Parents questioned the wisdom of a back-to-school pool party. West Ada canceled it.
After a backlash from parents, the West Ada School District on Tuesday canceled a back-to-school pool party scheduled for next month.
On Monday, the state’s largest school district invited families to a districtwide, in-person fundraiser at Roaring Springs Water Park on Aug. 12, a move some parents quickly slammed on social media.
The event was planned two weeks before the district’s scheduled Aug. 27 start date. It serves as a fundraiser for the district’s nonprofit arm, the Education Foundation of the West Ada School District.
Eric Exline, a spokesperson for the school district, said the Idaho Statesman’s reporting riled up parents and caused the cancellation of the event.
He said that Roaring Springs has approval to operate and said it draws thousands on weekends. He said Roaring Springs would have kept families separate from each other.
Asked if it was responsible for the district to host a large, in-person event two weeks before school starts, he claimed that the Statesman shouted “fire” in a crowded theater.
“Our kids go to Roaring Springs every day,” he said. “Most of their staff are our kids.”
This is not the first time the West Ada School District has backtracked after parent outcry during the pandemic. The school district announced March 15 that it planned to continue classes March 16 after Idaho’s first confirmed cases of the coronavirus. It reversed course later that night after a backlash from parents.
After receiving the invites Monday afternoon, parents quickly questioned the wisdom of the event ahead of a school year that remains up in the air. Zephyr Christensen, a parent of two incoming students in the West Ada School District, called the event tone-deaf.
“I don’t think there’s any safe way for this to happen,” she told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview Monday. “There are a lot of great virtual opportunities for a school to raise money. I understand schools are insanely underfunded in Idaho. I understand the need. But a pool party in a pandemic is wrong in a lot of ways.”
Ada County reported a record 285 new cases later Monday. It topped 100 cases 11 days in a row.
Central District Health moved the state’s most populated county back a step to Stage 3 in Idaho’s reopening plan on June 26. The number of cases and hospitalizations have continued to climb since then.
Leaders of St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus reported Tuesday they had a combined 118 people in their hospitals with COVID-19. They had 22 less than a month ago.
West Ada has released a general outline with few specifics on how it plans to return to in-person classes this fall. Exline said the changing nature of the coronavirus has the district holding off on setting concrete plans.
But he said the district plans to start communicating with parents more regularly in August.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 7:02 PM.
