At a facility planning meeting Wednesday, options were narrowed for Kalispell Public Schools’ four facilities in the high school district.

Deferred maintenance, functionality and utilizing space for 21st-century learning and educational opportunities have been talking points when it comes to Flathead and Glacier high schools, Linderman Education Center and the H.E. Robinson Agricultural Education Center.

Capacity was also discussed Wednesday, although overcrowding isn’t a critical issue in the high school district, unlike the elementary district. Capacity concerns do come into play for Glacier, where residential development is growing nearby.

Meeting participants did see value in relating to voters how many additional students could be added to a building based on a given scenario.

Splitting into small groups, participants wrote down preferences for the district to pursue. All concepts included deferred maintenance projects.

A consensus on what to do with Flathead High included demolishing the small gym and replacing it with an auxiliary gym, locker rooms and classrooms.

The half-floors (which sit between the first and second stories) and a lecture room, currently used as study hall, would also be demolished and replaced with classrooms on two stories. In this early stage, planners estimated this could cost $14,415,000.

For Glacier, most participants agreed for the time being to do only deferred maintenance at an estimated $291,700 and consider expanding the school with an additional pod later if enrollment grows.

For the vocational agriculture building, participants agreed to pursue constructing an addition consisting of a new science lab, offices, break-out areas, a commons, bathrooms and a shop expansion. The goal is to return rooms such as the current office back to classrooms and a classroom back to its original use as a greenhouse.

A permanent place for the welding program was not tackled at this meeting. In January, the school board approved a short-term solution to offer beginning welding classes to freshmen at Flathead High School while juniors and seniors can take classes at Flathead Community College through its Running Start program.

Previously welding was taught by a high school teacher using the community college’s facility. The high school program had to relocate due to demand for the college’s own welding courses.

When it comes to Linderman Education Center, Director Jodi Barber favored a middle ground between deferred maintenance and remodeling to enhance alternative educational opportunities such as creating a functional science lab and a dining/commons area. Barber said there are several other programs operating in the building and if they were relocated or if the building was reconfigured, the existing space could be better utilized without necessitating an addition.

Cost was also on participants’ minds considering the proposed elementary district plan, which has a projected cost of $63.6 million. Included in that estimate is the purchase of an additional 25-acre parcel of land. The district is in discussions with a landowner to secure property north of town (west of Whitefish Stage Road in the vicinity of Easthaven Baptist Church).

While elementary district taxpayers have typically approved funding requests, it has been more difficult to do so among high school district voters.

What makes the high school district unique is that in addition to Kalispell residents, people living in outlying school districts whose students attend Kalispell high schools have a vote and have held sway in past elections.

Reaching this segment of voters and presenting the needs is critical, according to Jack Fallon, a trustee representing the high school district. He emphasized that whatever the committee decides, it can’t be a short campaign.

Doug Manning, who lives in the Fair-Mont-Egan School District and has children attend Flathead High School and St. Matthew’s Catholic School, later added: “There has got to be a real added value in the facility in the long term for the dollars spent.”

The next facility planning meeting will be at 6 p.m. April 6 at Peterson Elementary School.

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected].