Expansion would cost $12 million to $14 million

Bigfork School District has its sights on expanding the high school.

After a presentation by Fran Quiram of CTA Architects Engineers on Wednesday, school board members selected one of two concept layouts of the high school titled the “Agora option.”

Agora translates to “gathering place” or “assembly” in ancient Greek.  

The Agora concept includes 23,360 additional square feet and upgrades to 46,890 square feet of existing space at the high school.

Cost estimates to carry out the Agora concept range from $12 million to $14 million.

If those numbers hold, the owner of a house with a taxable market value of $200,000 could anticipate taxes to increase between $60 to $70 annually for 20 years, according to D.A. Davidson.

The second concept also fell into this price range, but had slightly more new square footage at 24,360.

“We looked at current education practices and procedures both locally and across the world,” Quiram said. “What are the biggest changes from an educational standpoint, a social standpoint over 25 years — a big one is computers.”

Staff, administration, board members, students and community members worked to narrow nine concepts to the two presented to the board after three facility planning workshops and community forums.  

The Agora concept provides a reconfigured layout that is more open, where a school visitor could see more activities going on.

“What committee members liked about this is they want the ability for a member of the community who comes into the school to see a lot of interactive areas and things that are going on in the school,” Quiram said, as opposed to the closed-off hallways and rooms of the current building.

Both concepts included relatively the same features deemed important by members of the workshops and forums.

“Bigfork High School is doing some really amazing things from an educational standpoint, but one thing that we found is that the facilities don’t always support those types of learning environments,” Quiram said.

The Agora concept includes moving the library and media room to the first floor while adding new classrooms, restrooms, a gym expansion, courtyard and common areas. By providing common areas, the hope is students will have a place to be productive outside the classroom rather than sitting in hallways against lockers.

Within the gym expansion, the idea is to lower the floor to increase the ceiling height and meet requirements to host athletic tournaments.

“If you walk into the high school, you actually take a ramp to go up to the gym,” Quiram said. “There is a crawl space below the floor, so it’s feasible.”

Bigfork School Superintendent Matt Jensen said the existing wood floor could be refinished just one time before necessitating replacement.

The plan is also to redesign parking lots, pickup and drop-off areas and relocate the bus barn, freeing up space to add to the high school.

“It’s not normal for buses to be stored in the center of your campus and drive through both campuses every day,” Jensen said. “It’s not a safe situation, not ideal.”

Jensen said now is the time to upgrade the aging facilities suitable for 21st-century learning.

To complete the bare minimum “business as usual” upgrades to keep the school functioning — such as compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, installing a fire suppressing sprinkler system, adding classroom ventilation or replacing the roof, for example — would cost $5 million.

“There are some things that need to be addressed, but all in all, the bones are still good and workable,” Quiram said.

In 2007, the district was unsuccessful in passing an $11.1 million high school bond request, although the voters approved a $5.5 million elementary bond request.

This time around, Jensen, who took the helm as superintendent this year, said interest rates are low and the tax base is up, meaning tax increases are shared among more people, resulting in lower costs per person.

Bigfork hired CTA for pre-bond educational master planning services in a $34,500 contract.

School construction has ramped up across the Flathead Valley over the past few years in Kalispell, West Valley and Whitefish school districts.

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