Preparing Kalispell schools for a digital world

Trustees award bids for books and upgraded equipment at Glacier High School and KMS

The Glacier High School library soon will be more than a bare room, and the high school and Kalispell Middle School will have new audio-visual equipment next year, thanks to bids awarded by the Kalispell school board at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.

Money from the elementary and high-school bond accounts will pay for books and equipment necessary for Kalispell schools to function in the 21st century.

These accounts were created after voters approved the bond in November 2004 and are separate from the district's general fund, which will be affected by the results of next month's levy vote.

Selecting technological equipment that will be compatible with upgrades and innovations was no easy task, audio-visual specialist John Kaps said. Technology is changing so rapidly that predicting what equipment will work several years from now is difficult.

The district needs equipment that will work in the digital world and still use existing sources, Kaps said. He cited the district's collection of materials on VHS as an example.

"You can't just throw out those tapes," he said. "But how do you show a VHS tape in a digital arena?"

Special cables exist that can work with digital and analog sources. Eventually, however, analog will be obsolete. Soon, nearly all equipment will be digital and may have built-in copyright protection, Kaps said, so the district should make sure its current purchases are compatible with those and other future innovations.

"We're trying to 'future proof' equipment. We want it to last as long as we can," he said. "We're trying to avoid anything with a short shelf life."

Because some of the technology is still new, and therefore expensive, the district was not able to purchase a lot of equipment. The items they did buy, however, should be technologically compliant for years, Kaps said.

"We're not doing anything fancy," he said. "We're just trying to meet the demand and move in a way that's cost-effective."

The approved bids totaled about $158,400 split among eight vendors at Glacier High and $37,300 split among six vendors at Kalispell Middle School. The bulk of that will come from the high-school and elementary bond accounts' furnishings, fixtures and equipment budget, but a $10,000 grant from Plum Creek Timber Co. will help mitigate costs at the high school.

The board also awarded bids to CTG to supply technology infrastructure, including network switches, modules, wireless controllers and access points. The bulk of the equipment will be at Glacier High School and Kalispell Middle School, but access points across the district will allow students and employees to access the wireless network at other buildings, including the elementary schools and Flathead High School.

The cost will be about $91,500 at Glacier and about $29,100 at the middle school. The total budget allotted at each school was $93,500 and $55,000, respectively.

The school board awarded bids totaling about $192,000 to Follett Corp. to build the Glacier High School library. About $170,000 of this will go toward its core print collection, which includes fiction, nonfiction and reference materials - about 8,000 volumes total. In comparison, Flathead High School's library has about 18,000 volumes.

The remaining money, a $22,000 bid, will be used to supply the library's core nonprint materials, such as DVDs. Together, the bids comprise a little more than half of the money allocated for the library; remaining funds will be used to fill in materials Follett is unable to supply.

Also during the meeting, the board:

. Awarded local company Advanced Restaurant Supply a $31,000 bid to supply miscellaneous "small ware" for the food-service program at both high schools and the middle school. Equipment such as whisks, tongs, measuring cups, mixers and aprons were included in the bid.

All of the items were necessary, food service supervisor Bertha Morrison said, because of the new food courts at Flathead and Glacier and expanded service areas at Kalispell Middle School.

. Approved a trustee election cancellation for the Somers/Lakeside and Kila high-school district. Incumbent Bill Sutton was the only person to file for election from that district. If no qualified write-in candidate files by 5 p.m. today, Sutton will win the three-year position.

. Adopted several high-school handbook policies relating to rules and regulations.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.