Closed in 1984 over fears of the old school's being unsafe, student were initially bussed to Clark Fork High School where they filled every nook and cranny until a proper school could be found or built to accommodate them. Eventually a new elementary school was built just east of East Hope and today houses about 110 students.
On September 11, 1984 the Spokane Chronicle ran a short article concerning the school's closing, the opening of which is reproduced below.
The school's status at present is uncertain. It appears to be at least partially in use, but by whom and for what purpose we do not know.
There's lots of Hope
at Clark Fork High
By CLARE NICHOLS
Staff correspondent
CLARK FORK, Idaho — Hope Elementary School is empty.
For the first time in its 65-year history, the three-story brick structure's doors did not open this September. The ageing school was abandoned because of the Bonner County School Board's concern about the building's safety.
Hope's 158 students have been swallowed up but not digested by the Clark Fork High School system. Extra space has never been plentiful in the district, and the task of absorbing an entire grade school into another school campus has not been easy.
The move has spread the six elementary grades into three areas of the Clark Fork cam-pus, presenting a challenge to students and teachers in both schools. For now, the Hope fifth and sixth grades are meeting in the high school auditorium, which doubles as a band room. When the band plays, the students go to lunch...
From the Spokane Chronicle