In 2008 the state of Montana conducted a Facility Condition Assessment for schools across the state. Each building was rated in 11 building system categories, like the foundations, HVAC, plumbing, electrical and safety. The inspection teams also looked at energy use and technology infrastructure. Inspectors were trained together so that variations in assessment between them would be minimal, and all schools were analyzed within a 12-week period of time.
Approximately $16 million in deficiencies were noted in the Kalispell School District, largely because nearly all of our buildings are varying degrees of old. More than $8 million was identified at Flathead High School alone. Projects to upgrade technology and facilities are paid for out of an account known as Building Reserve in our district.
You won’t see it if you walk in a building, but a year ago, and heeding the noted technology deficiencies, School District 5 upgraded to fiber lines. Before that, it wasn’t uncommon for the computer systems for students outside of Glacier High School to go “down” during periods of high traffic from businesses downtown, or even a certain weather pattern in the sky. We were the last AA district to upgrade to fiber.
Another thing you may never see, but which we have spent more than a half-million dollars in the past three years are six rooftop units at Flathead High School. We still have two more units that help cool and move air to replace, and that doesn’t count the four that cover the gym or the one for the fine arts section. When there were stimulus funds out there, the district went after them, and received most of the cost to replace 50- to 75-year-old boilers at Elrod and Peterson elementary schools. We replaced windows at Russell and are replacing what we can afford at Elrod with more stimulus funds, but 35-45 percent of the districts’ windows are still in efficient.
Flathead High and the “Little Gym” were built in 1910. The administration building, once our city’s Post Office and the current library building, was constructed in 1915. Our next newest building to Glacier is Edgerton, which is now 23 years old. It is expensive to maintain and repair buildings of this age, and to upgrade to 21st Century technology, and it is money spent that is rarely seen by those people paying the bills.
We currently have more than $700,000 in projects on a priority list in the high school district, and another nearly $520,000 prioritized for our elementary schools. And there are so many things that haven’t even made it to a priority list.
The Building Reserve Levy usually is a five-year plan, and in the high school district it amounts to about $43 a year on a $200,000 house. We will be running this levy again. We have to in support of our kids and our schools. When you see the Building Reserve Levy for the high school district on the next ballot, we would appreciate your support.
Alice Ritzman
Kalispell School Board Trustee