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Spring Creek closes its doors
January 14, 2009
By Jamie Doran
Spring Creek Lodge closed its doors
for the last time Friday Jan. 9, leaving everyone who had been
employed there unemployed and the students at the lodge without a
place to go.
Representatives for Spring Creek
Lodge could not be reached for comment by the Valley Press before
press time.
The lodge first opened its doors
about 30 years ago by Nancy and Steve Cawdrey. The lodge was opened
as a place to address drug, alcohol and behavioral issues of young
people from across the county.
The lodge once had over 500
students enrolled, but during the past several years enrollment
dropped down to less than 50.
Thompson Falls Superintendent Jerry
Pauli said that while he had no ties to the lodge, the Thompson
Falls school system had been impacted by it.
“As their enrollment numbers went
down, people who worked there were unemployed, which caused kids to
leave our schools because their parents needed to relocate,” he
said.
At one point Spring Creek Lodge was
the largest employer in Sanders County as it employed about 200
individuals in various positions throughout the lodge.
Pauli said that the Thompson Falls
School Board will be holding a special meeting Tuesday Jan. 20 at 7
p.m. to discuss the expansion of their own Alternative Learning
Center at Thompson Falls High School.
He said the Alternative Learning
Center has been around for years and has had anywhere from 30-43
kids involved either part or full-time in the program.
“What we’re doing is looking to
expand that program to pick up some of the kids who were in Spring
Creek,” he said.
Pauli said there will likely be
some students from Spring Creek that will be picked up by families
in the Thompson Falls area and expanding the Alternative Learning
Center would be a great way to help accommodate those students.
“At the meeting we’ll be addressing
and hopefully making a decision on whether or not we should expand
our services and this program to include these students,” he said.
Original article:
http://www.vp-mi.com/articles/2009/01/14/breaking_news/doc496e176b41949364534296.txt
CAICA
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