VIANO COLUMN: Tuesday night's big win

Kalispell’s two high schools will chalk up plenty of W’s before the school year is up.

None, however, will be bigger than the one on Tuesday night — and I don’t mean the wins for both school’s volleyball teams.

Flathead Valley voters overwhelmingly approved two school bonds, one for the elementary district and another for the high schools, a result tabulated by election officials on Tuesday. The vast majority of funding in the high school bond is for improvements to classrooms and school infrastructure, but a portion of the money will be reserved for a major renovation of Flathead’s auxiliary gym and a replacement of the aging grass field at Legends Stadium.

Bryce Wilson and Mark Dennehy, the activities directors at Flathead and Glacier, respectively, were watching their volleyball teams win on their home courts when they first received word.

“I got a message on my phone with an email stating that it looked like the bond was passing,” Dennehy said. “We announced it at the gym and thanked voters for their support. It was an exciting time and an exciting moment for everyone.”

Wilson, too, received word on his phone that the bond would be approved.

“I was very proud that the community trusts us enough and that they’re supporting schools and what we’re doing,” Wilson said. “It makes my job feel worthwhile when the community supports it and we’re doing the right thing for kids now.”

Both administrators were muted in their reaction when I spoke to them by phone Thursday, but make no mistake — the passage of the bonds is a huge deal for the teachers, staff, administrators and, most importantly, the students, at Kalispell’s two high schools.

The changes will be felt most strongly at Flathead, where the replacement of the auxiliary gym was years overdue. Coaches spoke of broken floorboards, disintegrating walls and other unsafe conditions at the old gym, which did not host games and was only minimally useful for practices. The current configuration is not big enough even for a regulation basketball court and presents its own unique challenges.

“I was talking to a former classmate,” Wilson, a 1986 Flathead grad, said. “And he said ‘all I remember is shooting from the corners and getting blocked by the ceiling (in the old gym).’”

The lack of ample practice space also made scheduling an infuriatingly complex puzzle, with some practices for the Braves’ volleyball and basketball teams starting as early as 6 a.m. or running as late as 9 p.m.

“The new auxiliary gym will mean that we’ll have better practice facilities for our kids,” Wilson said. “Getting away from (early mornings and late nights) the kids are home earlier, they can do their homework, kids are eating dinner with their families.”

No final plans have been set, but Flathead’s new auxiliary gym could be big enough to include two full-size basketball courts, allowing varsity and junior varsity squads to practice together for the first time, and allowing some sub-varsity volleyball and basketball games to be played in the auxiliary gym, again easing congestion inside the main gymnasium.

“I felt good for Flathead,” Dennehy, who was activities director at Flathead prior to Glacier’s opening in 2007, said. “I know the changes they had requested were needed. I knew the small gym needed lots of work and they needed an auxiliary gym and I know they needed the classrooms as well.”

Improvements are also coming to Legends Stadium, with a community committee soon to be formed to decide what the poorly draining, hole-filled, badly crowned grass field will be replaced with. The recent trend across the state has been to move to an artificial surface, but according to both Dennehy and Wilson consideration will also be given to a new grass field. Either way, the days of a rock hard surface in the winter and soggy mud battles in the fall are soon to be a thing of the past.

“I think the big thing is turf, that excites a lot of people, particularly your football coaches in the latter part of the season,” Dennehy said. “They know how treacherous the field can become, and the soccer coaches view it very much as a positive. By redoing the field, you’re going to be able to play a soccer match and have a field that’s [full size].”

The changes at Legends Stadium could be completed as early as next fall, with the bulk of the work done primarily in the summer of 2017.

Regardless of when the improvements across the district are made, Tuesday night’s win is one that will be felt for years going forward, a precise moment representing a renewed commitment to our schools and to the generations of Flathead and Glacier grads to come.

“There’s a celebration and it feels a little surreal, too,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of excitement … I think it’s something that will make it a better place for kids.”

And that, of course, is the biggest victory of them all.

Andy Viano is a sports reporter, columnist and one-time high school student now working at the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached at aviano@dailyinterlake.com or (406) 758-4446.