How Old is Too Old?

“Lakeland is so old my grandparents went here.” said Suzie Nichols, a sophomore that attends Lakeland High School. 

Lakeland high school is one of the oldest and smallest high schools in the area. The original high school, which is the junior high school, was built in 1962 which was almost 60 years ago. The “newer” high school, which is the senior high school, was built in 1979, about 42 years ago. 

Why is Lakeland so old? Lakeland is old for many reasons and there has been talk many times about building a new high school or switching different schools. 

The levys at Lakeland School District rarely pass for some reason which causes there to be little money for Lakeland to improve. But, in 2021 the levy barely passed so hopefully our school can improve or we can get a new high school. 

Compared to other schools in the area, Lakeland is the smallest and one of the oldest.  Post Falls High School nearby, was created in 1912 but the current campus was built in 2000. Coeur d’Alene High School was created a while ago in 1903, but their current campus was built in 1969 and has many new wings to the school. 

Lakeland Senior High School only has one new wing that was created in the early 2000s but it only consisted of the commons. 

A few years ago there was talk about building a new high school and moving the jr high students to the high school and building a new one for the current high school students. The junior high school is even older than the senior high school.

Lakeland Senior High School is crowded during passing periods and during classes. The inflation of houses and people to North Idaho is a lot so the school will just keep getting crowded. 

Other high schools near Lakeland are much larger in size than Lakeland. This school also has less capacity than others with around 850 people attending compared to Coeur d’Alene High School’s 1,500. 

There have also been many issues with the school including that the boiler stopped working which caused the high school students to not attend school for a day. The power has also gone out many times but it probably would not have been prevented. The bells sometimes don’t work as well. 

The cafeteria is also in the same room as the stage and is not big enough for all of the students that eat at the same time. So, most students think that the high school is too old and needs to be replaced.