LETTER: It's time to update Flathead High School

As a current administrator and former teacher at Flathead High School, I’d like to address several key areas included in the Kalispell Schools’ high school bond.

The innovative classrooms that will replace the 80- and 100-year-old lecture hall and half floors give our students flexible learning space. The lecture hall at Flathead High School is a cavernous, two-story room that can house 100 students in the university style of giant classrooms. This seating works for lecture style instruction but is not conducive to 21st century learning. Students need to collaborate in groups and tackle tasks using technology, texts and other learning tools.

The old gym is fondly remembered by FHS alumni -- full of history and tradition, yet not up to current safety standards for students. It is not regulation-sized, the baskets are unsafe, the floor is uneven, the side walls are comprised of uneven brick, the stairs are steep and narrow, the bathrooms are inadequate, and the handicapped-accessible ramp is not up to code. This gym is used every day by PE classes. Sports teams practice there. Community groups use it. Our students and community deserve a real replacement.

Included in the high-school bond is space for special-education students with severe disabilities. Ten years ago, Glacier High School built facilities for severely disabled high-school students, but these facilities are now overcrowded. We do not have adequate facilities for these special-needs students at FHS. The bond includes appropriate, specialized classrooms for students with severe disabilities.

It’s time to say goodbye to the 100-year-old and 80-year-old learning spaces and replace them with well-designed, flexible spaces that can be used for many new generations.

We’d love to give anyone a tour of our facilities. —Michele Paine, assistant principal, Flathead High School