Former students and teachers haunted their old halls as they said good-bye.
Linderman School opened its doors to the community for a history lesson and a farewell on Tuesday night. “Saying good-bye to Linderman is like saying good-bye to an old friend,” former teacher Nancy Ross explained. Current students decorated the walls with posters proclaiming Linderman’s virtues. “I loved Linderman because I had really fun and understanding teachers.” “This was a school to TWO of my family members.”
Another poster liked how Linderman had “only kids your age.” Ross described the all 7th grade school as “a remarkable experiment which proved successful.” Principal Micah Hill says when the school shuffle was first announced, he was inundated with notes from former students who cherished their memories of the school.
Linderman became a 7th grade school in 1969. Prior to that, it combined with Central School to make up Kalispell’s Junior High campus. Next year students from Laser will use most of the class space. The rest goes to Bridge, Flathead CARE, and the Curriculum Co-op.
For the farewell the faculty dug up old yearbooks, sports pictures, and news clippings. Hill calculated in 38 years approximately 11,400 students came through Linderman, eating approximately 9,500 lunches, serving 7,600 detentions, and reading about 786,000 worksheets. His estimate for the number of break-ups reached way beyond 200,000.
Next fall the district hopes to mimic the transition experience in the expanded Middle School. Students will see many of the same teachers; either at the Middle School, or if they go to Glacier High. “I have conflicting emotions,” Ross explained, “On one hand, it’s wonderful for more school space, on the other, it’s nostalgic as we say good-bye.”