Cayuse Prairie asks for input on expansion

Cayuse Prairie School is asking for input from the community on potential remodeling and expansion plans.

Cayuse Prairie Principal Amy Piazzola said the board is looking for more feedback on how to move forward and plan for current and future enrollment growth in addition to safety and 21st-century learning.

A Needs Assessment Committee of 25 people has met monthly since March to discuss enrollment and facility needs. CTA Architects and Engineers was hired in August to assist with the planning process. Committee members include staff, parents, community members and past school board trustees, who have identified priority areas such as additional classrooms, breakout areas for small groups and labs, expanding the music room and kitchen and reconfiguring the main entrance.

“We are not only inviting the community to be informed and educated on what we’re trying to do at Cayuse Prairie, but we want to help the board make a decision — do we go for a bond or wait another year,” Piazzola said. “We’re trying to be proactive and make a plan for our enrollment.”

Cayuse Prairie currently has an enrollment of 240 students. The last addition to the school was in 2010 and included two classrooms and a gym. Prior to that, four classrooms were built in 1992 and four classrooms in 1995, according to Piazzola.

Enrollment was even higher in 1991 with 259 students attending the kindergarten through eighth-grade school, according to a Flathead County Statistical Report of Schools. That was before Piazzola came to Cayuse Prairie in 2012 and she said it may have been at a time when the school basement and offices were converted into classrooms.

“We don’t want to reach a point where we’re brimming with students and have to scramble to find room,” Piazzola said.

Currently, the school has a bubble at the second-grade level.

“In second grade we have 34 students right now. When they go into third grade we’ll be forced to split the class and we’d have to find another classroom,” Piazzola said.

Although a third-grade class of 28 students meets state accreditation, “it’s pushing it,” when it comes to fitting that many students into a classroom, according to Piazzola.

“Especially at that section of the building it’s really a challenge to get more than 28 in a classroom,” Piazzola said.

The school also has a “super” kindergarten, where two classes are combined and taught by two teachers to meet state accreditation standards over the past three years.

Technological upgrades are also needed.

“We do have issues with maxed-out breaker systems and phone systems,” Piazzola said.

CTA will present several options at a community meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the school, 897 Lake Blaine Road, Kalispell. The public is invited to attend. The options range in price from $2 million to $3 million.

Committee members and planners had honed in on ideas in that price range after discarding plans that were $12 million and more, mindful of potential costs to taxpayers in consideration that residents are also contributing to Kalispell Public Schools’ high school bond issue.

Piazzola hopes the meeting will draw residents who are difficult to reach, such as people who don’t have school-age children, or who aren’t actively involved in the school.

“We hope they’ll come to voice their opinion or give guidance,” Piazzola said.

For more information, visit http://www.cayuseprairie.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.