Glacier High students will dine on campus

Trustees concerned about traffic at U.S. 93 and Reserve, but they may revisit policy after first year

The Kalispell school board approved a restricted campus for Glacier High School's first year of operation at its regular meeting Tuesday night.

Under restriction guidelines, all students will be required to remain on school property during their lunch periods. The school's 60 acres, minus the parking lot, will be considered school grounds.

To accommodate the 1,000 students projected to attend Glacier next year, the school had to plan for three, 40-minute lunch periods. The school's commons area can seat 360.

After the first year, the school board may revisit the closed-campus policy.

"I want to do the right thing, so if it doesn't work, I will be back," Glacier Principal Callie Langohr said.

Langohr's original presentation to the board in February recommended juniors - and, beginning in fall 2008, seniors - be allowed to leave campus for lunch. After the board expressed concern about traffic at the busy West Reserve and U.S. 93 intersection, however, she prepared the new, closed-campus plan.

Input from parents at a recent informational meeting at Flathead High School was also influential, she said.

Eighty-six parents filled out surveys about a restricted Glacier campus. Of those, 48 percent said the school should be closed for all grades. Thirty-one percent thought Glacier should be closed for freshmen and sophomores, and 9 percent said campus should be open for everyone.

But, Langohr said, it's important the board revisit the issue in preparation for fall 2008, when Glacier will house four high-school grades.

"I need the next year's seniors to know they will have open campus next year," she said. "They need to know tonight that I supported that, that the administration supported it, that the teachers were with them."

Flathead Principal Peter Fusaro will present restriction recommendations to the board after construction of Flathead's new food court is nearer completion.

The board also clarified an earlier decision about the source of the district's funds for the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative. About a year ago, the board voted to join the co-op at the high-school and elementary levels. However, minutes from that meeting about the funding's source and amount were confusing, said Superintendent Darlene Schottle.

District 5 joined the co-op with a two-year commitment. At the high-school level, it cost nearly $12,700 for the 2006 school year and will cost about $13,000 next year. That money comes out of the high-school curriculum budget.

At the elementary level, joining the cooperative cost about $22,100 this year and will cost $22,500 in the 2007 school year.

This year, money from Indian Education for All has paid for half the elementary curriculum costs. The rest came from the elementary curriculum budget. Next year, the curriculum budget will cover the entire cost.

Board members were quick to support funding at the high-school level, but some were concerned about paying for the elementary co-op when the elementary budget is already tight.

"I think this is great," Trustee Eve Dixon said, "but we really can't afford this."

Chairman Brad Walterskirchen agreed, but he and Dixon were the only two elementary representatives with negative votes. Don Murray, Mary Ruby and Colleen Unterreiner supported paying the elementary cost; representatives Anna Marie Bailey and Mark Lalum were not present at the meeting.

"I guess for myself, I would vote for this no matter what the price tag was," Unterreiner said, "because I believe so strongly in the development of a whole-valley system."

Also at the meeting:

. The board approved policies for board-meeting procedures, the school calendar, graduation requirements, cell phones and other electronic devices, conduct on school property and investigations and arrests. The policies will appear in the district's handbook.

. The board heard requests to create a dean position at Flathead High School and Kalispell Middle School next year.

Flathead expects 1,600 students next year; to maintain accreditation standards, the high school must have one building-level administrator for every 500 students. Currently, the school has three administrators for the 2007 school year.

"My concern is we can't run Flathead as a AA high school without the dean position," Fusaro said. "You have to have the administrative staff there in order to provide that level of service."

Although the school functioned as a junior high, it operated under the umbrella of the high-school activities director. As a middle school, however, another administrator will have to serve in that capacity.

For the last several years, a junior-high teacher has been paid a stipend to perform the same duties a dean would - but this teacher has no administrative authority. Schottle proposed creating an official dean position to provide supervision and evaluation for the middle school's activities.

Trustees will likely vote on these requests at next month's regular meeting.

. At the next meeting, the board is also expected to vote on activity-ticket fees proposed Tuesday. Finance committee members proposed an increase from $35 to $50 for general-admission tickets, which would be good at Glacier and Flathead. Reserved seats would cost an additional $20 at each high school.

The proposal seems to make sense this first year with a new high school, Walterskirchen said, when area residents will want to watch students at both schools.

"The idea behind it was we're going into uncharted territory a little bit," he said. "Right now, there isn't any rivalry or fan base. That's going to take time to develop."

Ruby worried the price of reserved seating on top of general admission on top of student pay-to-play fees would be too expensive for some families.

"I'm just saying as a parent, looking at that, that gets to be pretty hefty," she said.

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