Somers-Lakeside residents apparently would prefer to keep their middle-school students in Somers rather than send them to classes in Kalispell.

A majority of the 235 respondents to an online survey instead favored a bond issue to retrofit and build an addition onto Somers Middle School.

“Overwhelmingly the preference was status quo. Keep the students here,” Somers-Lakeside School District Superintendent Paul Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the responses will be helpful as trustees discuss the issue at a 6 p.m. meeting May 25 at Somers Middle School.

“To our board’s credit, they have kept an open mind,” Jenkins said.

Of the 229 responses to the question of whether Somers should enter into an interlocal agreement with Kalispell Public Schools and send middle-school students to Kalispell, 71.18 percent answered “no” and 28.82 percent answered “yes.”

“I do understand their position to maintain the status quo and keep students here,” Jenkins said.

One of the proposals involving Kalispell school expansion would transfer between 170 to 200 Somers-Lakeside sixth- through eighth-graders to a new middle school proposed south of Kalispell if an agreement were to be reached between the two school districts.

Somers-Lakeside initially contact Kalispell Public Schools about a possible partnership three years ago. Somers-Lakeside School District’s decision will affect Kalispell’s facility plans.

Jenkins has advocated sending its sixth- through eighth-graders to the proposed new facility in Kalispell, saying that parents would do so whether or not the two districts entered into an agreement and there would still be a loss of state funding and continued maintenance of an aging building in Somers.

However, 80 percent of people taking the survey said they still would not consider sending their children to a new facility in Kalispell if Somers-Lakeside School District does not enter into an interlocal agreement. The remaining 20 percent said they would consider paying tuition to send their children to a new school.

If the districts shiould reach an interlocal agreement, any tuition would be paid out of the Somers-Lakeside School District budget.

About 77 percent of survey participants have children.

The population of Somers is 1,109 people, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

On another survey question, 87.3 percent said they would support a bond issue to build an addition and retrofit Somers Middle School if the district did not enter into an interlocal agreement with Kalispell.

This stands out because, prior to the passage of a $185,000-per-year operation and maintenance levy in 2015, voters in the district had a history of rejecting school levy requests.

Sending middle-school students to Kalispell would mean Somers-Lakeside would lose state funding tied to each student. Jobs also could be at stake for the 23 staffers at Somers Middle School.

The Kalispell Public Schools facility planning committee has already voted to recommend building a new elementary school and middle school in south Kalispell and a new elementary school to the north (pending a land purchase) in addition to remodeling five existing elementary buildings.

How soon a new middle school in Kalispell would be built, pending board and voter approval of plans and bond requests, may be dependent on decisions by the Somers-Lakeside School Board.

In June, Kalispell Public Schools trustees will decide whether or not to present both high school and elementary bond requests to voters this fall.

To view full survey results, go to http://svy.mk/1Tq5T50.

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.