The Whitefish School District is taking baby steps toward a new high school.

Planning is still in its infancy at this point, Superintendent Jerry House said, but the school board has approved hiring a project manager to oversee the project.

Earlier this month, the board of trustees unanimously approved a recommendation to hire Steeplechase Development Advisors.

The company has offices in Whitefish and Carbondale, Colo. It historically has worked on resort developments, including Glacier Village and Slopeside at Whitefish Mountain Resort and several projects in Aspen, Colo.

Bayard Dominick and Chris Kelsey will represent Steeplechase as the district's project managers. They were approved unanimously at a special board meeting Oct. 2; trustee Mike Ferda was absent from the meeting.

Steeplechase was one of 23 companies that applied for the project manager position, House said. The school district advertised the position at the recommendation of a facilities committee, which is made up of trustees, district staff and stakeholders from the community.

The committee selected and interviewed the top four applicants, according to draft minutes from the Oct. 2 meeting. Steeplechase was the top choice, despite the fact that it historically has worked with resort developments, not school districts.

"It's certainly new for us in terms of expertise," Dominick said. He said he and Kelsey applied because they wanted to lend their experience in soliciting information and opinions from the community and overseeing building projects in the Whitefish school system, where their children will attend one day.

That experience was an important factor for the board.

"They have the business savvy of involving people, stakeholders and outside agencies" in building projects, House said, adding that a collaborative effort will be crucial to any high school building project's success. "We're taking a different approach than we've had before. We're using their world of expertise."

The district's "different approach" has yet to be mapped out, House stressed.

A school board-appointed oversight committee, consisting of House, trustees Dave Fern and Shannon Hanson, high school Principal Dave Carlson and local businessman Cary Collier, will work with Steeplechase to develop a direction for the project.

That direction will include a timeline.

Last spring, the board of trustees set a goal to be in a new high school in four years, but the district could always decide to act later.

Without support from all stakeholders - trustees, staff, students and the community at large - the project won't succeed, House said. Whitefish's last two proposed high-school building projects have failed.

In March 2008, voters denied a $21.5 million bond request to renovate and expand the high school. Plans at that time called for 164,000 square feet of new construction, remodeling and improvements, including more than 20 new classrooms, a new food court and cafeteria and an expanded library.

School officials said then that the existing building has problems with safety and liability and no longer met the needs of its staff and students.

It was the second time in five years that voters denied a bond request. In 2003, taxpayers rejected a $10.4 million high school bond issue but approved $10.2 million in bonds to renovate Whitefish Middle School.

The district may discuss running another bond election in the future, but that is far from decided, House said. At this time, the district doesn't know what its building needs are, so a budget is far from being set.

"We have no predetermined idea" about what the building should look like, Dominick said. "We really want to reach out to the community to understand what will best meet the needs of our town."

He said he and Kelsey will meet with people in the community and set up groups to invite community members, staff, parents and students to be part of the "visioning process."

"The ultimate goal is to have a school that is unique to Whitefish, complementary to Whitefish as a community, as well as to give students an amazing platform going forward, so they feel that they're as prepared as the rest of the world," Dominick said.

The district is exploring several funding avenues, including grants and federal stimulus money, House said. A local nonprofit group, Positive Alliance for Whitefish Schools, hopes to help with fundraising efforts.

The project manager most likely will be paid using the district's tax increment financing fund, House said.

"The Whitefish School District has earmarked our TIF funds for capital outlay projects. This fits that need," he said.

Details of the district's contract with Steeplechase won't be available until Nov. 10 at the next regular school board meeting, House said. That's when trustees will be asked to approve the contract.

House said he plans to introduce Dominick and Kelsey to Whitefish High School staff next week.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com