Somers-Lakeside School District wants the community to weigh in on potentially sending its sixth- through eighth-grade students to Kalispell Public Schools if a new middle school is built on Airport Road.

Facility planning for Kalispell includes proposals to build new schools to house elementary and middle school grades.

Administrators from both districts have talked about a possible partnership for Somers Middle School students to attend a Kalispell school.

A community meeting at 6 p.m. March 14 at Somers Middle School will look at facility proposals and gather community input.

“We’ll talk about interlocal agreement possibilities, possible facility recommendations, the impact on funding here and impact on staffing,” Somers-Lakeside School District Superintendent Paul Jenkins said.

While Somers-Lakeside taxpayers would not pay for construction of a new Kalispell school, the district would lose between 160 to 200 students and the per-student state funding. Somers Middle School teaching positions may have to be cut or relocated.

Although Somers-Lakeside School District recently passed a $185,000-per-year tax levy for operation and maintenance, the district has struggled to pass previous levies and keep up with repairs at the middle school, which has been a big motivator in discussing a plan to send students to a new school.

If the district’s sixth- through eighth-graders end up attending middle school in Kalispell, Jenkins suggested that the Somers Middle School building could be retrofitted for third through fifth grades and Lakeside Elementary could be reconfigured into a kindergarten- through second-grade school.

Jenkins said this is a decision that needs to involve as many people as possible — residents with or without children.

“We are hoping for a strong turnout as we all look to the future in doing what is best for the students of Lakeside and Somers,” Jenkins said.

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