This is the second article in a series profiling schools that would be affected by a Kalispell Public Schools high school bond request. Ballots will be mailed out Sept. 19 and are due Oct. 4.

The H.E. Robinson Agricultural Education Center is home to 20 ewes, 10 cows, seven sows, one horse and acreage tended by 330 students.

Located on 135 acres at the south end of Kalispell, the center is a hub of hands-on and work-based learning for Flathead and Glacier high school students.

And there are plans to expand as part of a $28,766,000 high school district bond request. Of that total, $4,645,500 is earmarked for renovating and adding to the vo-ag center.

“In the design of the facility, we wanted to protect that open space,” vo-ag teacher Justin Heupel said.

The building would be expanded to the west and north sides. School Superintendent Mark Flatau said building is limited on the east side because of pasture land and a flood plain.

Vo-ag education is much more than animals and plants. There are classes in animal science, plant science, agriculture mechanics, agriculture business, natural resources and leadership development.

During a facility tour on Sept. 8, Heupel and Flatau talked about how educational opportunities could be enhanced.

“The ag mechanics I think is an important one,” Heupel said. “I think this is where the folks in the trades should be really excited about this expansion because agriculture mechanics is not just tractors and plows. It is plumbing; it is electrical residential wiring; it is construction; it is welding; it is engines; it is GPS and precision ag.”

Heupel said agriculture has always involved science, technology, engineering and math before “STEM” became the buzzword in education.

“We’ve been STEM for a long time before it was vogue,” Heupel said.

The bond money would renovate 36 percent (8,150 square feet) of the building and add 15,900 square feet to the 1978 vo-ag building.

“The new facilities are going to allow us to do some things that we’re just not able to do and serve more kids here at any given time,” Flatau said.

The vo-ag center is not the most inviting building. Inside, it is essentially just a hallway leading to classrooms. There are no areas outside the classroom for students to gather or work in small groups.

“The expansion would make it a much nicer student-friendly environment — not so crammed in,” Flatau said.

The building is utilized to its fullest, including a greenhouse that was converted into a classroom many years ago. Students sit in pairs along the slanted wall of the converted greenhouse, which has never been very efficient temperature-wise, according to Heupel, who used to teach in the greenhouse classroom.

Vo-ag students and FFA members Krystal Sutton and Cassidy Wiley, both seniors at Flathead High School, are hopeful the community will support the bond request.

The money would fund a new science lab, veterinary science lab off of the livestock barn, info-commons areas, classrooms, offices and a greenhouse, along with expanding welding and shop facilities. Currently the vo-ag center has its own welding program.

Flathead High School is currently housing the beginning high school welding classes after the program was displaced from Flathead Valley Community College after the college’s own welding program grew.

Advanced high school welding classes are held at the college through the Running Start program. If the bond request passes, the district’s welding program in its entirety would move to the vo-ag center.

Deferred maintenance at the vo-ag center also will be addressed.

“I feel like if it got passed, it would give more students the opportunity to come out here if we have a larger facility with more specialized classes,” Wiley said.

Sutton and Wiley said while they haven’t felt any setbacks in their educations, there could have been more opportunities during the school day. For example, both study veterinary science after school as a FFA Career Development Event as opposed to during the school day.

“We want to really shore up the teaching piece during the day,” Heupel said.

The goal is that 50 to 70 more students could attend the vo-ag center, according to Flatau.

“That takes the pressure off our high schools from an enrollment standpoint,” Flatau said.

In addition to the H.E. Robinson Agricultural Education Center, Flathead High School, Linderman Education Center and Legends Stadium are slated for renovation if the bond issue is approved. Deferred maintenance only would be completed at Glacier High School.

If the $28.8 million high school bond request is approved, owners of homes with assessed values of $200,000 could anticipate property taxes increasing by $58.46 annually.

Voters on the high school district bond issue include residents of Kalispell and outlying partner school districts — Kila, Marion, Smith Valley, West Valley, Evergreen, Helena Flats, Somers-Lakeside, Creston, Fair-Mont-Egan, Cayuse Prairie, Deer Park, Olney-Bissell and Pleasant Valley — whose students attend Flathead or Glacier high schools.

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