It’s that time again – the warm edges of the summer breeze are cooling, and the school-supply sections at nearly every store are calling.
The new school year is just around the corner, and to mark the new year, the Beacon takes a look at a piece of the valley’s educational past, the current needs at schools, and a new program to develop sustainability practices in students.
So sharpen your pencils and grab an apple for the teacher – school is in session.
A Lifetime of Learning
Former longtime local teacher Carlene Brooner reflects on half a century of molding the valley’s young minds
By Molly Priddy
Eighty-six years ago, Carlene Brooner didn’t walk to the one-room schoolhouse in Lower Valley through four feet of snow, uphill both ways.
Brocken School was only about a quarter of a mile away from her home; the way she figures it, she was probably the closest student to class in those days.
“I have trouble, because I can’t say I walked to school for two miles in the snow,” Brooner said with a laugh last week from her cozy apartment at Buffalo Hill Terrace in Kalispell.
Facing Persistent Overcrowding, Kalispell Asking Voters for New School, Facility Upgrades
School district seeking approval for $54.76 million in bonds to build new elementary site and address deferred maintenance
By Dillon Tabish
Three weeks before the new school year began, Kalispell’s kindergarten classrooms were already filled to capacity with prospective students at each of the five elementary schools, while the entire district was collectively 223 kids over capacity.
“We have no classroom space,” Mark Flatau, superintendent of Kalispell Public Schools, said. “We have no classroom setting that is unused in any of our elementary buildings.”
Growth of a Seed
Whitefish High School moves forward with Innovative Center for Applied Sustainability
By Tristan Scott
The seed has been planted, and a beanstalk of innovation is sprouting at the Whitefish High School, where final approval of the Center for Applied Sustainability has put the project on course for completion next spring.