Two high schools: separate but equal

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

The Daily Inter Lake

In many two-high school towns, rivalry has proved inevitable. Students attend classes and take part in extracurricular activities at their respective schools. They look down on students from the other school, and mingling is limited to feisty competition at cross-town sporting events.

It's an attitude Kalispell School District board members and administrators hope to avoid as they move to a two-high-school district.

Instead, they're encouraging a slightly different mentality: mostly separate but absolutely equal.

Some things naturally will divide when school begins today and Wednesday. Half the district's freshman, sophomore and junior classes will attend brand-new Glacier High School, while the rest of the high-school student population - including the entire senior class - goes to Flathead High.

Each school has its own sports teams and activities.

But administrators are taking great pains to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two schools.

"Part of that is the administrators and the example that we're setting," Glacier Principal Callie Langohr told the board of trustees during a work session last week. "You can talk all you want, but if you don't do it, that's what people are watching."

Cooperation has been easier to foster in some areas than others. Keeping this year's senior class together will help somewhat, and the district has planned for several joint events. The schools' drama departments will collaborate on at least one performance, and students will attend the same prom.

Several details are identical at both schools. Their bell schedules, semester assessments and dress codes are the same, as are their honor roll and attendance policies.

Not everything is the same, however.

One of the biggest differences is the schools' lunch policies: At Flathead, students may leave for lunch, while Glacier has a closed campus.

Some class offerings differ as well.

Only Flathead will offer International Baccalaureate classes; Advanced Placement classes are available only at Glacier. Students may take traditional industrial arts classes at Flathead; Glacier will provide more technology arts courses.

The schools most likely will have separate graduation ceremonies. They may try to hold graduation at their respective facilities, but that depends on enrollment numbers, Langohr said.

"Glacier is for sure going to try to have its first graduation ceremony at Glacier," she said. "And that's purely a cultural thing. That's purely a school thing."

Even while they're striving for cooperation, administrators anticipate distinct cultures to develop at each high school.

"The thing to remember is Flathead is not Glacier and Glacier is not Flathead," Flathead Principal Peter Fusaro said. "They're going to take on their own personalities."

Some of that will be driven by competition between the schools' sports teams, although administrators are striving to minimize full-on rivalry.

"There's a large amount of respect between the two groups," Flathead Activities Director Frank Jobe said. "We're hoping that that respect will filter down."

Some cooperation already exists. Jobe and Glacier Activities Director Mark Dennehy work closely together, and parents are maintaining a joint booster club. There will be one Kalispell district swim team, and some other teams, including golf and tennis, will travel together to tournaments.

The schools will share equipment at Legends Field, and administrators are striving to maintain equality between teams - even going so far as to lengthen the "F" on the field to keep it roughly the same size as the Glacier "G."

"There will be differences between activities," Dennehy said, "but we will share and we will work together."

Both directors anticipate competition at sporting events, but they're encouraging coaches to keep it friendly.

"Flathead will be our second-favorite team. We've preached that to our students, our parents and our coaches," Dennehy said. "We've also preached to our coaches that relationships need to be stronger than the situation."

He and Jobe already are planning cooperative events for the first cross-town football game Oct. 12. During the 12-minute halftime, the Glacier and Flathead pep bands will perform together, followed by a joint routine by the schools' pep squads.

That cross-town matchup won't ever be either school's homecoming game, Dennehy added.

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