Local hunting-related school absences on par with other years
Hunting season typically leaves some empty seats in classrooms throughout Flathead County as children join their parents in the search for big game.
So far this season, the number of hunting-related absences seems to be on par with or slightly lower than previous seasons.
Absences at most schools were highest on Monday, the second day of the general hunting season. The number of students missing school likely will climb again Friday as families make a long weekend out of hunting.
The four Cayuse Prairie students hunting on Wednesday had all been gone since Monday, secretary Linda Benson said.
Eight students were out Monday at Swan River School, and all but three were back in class Wednesday, secretary Rachel Caselegno said.
Seven were missing at Evergreen Junior High, but school staffers expect that number to climb next week when forecasted temperatures drop and snow accumulates.
Some schools had many more empty desks due to illness than hunting.
Nine Olney-Bissell students missed school Wednesday with "fevers and such," secretary Shirley Copple said. None were out to hunt.
Fifteen kids were absent from Smith Valley School Wednesday, according to secretary Charmaine Stappler, but only two of those were hunters.
Eleven absences were attributed to illness, Stappler said, a typical number this time of year.
Twenty-five students missed school Tuesday, Kila School Principal Renee' Boisseau said, and most of them were sick.
"We really haven't had a lot of kids come in and say they're taking hunting vacations, and we usually do," she said.
Not all schools ask parents to give a reason for their students' absence. Columbia Falls doesn't keep track of why its students are out of school.
Kalispell Middle School records the reasons if they're given, but parents don't always say why their child will miss class. At least 24 young hunters missed school Wednesday, but more of that day's absences could possibly be hunting-related, attendance clerk Toni Fischer said.