A survey exploring possible cuts to Kalispell Public Schools’ 2011-12 budget will be posted on the district’s website this week.

The list, compiled from suggestions from staff, school board trustees, parents and community members, includes several items that could have significant impact on students.

Following are survey items that could affect activities programs and the way schools are aligned.

Noninstructional programs

When facing budget cuts last year, school board trustees voted against the idea of adding a pay-to-play fee for activities at Kalispell Middle School. The idea is back on the table again this year.

While the fee could generate several thousand dollars for the elementary district, it could also keep some kids from playing sports.

The board voted against it last year because “they wanted to make sure everybody had a chance to participate if they wanted to,” middle school Activities Director Dallas Stuker said. “They realized the importance of the extracurricular aspect of the school day.”

While a pay-to-play fee isn’t ideal, “it’s a better option than doing away with the activities program,” he said.

Eliminating middle school activities is one suggestion on the survey, as is simply reducing the number of activities available. Those options would hurt students, Stuker said.

“Some of the kids at our school, that’s kind of their hook. It’s what they’re most interested in,” he said.

“That carries over to the classroom and gives them something to look forward to during the day. If they’re not into the academic scene, it motivates them to do their best so they’re eligible to participate.”

So many students are participating in sports this year that “every season we break a numbers record,” he added. About half of the school’s seventh- and eighth-graders participated in volleyball, cross country and football last fall.

Cuts of varying sizes also are proposed at the high school level. Smaller cuts could be absorbed, Glacier High School Activities Director Mark Dennehy said; they would likely affect travel and supply budgets.

Larger cuts would impact coaching stipends, and with fewer coaches, it’s likely fewer kids would participate, he said.

“After a while, you tend to lose kids when you start cutting out coaches. There’s just not enough contact with kids,” he said.

Next year will be the fourth year in a row activities programs have taken a hit, Dennehy said.

“We’ve got into a little bit of personnel” already, he said. “This next year of cuts will be significant.”

Another proposed cut could impact whether students eat on the second day of overnight trips. Booster Club donations and fundraisers cover meals for activities participants on the first day of out-of-town trips. Second-day meals are paid for by the district activities budget.

Dennehy was hopeful fundraising could cover the difference if the district cut those meals from the budget, but Superintendent Darlene Schottle didn’t know if that was the best option.

“Do we ask fundraisers to pay for more of that, or do we ask families to chip in more?” she asked. The latter could “start to restrict who’s able to participate.”

Some might say cutting activities is better than cutting programs that directly impact classrooms, but school officials know how important activities are to students.

“For certainly our community and other small communities, activities are one of the ways we keep our kids connected to schools,” Schottle said.

School and instructional design

Big changes could be in store for middle and high school students. For the last four years, schools have operated with seven-period days. This has allowed students to take more elective classes. It has also allowed for special class alignment for sixth-, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders.

Those grades are organized into smaller learning communities that share core classes and teachers. Ninth-graders know the setup as Freshman Academy; at the middle school, each grade is sectioned off into “teams.”

The district could save money by eliminating those teams and moving back to a six-period day. Seven periods are necessary for teams; in addition to an individual prep period, teachers have team prep periods that allow them to discuss students, plan collaborative projects and meet with parents.

Proponents say teaming’s benefits outweigh the cost of the extra planning period. The same handful of teachers see the same students each day, which allows them to develop deeper relationships with children.

“They know their teachers better and their teachers know them better,” eighth-grade counselor Susan Sherman said.

That can be particularly important at the middle school level, when students are going through significant physical, mental and emotional changes.

“Developmentally, they need this,” said seventh-grade counselor Deb Burfeind.

Teaming also can provide a sense of comfort to students who were fifth-graders in small schools the year before.

When they get to the middle school, “the kids are overwhelmed, the parents are overwhelmed. They have this panicked idea what it might look like to go to school in this big place,” said DawnAnn Anderson, the sixth-grade counselor.

Seeing the smaller communities within the school helps put their minds at ease, she said.

The teaming concept has attracted several out-of-district students, Principal Barry Grace said. Because districts receive money from the state based on enrollment, those students contribute to Kalispell’s general fund dollars. They also pay tuition to attend the middle school.

Those extra dollars, as well as the extra period in the school day, have allowed the middle school to offer more electives than ever before. The extra period also allows the high schools to offer more optional classes, Flathead High Assistant Principal Mike Lincoln said.

“We wanted to give students more choices,” he said. If the schools return to a six-period day, “it isn’t your core classes that will suffer. Those classes that students want to take as extra classes are gone out of the district.”

Those niche classes might be the only thing keeping some students in school, he added.

Moving to a six-period day could also affect Flathead’s International Baccalaureate Programme, Lincoln said. Students who want to earn a full IB diploma might not be able to be involved in extra activities such as drama and music; there won’t be enough room in their schedules.

Another proposal on the survey involves reducing or eliminating Kalispell’s alternative high schools: Laser and Bridge Academy.

This year 94 students are enrolled at Laser. Bridge has 61 students; 27 more are on a waiting list.

“If you cut Bridge and Laser, that’s at least 150 kids who are not in a high school classroom,” Bridge Director Teri Palmer said. “I think the impact is huge for students that are unsuccessful at a traditional high school.”

Laser Director Gregg Letourneau agreed.

“For whatever reason, the [regular] high schools didn’t work for them,” he said. “They’ve chosen to come here to continue their education. If you eliminate ... the programs, within the district the students have nowhere to go.”

That could send dropout rates skyrocketing, he added. Schottle echoed that concern.

The district could explore the idea of moving the alternative programs to Flathead and Glacier high, Schottle said. But Letourneau and Palmer said that option wouldn’t work for many students.

“The students that come to Bridge are there to move away from that huge high school, away from that social drama that occurs within a traditional high school,” Palmer said. “To move that back on campus ... [those students] will not be successful.”

Letourneau said that when he asks students why they chose Laser, most of them say the other high schools are too big.

“They get anxiety in that setting. The hallways are crowded, and they feel they’re not getting the help they need or deserve,” he said.

A final proposal on the survey suggests reducing or eliminating reading and math interventions and supports for students.

That proposal would affect tutors, Schottle said. It would impact their ability to give classroom support and would reduce the number of special groups elementary schools could provide. Students who need extra help might not get it.

Small groups have been hugely instrumental in raising the district’s reading scores, Schottle said.