Schools will use own gyms

By KRISTI ALBERTSON/Daily Inter Lake

Kalispell's high school graduation ceremonies will be unaffected by the closure of Majestic Valley Arena.

The arena, which has hosted Flathead High School's commencement ceremonies for the last five years, announced last week that it will close at the end of the year.

But even before the closure was announced, Flathead and Glacier high schools had decided to hold graduation in their respective gymnasiums.

In June, 533 seniors graduated from Flathead in Kalispell's last combined commencement ceremony.

In 2009, Flathead High Principal Peter Fusaro expects about 300 students will take part in the school's ceremony. About 260 will graduate from Glacier High School, according to Principal Callie Langohr.

Part of the reason for keeping the ceremonies at their respective high schools is budgetary, Fusaro said.

Last year, graduation cost about $12,000 - a figure that included the facility rental, the price of hauling everything for the ceremony to the arena and hiring extra people for the event. The facility rental alone was about $3,500, Fusaro said.

Doubling the cost for two graduation ceremonies wasn't an option for the school district, he added.

"It was a pretty expensive price tag," Fusaro said. "It's just not feasible in our budget now."

This year, Flathead hopes to knock the graduation budget down to about $5,000, he said. The ceremony will take place in the gym, which can seat about 3,000 people.

The school also is considering piping video to televisions in the auditorium and the commons, Fusaro said.

"It's another option we've put out there to alleviate pressure in the gym," he said.

Although Majestic Valley was convenient because it could house the large graduating classes and their guests, graduating at the school will be more meaningful to students, Fusaro said.

"This is their school, our facility," he said. "To be able to graduate at your school is important to students."

That was one of the reasons Glacier High administrators decided to hold Glacier's first-ever commencement at the school. That decision was made even before the school opened in fall 2007, Langohr said.

"We felt it was important that Glacier develop that tradition and that the first graduating class be held in our own facility," she said.

Glacier "has been the students' place," she added. "They have literally spent hours, days, weeks, months and years here. It's their school.

"What better place to have their final celebration than in their school?"

Glacier's commencement ceremony will take place in the gym, which can seat 2,250.

Both schools' graduations will be Saturday, June 6. Glacier's ceremony is at 11 a.m. Flathead's begins at 3 p.m.

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