OPINION: Bigfork High School improvements are needed
On Oct. 9 the registered voters of Bigfork will be asked to vote on a $14 million bond issue to renovate, expand and modernize Bigfork High School. I am writing this letter to ask for your support and a “yes” vote on Oct. 9.
Last week I attended a community open house at the high school hosted by Matt Jensen and Alan Robbins, district superintendent and high school principal respectively. The attendees were provided with a description of the planned renovations, expansions and modernizations, the related costs and the deliberative process that led to the final proposal. After the presentation we were given a tour of the school facilities followed by a question and answer session.
Bigfork High School has not seen a renovation in almost 50 years and it is time! Frankly the conditions under which our teachers are asked to teach and our students are asked to learn are deplorable. As a member of this great community I was embarrassed at what I saw and heard.
Among the many problems and challenges are inadequate sized classrooms, closets that have been converted to offices, a science lab that looks like it came out of a bad sci-fi movie and is truly frightening, windows that are so poorly sealed that the rooms are unbearably hot in the summer and bone chillingly cold in the winter (some teachers tape trash bags over the windows in the winter to keep the cold out); and, locker rooms that look like they are right out of the 1930s and ’40s.
The school has no cafeteria or designated eating space. Students go to the middle school to pick up their lunch and many return to the high school to eat their lunch on the hallway floors. More community meetings are scheduled so please attend one and see for yourself.
As you evaluate how you will vote I ask you to please resist the temptation to do the following:
Please do not allow your concerns, if you bear them, about educational content and delivery to influence your decision on this matter. These matters we should take up with the School Board and our politicians; our students should not be punished for matters over which they have no control.
Please resist the temptation to “cherry pick” the proposal. We can all find something in the proposal that we deem “not necessary,” too “expensive” or too “extravagant.” This proposal was put together by a 25-member committee comprised of school administrators, teachers (current and retired), students, and community members at large with input from a local architectural firm. The final proposal was reviewed and approved by our School Board. I ask you to trust the judgment of your fellow citizens and to trust the deliberative process that resulted in this proposal.
If you are retired and do not have kids or grandkids at the school you may ask, “What is in it for me — why vote to increase my property taxes?” This is still your community, these are your kids; they will help pay your retirement and they are the future of your community, your country.
Bigfork High School has a remarkable academic record and its sports teams have been among the best in the state. How we have managed to produce such great results with such deplorable conditions is a testament to our young people and the teachers who educate them. It has been 50 years and the problems don’t go away they simply get worse and more expensive — do the right thing, vote “yes” and support our kids.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a retired full-time member of the community and I do have a grandson who attends Bigfork High School, with four more grandchildren who will attend in the future. Yes, I have a vested interest, but so do we all!
Bent Petersen is a resident of Bigfork.