School projects: $89 million in construction

Flathead County citizens have paid about $89.3 million over the last 10 years to fund school building projects.

The last decade has brought transformations in several school districts. Columbia Falls and Kalispell each got a new school. Taxpayers in Kalispell and many other districts paid for remodels and expansions.

Kalispell Public Schools, the county’s largest district, passed the largest school bond issue of the decade in 2004. Voters approved $50.7 million in bonds, the sale of which funded expansions at Flathead High School and what was then Kalispell Junior High School, and built Glacier High School.

The construction paved the way for a complete overhaul of the district’s configuration.

Since 1969, elementary students through sixth grade had attended one of the district’s five elementary schools. Seventh-graders went to Linderman School and the junior high was reserved for eighth- and ninth-graders.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors went to Flathead High School, which for years was the largest high school in the state.

When 229,000-square-foot Glacier High opened in fall 2007, the district had two four-year high schools. Rather than divide the senior class for their last year of high school, 12th-graders all attended Flathead in 2007-08, leaving just freshmen, sophomores and juniors at Glacier.

The district’s seventh-graders moved out of Linderman and into Kalispell Middle School, joining eighth-graders and the sixth-graders who had been moved out of the elementary schools.

The move freed up classroom space in the elementary schools, which allowed the district to offer full-day kindergarten.

The move also opened space in Linderman for the district’s two alternative high schools. Bridge Academy moved from the old Gateway West Mall. Laser School moved from its East Washington Street site, which now is the district’s central supply office.

Flathead CARE, Kalispell’s traffic education office and the Northwest Montana Curriculum Cooperative are also located in the building now known as the Linderman Education Center.

Columbia Falls’ new, 117,000-square-foot junior high opened in fall 2001. Cost of the new facility totaled about $11.9 million, which voters approved in a bond election in 1999.

The old junior high next to Glacier Gateway School included portable units that were sold at auction. Glacier Gateway students have used classroom space in the old junior high, which also has housed special education, Head Start administration and community organizations over the years.

The new junior high allowed the Columbia Falls district to introduce a school-within-a-school approach, with junior high students working in teams with a handful of teachers. Other schools in the valley, including Kalispell and Whitefish middle schools, now use a similar approach.

Whitefish Middle School is mostly brand new. Voters in

2003 approved a $10.2 million bond request to upgrade and rebuild Central School.

As a result, classrooms in the gymnasium addition were converted into expanded space for physical education and a commons area. District offices moved into the basement below the auditorium.

The rest of the building was razed and rebuilt, with classrooms grouped into pods. The facade is nearly identical to the previous building.

During the same election when they passed the Central School bond issue, Whitefish voters shot down the district’s $10.4 million high school bond request. The district tried again in 2008 when it asked voters for $21.5 million in bonds for the high school.

That bond issue likewise failed, but the district hasn’t yet given up hope for a new or remodeled high school. In October the school board approved hiring a project manager to oversee the process.

The Bigfork elementary district was the most recent to win bond approval from voters.

In 2007, the community approved a $5.5 million request to build new middle school classrooms, science rooms and an art room. Some money was used for primary grade classroom additions, to enlarge the kitchen and cafeteria and to reconfigure the parking lot.

Voters that same year denied an $11.1 million request for renovations at the high school. The bond issue’s defeat was narrow, so the district tried again a few months later, only to be shot down again.

Several other elementary districts had new construction and remodels after successful bond elections. Those projects include:

n $3.99 million for the Evergreen School District. Voters approved the bond request in 2003.

The bulk of the construction took place at East Evergreen Elementary, which got a new wing and expanded playground. The school got nearly 13,400 square feet of new construction and about 4,700 remodeled square feet.

Some bond money helped build three new classrooms and additional office space at Evergreen Junior High. New construction totaled 7,600 square feet; remodeled space came to 6,250 square feet.

n About 13,000 square feet of new construction at Helena Flats School. Voters in 2006 approved a $2.38 million bond request to build a new sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade wing, expand the library and cafeteria, and build new administrative offices. Construction was finished in 2008.

n A $1.9 million expansion at West Valley School, which the district already has outgrown. In 2000, West Valley got an expansion that included six classrooms, a new gym and additional administrative office and library space.

Not quite 10 years later, the district is considering another expansion. West Valley enrollment has grown by 33 percent over the last decade, reaching 436 this fall. The building is at capacity, and the district anticipates a student count of 600 five years from now.

The district is considering its options, including expanding the building again and/or building a second school building, which will almost certainly be necessary eventually.

Fair-Mont-Egan and Creston schools are also considering expansions. Cayuse Prairie voters in November approved a $1.95 million bond to build a new, 7,818-square-foot gym and performing arts center, which should be completed by fall 2011.

Kila School, which is at capacity, asked voters to approve a $2.1 million bond issue in June. District voters overwhelmingly shot down the request.

Voters in the Lakeside-Somers district denied a $7.125 million bond request to expand Somers Middle School in 2007.

n $1.35 million for the Smith Valley School District, which was used to expand classroom space at the lower campus along U.S. 2 west of Kalispell in 2004. The upper campus, located along Batavia Lane, no longer houses students.

Smith Valley’s expansion included a nearly 12,300-square-foot addition for classrooms, a computer lab, library and other programs.

n A new gym, locker and restrooms, art room, music room and stage at Swan River School. Voters approved two separate bond requests, the last one in 2005, that totaled $1.2 million.

n $225,000 to complete a new multipurpose facility at Deer Park School. Voters in 2001 approved the request, which replaced an old Quonset hut with a 5,000-square-foot building.

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