New name, new school

Take the new-school-year jitters, add a map, stubborn lockers and nearly 1,000 people new to the building, and you have Kalispell Middle School's first day of school.

Many things are different this year, including the name. For the most part, however, Tuesday was a typical first day - with a little additional chaos.

Few of the more than 900 students had spent any significant time in the building prior to the first bell. Three-quarters of the teachers are new as well. Tens of thousands of square feet have been added over the last two years, including a cafetorium and the 13 new classrooms that comprise the sixth-grade wing.

The combination created a little stress on the first day for those trying to navigate unfamiliar hallways.

"My feet hurt," eighth-grader Bailey Clark complained at lunch. "It's a lot bigger than Linderman."

"It's confusing," her friend and fellow Linderman alumna, Randee Wood, agreed.

To alleviate the confusion, Principal Barry Grace stationed himself in the hall outside the main office between periods Tuesday.

Every few seconds, wide-eyed, slightly breathless kids clutching notebooks asked him for help finding a classroom or the old gym. Most hustled down the hall, following his pointing finger. Grace escorted those who needed a little more assistance.

"Its mass confusion," he said. "It's a big building. There are so many more corners. The staff are a little lost as well, because most of them are new to the building. [But] by Friday, they'll have it."

The newly remodeled main office was just as chaotic. Phones rang constantly, and the front counter rarely experienced a break in the line of students and parents.

"The first two days are the craziest," office secretary Jane Radel said on the second day of school.

She'd just spent the last several minutes printing schedules for students who'd lost or forgotten theirs and assuring parents that the forgotten items they'd brought their children would be delivered to their owners. Busy as it was, the office wasn't nearly as hectic as it had been Tuesday, she said, and by the end of September, it should regain its normal calm.

"It's going to be really nice," she said. "And if it gets too noisy, we just shut the door."

The office's large windows overlook the new commons corridor, which connects the original building with the brand new cafetorium.

It's the first time students have had a place specifically intended for lunch. Previous classes have eaten behind the bleachers above the gym; before that, students ate on the gym floor.

Now they eat at round tables in the cafetorium and, when weather permits, on a patio outside. A brand new kitchen facility with new stainless-steel appliances, walk-in refrigerator and freezer and an automatic dishwasher is next door.

Each grade has its own separate lunchtime. With three 30-minute lunch periods instead of six shorter periods, the school can prepare more food on site, food services manager Terry Caudill said.

Now there's time to cook between periods, she explained, and with more room for storage in the walk-in refrigerator, they can hold more food from lunch period to lunch period.

Although students will, for the most part, be with peers in their respective grade levels, this week marks the first time in recent memory that Kalispell's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders have attended school in the same building.

For the last 38 years, the school housed the district's eighth- and ninth-graders. Seventh-grade students went to Linderman School (which held seventh and eighth grades before that). Kindergarten through sixth-grade students attended one of Kalispell's five elementary schools.

This year, however, Kalispell is a two high-school district with enough room for its freshmen to attend school with upperclassmen. The move and an $11 million expansion and renovation created space at the junior high for the district's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

With those upper-elementary grades in one place and a new, team-teaching approach to education, the school is now Kalispell Middle School.

Students in each grade are divided into teams. A group of teachers assigned to each team will teach core classes. Teachers will lead the same team all year.

The team approach creates smaller communities within the school, which may ease the transition from a fifth-grade classroom to a much larger environment. It also allows more time for students and teachers to get to know one another.

Home Base, the school's 21-minute homeroom period, provides a similar opportunity. After the morning announcements, students may use that period for homework or to study for a test, seventh-grade social studies teacher Kirk Streit said. It also gives students a place to go if they need someone to talk to during the day.

On Wednesday, Streit's Home Base students spent the period practicing opening their lockers - a frustrating experience for many. Several were convinced their brand-new lockers were broken. Others became pros at spinning the combination locks but couldn't get the doors to open.

Most yelled in triumphant surprise - "Oh my gosh, it opened!" - when they finally opened their lockers. Some danced for joy. Others resigned themselves to packing everything they owned around the school all day or planned to keep their books in their Home Base classroom.

But even with the chaos and confusion, most deemed the first days of school a success.

"I'm kind of just breaking into school," eighth-grader Elliot Van Allen said. "[But] I like it. It's good."

Grace agreed.

"It's good, really good," he said. "They're young, vibrant and excited."

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