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Fernan Elementary, one of ten elementary schools in District 271, is located in the southeast corner of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The school serves 500 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, drawing from largely rural, well-to-do areas outside of town as well as from low income downtown areas near the school. Due to this students are of mixed socio-economic status. The school averages about 50% free and reduced lunch, having a high number of Title I students but not qualifying as a Title I school. The community is predominately Caucasian, at least 90%, with the largest minority being Native American. There is a small Hispanic population, and very few Asian or African-American people in the community.
Special Programs
Fernan houses the district's developmental pre-school programs for three, four and five-year-olds. Pre-school students—special needs students and peer role models—are frequently integrated into the school through cross-age grouping for buddy reading and special projects.
Fernan instituted a "switch" program to better meet the new standards and accommodate individual needs. Four days a week teachers in the same grade level group students in flexible ability groups for language arts and math. Advanced students receive enrichment this way, average students meet the curriculum, and struggling students receive more intensive help with more adults available for this group. The switch scheduling requires intensive team planning and has brought the staff into sharper focus on the curriculum.
The switch grouping is used in grades two through five. It has not been used below grade two because the rate of reading acquisition and change is so great that curriculum differentiation is best done by one consistent classroom teacher who can monitor and promote growth.
Technology Access
Each classroom has a minimum of two computers, at least one of them with Internet access. The school has undertaken a comprehensive plan to achieve equity as they upgrade and replace current classroom machines, which vary in capability.
Fernan has an up-to-date technology lab with 28 student stations and a teacher station, all with high-speed Internet access, an electronic white board and projector, four scanners, a color printer, and a laser printer. The lab was funded by the J. A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation as part a teacher-training program and is used for summer training sessions and on-going support of teachers across northern Idaho.
2003 Contact Information
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Fernan Elementary School Lana Hamilton, Principal 520 North 21st Street Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814 |
Coeur d'Alene School District Harry W. Amend, Superintendent 311 North 10th Street Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814 |
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