New plan would keep Canyon School open

A scaled-down Canyon Elementary School is a possibility under a new cost-cutting plan for the Columbia Falls School District.

The school board took a first look Monday at a new plan that would cut staff at the Hungry Horse school but allow it to remain open next year.

“With this plan and other cuts I’m looking at we could maintain our current status,” Superintendent Mike Nicosia told the board Monday.

Teaching and staff positions would be cut. The school currently has 19.35 full-time-equivalent positions and the new plan would reduce that to 14.8.

The board has not made a final decision on what will happen to Canyon but is expected to vote as early as March 8. Facing a $286,000 budget shortfall in the elementary district budget next year, the board has looked at closing Canyon Elementary.

“The board has asked me to put together a plan that meets accreditation and still allows us to meet a quality education for the Canyon students,” he said.

There now are six teachers at the school. Each teaches one classroom for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Under the new plan, one teacher position would be eliminated. Kindergarten, first and fifth grades would have individual classrooms. One classroom would combine second and third grades and another  classroom would have third and fourth grades. Classroom sizes would range from 15 to 22 students.

“I don’t think everybody feels good about combo classes, but they’re a reality in smaller schools,” Nicosia said.

The principal position would be eliminated and replaced by a head teacher position. Currently Matt Fawcett serves as half-time principal and half-time special education teacher. Special education instruction would be combined with the duties of the physical education teacher.

The counselor position would be reduced while the librarian job would be eliminated and covered part-time by another staff member. The number of para educators would change from six to five. One part-time custodial position also would be cut.

The music program also is part of the cuts planned, but could be saved through some adjustments.

“The priority would be to bring back the music instruction,” Nicosia said. “It may not be as much as now.”

Additional savings in the elementary district would come from a moratorium on para educator hiring and eliminating one teaching position from Ruder Elementary. No changes are planned for the junior high.

Closing Canyon Elementary and busing its 92 students to Glacier Gateway and Ruder has been one of the options for making up the budget shortfall.

However, the new plan could be just a stopgap.

“Even though this may be a one-year solution, the following year we would have to look at this again,” board chairwoman Jill Rocksund said.

Nicosia said the Legislature has not been provided the necessary funding for education. He suggested people contact state officials with their concerns.

“If we can’t impact the Legislature, I don’t see how we stay open another year” beyond next year, he said. “It takes things like this — the potential closure of a neighborhood school —to get people involved.”

The board on Monday did vote to call for a levy election for the elementary and high school districts.

While the board approved the election, it does have until April to decide if it will actually run the election. In most years, the board has voted later to cancel the election.