The Daily Inter Lake

It's the moment of decision for the future of School District 5.

After a yearlong intensive study of community desires, facility soundness, effective education models, enrollment and uncounted other issues, the school is putting forth its recommendation and asking the community to back it.

Voters are being asked on Tuesday to approve a pair of 20-year bonds - one for the high school and one for Kalispell Junior High.

The high school district is asking for $39.8 million to build a new 1,200-student school for grades 9-12 - with infrastructure to expand to 1,400 students - and carry out $5 million of renovations at Flathead High School.

Flathead also would become a 1,200-student high school serving grades nine through 12.

The elementary district is asking for $10.9 million to add a sixth-grade classroom wing at Kalispell Junior High and build a new gym, cafeteria/auditorium and commons area. It would convert what is now a junior high for grades eight and nine into a school for grades six through eight, and would set up the physical structure for a potential conversion to a middle school in the future.

It wasn't an easy decision, but one that school trustees staunchly defend as the best for this community.

The high school request is designed, in short, to improve on what already is a quality education at Flathead High.

Years of complaints about overcrowding could be relieved with a second school, distributing what is now more than 1,800 sophomores, juniors and seniors into two buildings. Another 600 or so freshmen would be brought into the high schools.

With two schools of 1,200 instead of one school of 1,800, teachers and administrators could have a chance to make more personal connections with a greater percentage of the student body.

Research shows that is one factor in creating a sense of belonging to a school community. As a result, it decreases dropout rates and offers more students a chance to participate in extracurricular activities and athletics.

Although a full duplication of extracurricular programs and staffing probably would not happen, each school would offer many of the same programs and eventually would tailor itself to the specific interests of its student body.

Including ninth-graders in the high school setting also has been shown to be a more natural social and academic grouping.

Preliminary plans from CTA Architects put the new high school around 202,000 square feet.

About $34 million would go to the new high school design, construction and furnishings, and about $1 million to buy and prepare 60 acres of state land at the corner of Stillwater Road and West Reserve Drive for the new school.

The $5 million at Flathead High would be spent on air handling, heating and electrical systems, gym and cafeteria interiors, and roof reinforcement. Both the main building and the West Annex that houses vocational education classes would be included.

To calculate how much you would pay, look at your personal tax statement received last week from the county treasurer. Find the total taxable value, typically the sum of real estate and building values. Refer to the "taxable value" and not the "market value" column. Don't use your home's open market resale value.

Multiply that total taxable value by .03377 to calculate the annual tax impact.

For every $100,000 in assessed taxable value of a home, it would cost an extra $118.80 a year for the high school bond once current bonds are paid off at the end of June 2006.

The district has outstanding long-term debt for building projects that will be retired on June 30, 2006. The debt at the end of the current budget year (June 30, 2005) will be $460,000.

In the elementary district, overcrowding is an issue that stretches far beyond Kalispell Junior High.

A building plan that would open up space for sixth- and seventh-graders in the junior high has a considerable domino effect.

The aging Linderman School could be closed when its seventh-graders are sent to the junior high. The district reports some inquiries already from developers interested in using it for office space or for new construction.

Enrollments at the five Kalispell K-6 elementaries are pushing the schools' capacities already and, at the projected 1 percent growth, could exceed those limits in just two or three years. Moving sixth-graders out of the schools would free up space several years into the future.

Perhaps a more critical issue socially and, as a result, academically, is the effort to cut down on the number of new schools students must attend at this vulnerable age.

Most rural elementaries that feed into Flathead High School are K-8 schools. In the space of two years, those students must change to two entirely new and much larger schools (junior high and high school) while trying to keep pace with more difficult curriculum and making friends among peers they have never met.

The problem is heightened among Kalispell elementary students and those rural students who opt to head for Kalispell early. They attend three new schools in four years - from the elementary to Linderman, to the junior high, then to Flathead High.

Researchers say stability and family-like relationships in the school community are critical at that age. Hormones and changing social expectations can leave children adrift unless they develop relationships with their teachers and principals.

Sixth-graders are at a different developmental level from seventh- and eighth-graders, both socially and academically. The separate sixth-grade classroom wing at the rear of the junior high building would provide a contained space for them while providing easy access to the rest of the school.

Also, with no cafeteria and no common gathering area at the junior high, administrators have voiced their concern that students are being sent a wrong message.

Currently, students are crowded into a small balcony space above the gym floor for about a half-dozen shortened lunch shifts, then are moved elsewhere for the rest of their noon period to make room for the next shift.

The existing gym is below par for inter-school competitions, school officials say. Expansion plans would rectify those situations by providing not only a dedicated gym and separate cafeteria that becomes an auditorium for academic and community use outside lunchtime, but also a commons area for students.

Calculate your tax bill by the same method as described above. Here, multiply the total taxable value by .01542.

Here, every $100,000 in assessed taxable value would mean $54.24 a year in extra taxes for the junior high once the current bonds are paid off at the end of June 2006.

The district has outstanding long-term debt for building projects that will be retired on June 30, 2006. The debt at the end of the current budget year (June 30, 2005) will be $435,000.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com