Architecture firm gets contract to study Muldown School
Whitefish School District has hired the architectural firm L’Heureux Page Werner to complete master planning for the elementary district.
A negotiated fee is not to exceed $67,190.
Planners will take a comprehensive look at Muldown Elementary School from a facilities and educational standpoint.
Muldown was built in 1965 and the last major construction project for the school was an addition completed in 1992.
The impetus to seek out professional planners stemmed from a task force that met over the summer and fall, originally to discuss traffic safety. Discussions evolved into addressing aging heating systems and the district employed CTA Architects Engineers to do an analysis.
“In October we received a report that our heating system couldn’t be addressed without pretty significant [structural] work,” Whitefish Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt said, referring to how the original part of the building was constructed.
Based on this report, task force members and administrators believed it would be beneficial to take an in-depth look at the school as a whole. Instead of spending millions to address heating only, “We could do two things at once — impact the learning environment and meet deferred maintenance needs,” Davis Schmidt said.
Davis Schmidt added that facilitated planning will help the district “truly understand what the underlying problems are.”
The planning process will include a demographic study to provide insight into future enrollment.
“A longterm demographic study will give us a better estimate of what we can anticipate for enrollment over 20 years,” Davis Schmidt said.
Current enrollment stands at 662 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Planners anticipate meeting with the task force on May 26 to set goals.
L’Heureux Page Werner also is completing long-term facility planning for Kalispell Public Schools.
The last major construction project in Whitefish School District was when Whitefish High School underwent new construction and renovation completed in 2014 for $23 million.
Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.