Students in the Boise School District will stay home this Election Day.
District trustees Monday voted unanimously to change the calendar, making November 5 a non-student day. Teachers will have the option to work from home.
“The district believes canceling classes will ensure the safety of both voters and students while assisting Ada County elections in managing the voting process,” Deputy Superintendent of Operations Nick Smith told trustees Monday.
Thirty-one of the district’s 46 school buildings are used as election polling locations. Smith said the design of many older buildings, with the largest space like a gym or cafeteria in the center, creates a safety concern.
“The gym is literally in the center of the building, with all the classrooms radiating out around it. So any patron going in to vote; they're going to go clear into the interior of the building to be able to do so,” he said, referencing as an example the design of White Pine Elementary School.
A parent survey had also shown strong support for keeping students home, though childcare is likely to be an issue for some families. Many of the district’s childcare partners aren’t likely to be able to offer full-day care that day due to a lack of available staff.
“However, they've not said ‘no,’” explained Boise Schools Superintendent Lisa Roberts. “They're just really concerned about staffing. We'll continue to work on that, but at this point I'm not sure that we're going to have a lot of extra resources.”
Students won’t need to make up the lost instructional hours, except for seniors at Frank Church High School. That’s because the district, by design, schedules well above the state’s minimum hours requirement.
The Boise district will join the state’s largest school district, West Ada, which decided last year it would close schools on Election Day.
Smith said Boise will explore making the change permanent. He also expects state lawmakers to make another attempt to pass legislation that would keep kids across the state home on Election Day.
