15. ^ Leinberger, Lisa (April 2, 2009). "Supporters share woe over Reid". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  16. ^ Leinberger, Lisa (March 19, 2009). "School days to end for Reid". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  17. ^ McCallum, John (May 21, 2015). "Cheney reviewing Reid School demolition application". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  18. ^ "Proposed science building to create opportunities for students". The Easterner. October 29, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  19. ^ Mamanakis, Joan (August 26, 2016). "1930 Cheney High School". Cheney Museum. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  20. ^ Mamanakis, Joan (June 10, 2016). "Looking Back: New Cheney High School". Cheney Museum. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  21. ^ McCallum, John (April 3, 2014). "Cheney School Board approves sale of Fisher Building - again". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  22. ^ Prager, Mike (January 18, 2017). "Old Cheney High being converted to student housing". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  23. ^ Blalock, Minnie (January 22, 2014). "New Cheney High School Opened". Cheney Museum. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  24. ^ Stover, Al (May 19, 2016). "Cheney Board approves Fisher Building sale". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  25. ^ Mamanakis, Joan (October 22, 2017). "Fisher Building to School House Lofts". Cheney Museum. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  26. ^ McCallum, John (September 14, 2017). "A new life for Fisher Building". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  27. ^ Maben, Scott (April 29, 2011). "Cheney Public Schools begins construction of two new middle schools". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  28. ^ "Cheney Middle Schools". NAC Architecture. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  29. ^ Leinberger, Lisa (May 3, 2012). "Cheney school to break ground". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  30. ^ McCallum, John (January 2, 2014). "'Lead, Contribute, Respect, Play, Courage, Learn'". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  31. ^ "Snowdon Elementary School". NAC Architecture. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
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