Original Research by School Decision on Cda Juvenile Detention Center
CDA Juvenile Detention Center is an alternative school in Dalton Gardens, Idaho, operated under the Coeur d'Alene School District. It serves students in grades four through twelve, though the distinction matters here in ways it would not at a typical school. This is a juvenile detention facility, and the young people enrolled are placed there by the justice system rather than through family choice. Enrollment is very small, which is consistent with the nature of the setting. Students come and go as their detention status changes, so the population at any given time is a snapshot rather than a stable cohort.
No state assessment results were available for this school. No multi-year academic trend data was provided either. This kind of gap often reflects the nature of the institution: students are detained for short or unpredictable periods, making standard testing cycles difficult to apply in the usual way. The school does not report a graduation rate. A free-or-reduced-price lunch count was not reported, and IEP and English learner figures were missing as well. None of these absences should be read as weaknesses. They reflect the reality that a juvenile detention center operates outside the framework used to evaluate conventional schools.
The racial and ethnic composition of the enrolled students was reported, showing a mix that includes white students along with American Indian or Alaska Native and Hispanic students. Given the very small enrollment, these figures shift with each intake and release, so they describe a moment rather than a stable profile.
Dalton Gardens itself is a small, primarily residential suburb bordering Coeur d'Alene to the north and east. Publicly reported descriptions characterize it as offering a quiet, semi-rural lifestyle with access to services in the neighboring larger city. The community skews older, with a median age near fifty, and a substantial share of residents are married couples. There is no distinct downtown district in Dalton Gardens. Residents rely on Coeur d'Alene for commercial and civic amenities. The city maintains a municipal office with a mayor and city council, but civic functions are minimal for a community of this size.
No major employers specific to Dalton Gardens were identified in the available research. Residents likely commute to Coeur d'Alene or the broader Spokane-Coeur d'Alene metropolitan area for work. No public transit routes, library branches, or named parks within Dalton Gardens were found in publicly available sources.
The housing market in the area is relatively expensive compared with both Idaho and national benchmarks. Home values in the ZIP code covering Dalton Gardens sit well above state and national medians, and rents carry a similar premium. The area has seen home values rise in recent years, part of a broader pattern of housing cost appreciation in the Coeur d'Alene region. Population in Dalton Gardens has been stable to slightly declining, even as property values climb. The district brief for Coeur d'Alene School District turned up little of lasting impact regarding recent parent-relevant changes, so there is nothing further to report on that front.
For a parent or resident encountering this school's profile, the essential point is that CDA Juvenile Detention Center is not a school of choice. It exists to provide educational services to young people who are detained, and its structure, enrollment, and data profile all follow from that purpose. The absence of test scores, graduation rates, and standard accountability metrics fits the setting. A family looking for a school to enroll a child in would not be considering this institution. It appears here because it operates as part of the Coeur d'Alene School District's educational offerings for youth in the justice system.
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