11/04/2024
“Jodi and I are parents of children in the district, teachers in the district, and I’m also a proud alumni of the CDA School District. We want to share small pieces of each perspective to show the power of a community who values and supports education.
As parents, each of our three children have enjoyed their school experience. Have they ever grumbled about a class, a teacher, or a situation? Yes, of course they have, but overall, when they zoom out, their time in the CDA School District has been incredibly positive. They’ve been pushed in accelerated classes, involved in various activities, and introduced to a myriad of people from different backgrounds. Each of them have several teachers they hold in high regard. As our youngest mentioned in her letter to the CDA Press recently, she has had phenomenal math teachers at Canfield: Kira Adams, Beth Schaller, and Katie Pemberton who were instrumental in changing her mindset about math. Both our older kids talked incessantly about Colin Donovan’s history class, and we were learning new details at dinner each night too! Shawn Amos was another teacher who made a positive difference for our oldest. She was in his weights class, was his TA her senior year, and she was a football manager in his program all four years. When she expressed interest in working for the football team at University of Idaho, Amos took the time to write to the coach about her. It must have been one heck of a recommendation, for she was hired on the spot without an interview! Thanks, Coach Amos! The dual credit courses she took in high school meant she started at U of I being able to jump right into her field and was 70% finished with her degree after just one year in Moscow. As parents, we are grateful our kids have the opportunity to save time and money by getting core college classes finished before they graduate high school!
As educators, we desire to give kids hope and make school a place they look forward to because they see the benefits of working hard and have positive relationships there. Students wanting to be in school benefits our entire community because they'll learn valuable time management, organization, collaboration skills, and how to push through difficulties. Consistent encouragement to do hard things shows them they are capable and won't give up as easily.
Our community has rallied to support kids at Lakes Middle School in several ways that provide kids hope. Christ the King Lutheran stocks a free clothing and toiletry room for students in need. They also spoil teachers in August with needs and wants for their classroom. For the past dozen years, Real Life Ministries Coeur d'Alene has helped make Thanksgiving special for the students and families at Lakes by providing the meat for a traditional Thanksgiving meal the kitchen prepares and the Lakes staff serves. RLM also runs fun activities and provides volunteers who facilitate games, set up, and tear down, etc. Other organizations also set up booths and offer support to interested families. Lakesgiving is the best attended conference night in the school district! Thank you, community, for supporting Lakes!
As an alumni of this district, I am blessed and thankful for the education I received. Quality educators instilled work ethic, discipline, and gratitude in me while also providing an excellent education. I even survived two years of double shifting at the high school because a levy didn’t pass. My sister and I being on opposite schedules was rough on our family. Finishing school at 5:30 and then having football practice was not ideal. I don’t want kids in our community to ever feel undervalued or unimportant. In a few years when our kids have all graduated and we’re retired, we will still support our public school system and the kids of our community. They deserve funding. They deserve sports. They deserve art and drama classes. They deserve technical job training like KTEC offers. They deserve to have a variety of classes and extracurricular choices. They deserve a community who supports them just like I had. Kids in our community have a variety of needs and interests, and our community can and should support them.”
Jodi and Chad Booth
