End of the line for Canyon school

It’s been a year to remember at Canyon Elementary School.

Students at the Hungry Horse grade school have taken swimming lessons. They’ve skied on Big Mountain. They have gone ice skating and visited a pumpkin patch.

It has been a year jam-packed with memorable activities, but a sense of sadness has lurked behind the fun.

The school will close at the end of the school year on June 3, and its staff and students will move on to other school buildings in the Columbia Falls district.

“Sad but accepting” is how first-grade teacher Nicolette Bales described the mood at the school throughout the year.

“We’re sad it has to close, but we’re understanding. There’s just no money,” she said.

Enrollment has declined districtwide for the last several years. Columbia Falls’ elementary district has 8 percent fewer students than it did a decade ago. The high school district is 18 percent smaller.

In the elementary district, the bulk of the decline has taken place at Canyon Elementary. Student numbers went from 214 in 1996 to 83 this year.

As enrollment dwindles, so does funding from the state. Columbia Falls has faced budget cuts for 14 of the last 16 years.

To save money, the district proposed closing Canyon Elementary at the end of the 2009-10 school year, a move that would have saved an estimated $900,000. School board trustees voted to keep the school open, albeit on a somewhat scaled-back basis, for one more year, a decision based in part on outcry from school staff and community members.

It has cost about $730,000 to operate the school this year, Superintendent Michael Nicosia said, and its closure at the end of the year won’t bring quite the savings district officials had hoped.

That’s due in large part to state education funding, he said.

School officials had hoped that closing Canyon Elementary would save enough money to allow the elementary district to avoid making cuts for two or three years, he said. But state funding levels resulted in a 2.2 percent decrease to next year’s elementary budget, which means money saved in the closure will be needed to balance the budget.

The money Canyon’s closure saves comes primarily through staffing. The district will cut five elementary teachers, seven para-educators, a custodian and a secretary position in the elementary district, Nicosia said. Those cuts occur based on seniority.

Canyon staff members will be spread throughout the district.

Kristin Kavanagh, who has been the school’s secretary since it opened in 1988, will become a secretary at the high school. Bales will teach kindergarten at Ruder Elementary.

Fifth-grade teacher Sherry Petersen, who serves as Canyon’s co-head teacher with Bales, will teach third grade at Glacier Gateway Elementary. While she is looking forward to teaching, the move isn’t without disappointment.

“I really wanted to retire from here,” she said. “I will continue to live up here. We play up here.”

She said she would miss getting to know an entire school of students and their families. Canyon is small enough that staff members know every student and every family. It contributes to the school’s close-knit feel, said Tyler Jones, who teaches fourth-grade math and physical education.

“Even though we’re part of the big district, it’s that small little atmosphere. Everybody knows everybody,” he said.

Teachers aren’t the only ones who will be scattered throughout the district.

Earlier this year, Canyon’s students visited the district’s other two elementary schools, both in Columbia Falls. Students were allowed to choose which school they wanted to attend next year.

“About half will go to Ruder and half will go to Glacier Gateway,” Petersen said.

Parents, of course, had input in that decision. But for the students, it came down to one deciding factor.

“Whatever school has the better playground, it’s where they’re going to go,” Kavanagh said.

Overall, the students are handling the adjustment well, she said.

“I think it’ll be good. I think it’ll be fine,” she said. “I think they’re excited about it.”

Students will have some advantages in town that Canyon Elementary hadn’t been able to offer, Petersen said.

There will be opportunities to participate in sports and other activities, she said. There will be more social interaction when students go from a school of 83 students to a school of more than 400. And if for some reason a student needs a different teacher, he or she will have a chance to move into a different classroom — unlike at Canyon, which has one class per grade level.

“There are positives and negatives” to moving the Canyon students to town, Petersen said.

Although students won’t be in the school next year, the school district is working hard to keep the school building open. A committee of school and district staff, school board trustees and Hungry Horse community members has met throughout the year to discuss ways to use the building.

“School District 6 is very committed to making this a community-friendly building,” said Kavanagh, a member of the committee.

Keeping the building open to the community will help everyone, Nicosia said.

“It’s a win-win. It’s a win because the building is vital for the community, and it’s a win for the district when it stays in use, stays vital, stays healthy and avoids what happens to empty buildings,” he said.

Some options will ensure children continue to benefit from the building and its playground.

A day care is set to open in the building in June. A preschool that will focus on outdoor activities has asked to move in. A local church already is operating a weekly children’s ministry there.

Older community members could benefit from the building as well.

The committee has approached Flathead Job Service, Flathead Valley Community College, Literacy Volunteers of Flathead County and other local groups about ways to use the school, Kavanagh said. The district is talking with North Valley Hospital about the possibility of providing medical services in the building, Nicosia said, and local churches have discussed hosting a monthly soup kitchen there.

Bales had a less practical suggestion.

“I wish we could pack up the building and move it into town. Look how nice this building is,” she said.

The building will remain in Hungry Horse, but not even day cares and community services will provide quite the same anchor that Canyon School has given Canyon communities for more than 20 years. The school is very much the hub of the community, Kavanagh said.

“I still have community members pop in to find out information,” she said. “I have community members without kids here who never miss a [school] program.”

Families will miss having their children in school so close by, Petersen said.

“I think it’s going to be missed, that connection, that spot to go hang out with your kids,” she said.

Parents have been very involved in the school over the years. The school’s PTO members have been active fundraisers, and that money was put to use this year in creating memories students can look back on for the rest of their lives, Bales said.

“We’ve really had a fun year,” she said. “Since we know it’s going to close, we’re going to go out with a bang.”

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