There are more difficult decisions ahead as the Whitefish School District works to trim $1.2 million from plans for the high school construction project.

This news came from Bayard Dominick of Steeplechase Development Advisors during a school board meeting Tuesday about the current status of the 122,754-square-foot construction project.

“We’ve moved a long way in the right direction,” Dominick said of the effort to reach a $19 million budget for rebuilding the high school.

Dominick said the budget and cost estimates would be discussed Thursday during an Oversight Committee meeting. 

“We have a long way to go still relative to pricing. We will get to where we need to be,” Dominick said. “There’s hard work to do and hard choices to make.” 

This discussion preceded two hours of deliberation about whether to move Whitefish Independent High School to a new spot adjoining the main high school.

Eventually, trustees voted 5-2, with Charlie Abell and Shawn Watts dissenting, to move the Independent High School from its current location at 625 Park Ave. to a new building that would share a wall with Whitefish High School.

The 3,000-square-foot building already was figured into initial construction plans for the high school.

A distance of about 700 yards currently separates the two school buildings. This distance has been of great significance to students and graduates in creating a distinct identity and haven apart from Whitefish High School. 

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, administrators and trustees met repeatedly with Whitefish Independent High School students, staff and held public meetings. 

Superintendent Kate Orozco said they received divided feedback: Either the separate building was critical to the Independent High School’s success or as long as the district was committed to retaining as much of the school’s self-containment as possible, the program’s integrity could be retained.

“The charge was clear from students and parents that there needed to be some assurances on the part of the school district that the Independent High School would indeed remain separate — with a separate administrator, protection, privacy, set of governing rules, independence and educational delivery,” Orozco said.

The main reason to move the alternative high school is high operation and maintenance costs at its current location. Because much-needed repairs are piling up, the possibility loomed that in three to five years the program might have to be cut if it stayed in the building. 

Administrators estimate the school district would save $22,506 in operation and maintenance costs if the alternative high school is housed in a new building.

Beth Hanson, lead instructor at Whitefish Independent High School, said although it was not optimal, moving was a better choice than cutting the program.

Whitefish parent John Wilson, who had a child graduate from the Independent High School, talked about his experience with the program that affected his entire family. 

He said he originally came to the meeting as an advocate not to move the building based on his daughter’s plea that the location made all the difference in her decision to enroll and graduate. However, Wilson said he was encouraged by trustees’ discussion and future of the program, but shared his daughter’s strong feelings on the topic.

“The independent school was a fantastic success for us. Our daughter struggled — she wouldn’t have survived in the high school,” Wilson said. “To her it was being separate is what mattered. Everything she talked about was getting away from the high school, getting away from the judgment, from the social drama, from regimented teachers she couldn’t identify with.”

If trustees decide to sell the existing school, Orozco said a real estate broker estimated the property is worth $450,000. Dominick gave a more conservative estimate of $350,000. If the building is sold, the money would be put toward the construction project.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected]