Stillwater launches $1.8 million expansion

Stillwater Christian School is preparing to break ground on a $1.8 million expansion possibly as soon as next week.

The private school in south Kalispell has spent a year planning the 10,800-square-foot addition that will add six high school classrooms, a lobby, conference room and concessions.

“We took a whole year doing a master plan of the site and this is the first phase we can do,” Stillwater Superintendent Dan Makowski said.

The school has raised approximately $1.1 million to fund the expansion, which will be built around the gym.

Four of the new rooms will be standard classrooms in addition to a lecture room that features elevated seating, science lab and a Harkness philosophy classroom, which is designed for student-driven discussion around a large table. 

“All the spaces are designed with the school’s mission and vision,” Makowski said. “The specialty classrooms, the presentation [lecture] room, the Harkness room — those are really part of what we’re doing with our school philosophy.”

The lobby will become the new entrance to the school and will be a commons area for students to work and people to gather.

“We have needed a place to host events after graduation, after concerts — a place for people to gather,” Makowski said. “The lobby has really been a big need for us for a long time.”

The gym will be renovated to include new bleachers with additional seating for about 60 people, a refinished floor and improved ventilation, sound and lighting. A parking lot expansion that will add about 40 spaces also is planned.

Construction drawings were sketched by 100 Fold Studio of Lakeside. Swank Enterprises will build the addition and Jackola Engineering & Architecture is providing engineering services.

Construction is estimated to be completed in August.

Makowski said the addition is not because of increased enrollment, but primarily due to increased popularity of the school’s art, music and Montessori preschool programs. In the early 2000s the school had considered building a new campus north of Kalispell, but that plan was scrapped during the recession and the focus turned to developing the current campus.

Once construction is completed, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade will be reconfigured. 

High school classes will move into the new addition. Middle school (grades six through eight) will move into the classrooms vacated by the high school, freeing up elementary classrooms for the preschool. A wall will be removed between a first and second-grade classroom to create one large space for the preschool, which is currently housed in a Quonset hut outside the main building. The new preschool room will still be self-contained with its own restroom.

“It’s going to give us tons of room to be able to expand the program,” said Joni Williams, preschool director and Montessori teacher.

“I’m anxious and thinking about what God has in store for us,” Williams said.

The addition and grade level reconfiguration also will allow for a classroom to become a second music room.

With just one room currently dedicated to band and choir — and two full-time teachers — it’s not uncommon to find musicians practicing in the gym, downstairs or in the faculty room. Space limitations also have impacted class schedules. 

“We have the one big music room, so we’ll take the classroom right next door to it, which is a classroom, and we’ll put a door in the wall so they can pass through easily,” Makowski said. “We can be having an elementary music class while band is rehearsing in the other room, or a music lesson.” 

Art classes also will be moved into a larger classroom.

“The one we have is really small and the program is growing,” Makowski said.

“These three programs have really pushed the limits of what our facility can do.” 

Stillwater has a total enrollment of 335 students and is taking registrations for the 2015-16 school year.

“There’s room to grow in high school and this will facilitate that,” Makowski said. “I shared it [the expansion] with the middle and high school students are already thrilled about next September.”

Makowski said while the expansion is a “wow” moment, the building is just a shell without the committed faculty members inside who give students tools for learning through a Christ-centered education.

“It doesn’t make us a better school. What makes the school  are people who are here and the relationships that we have,” Makowski said. “We don’t want to lose that focus that it really is about what’s going on inside that building. So our theme verse for this is Psalm 127” ‘Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain.’”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.