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Bigfork High School Grapples with Rising Enrollment and Aging Facilities

Administrators are seeking community input about possible upgrades at the high school, including a potential renovation

By Dillon Tabish
A math class at Bigfork High School on April 7, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Touring Bigfork High School, Matt Jensen sees a passionate staff and thriving student body that keeps growing in size and graduates at a 95-percent rate, well above the state average.

He also sees tattered facilities, cramped classrooms and inadequate essentials, such as the lack of a fire suppression system and a single private wheelchair-accessible bathroom.

“There are some great things happening in this building; the highest graduation rate and highest test scores in the Flathead Valley. But the space is holding us back,” the Bigfork School District superintendent says. “It’s not doom and gloom. It’s just what we need. We need to update.”

School administrators have restarted a dialogue with the Bigfork community about its high school, which was built in the 1960s and has received few renovations over the last five decades.

After conducting the latest site assessment last year that once again found structural issues and growing needs throughout the campus, the Bigfork School District Board of Trustees voted to embark on an “educational visioning and strategic facility plan,” which aims to develop goals and options for the school, including possible renovations.

CTA Architects Engineers, which was hired to conduct the study, presented its 49-page draft report on March 30, echoing previous assessments that found the school is largely outdated and lacking proper space.

The school district has hosted community meetings to discuss ideas that could be incorporated into any future redevelopment plans. The third and final workshop is April 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. inside the gymnasium.

After the final meeting, the school board will review the results of CTA’s study and the community workshops and develop recommendations for the future. This could include proposing a reconstruction of the high school or partial renovations of the existing facilities, options that would both require the passage of a school bond to pay for the projects.

Although nothing concrete has been established and CTA continues to review possible costs, the firm has projected $10 million to $14 million would be needed for various facility upgrades, similar to previous estimates.

As history has shown, asking taxpayers to pitch in more money for schools is challenging.

Whitefish residents grappled for years with renovating their high school, similar to Kalispell, where the district has asked voters to update its school facilities to varying degrees of success over the years.

Bigfork has debated upgrades to its aging high school for over a decade but has been unable to gain voter approval.

Nearly seven years ago, the school district failed twice in five months to pass a bond for high school renovations. Administrators followed a similar strategy as the latest effort, hiring an architecture firm to analyze needs and costs over 18 months. The district proposed an $11.1 million bond for the high school and a $5.5 million bond for the middle school.

Barely 52 percent of eligible voters responded in October 2007, passing the middle school bond but narrowly rejecting the high school request. The final vote for the high school funds was 1,249 for and 1,333 against, a difference of 84 votes.

Five months later, administrators gave it another shot with their second request, but this time the answer was more resounding. A total of 1,458 voters rejected the bond request while 1,209 supported it.

Now, according to administrators, the situation remains the same and in some ways has worsened.

The roofs over the gym and 10,000-square-foot shop need replacing. Other infrastructure elements, such as the heating system, are outdated and expensive to maintain. Special education classes take place in former storage rooms, which has a direct impact on the 14 percent of students who are enrolled in special education classes in Bigfork. Only one bathroom in the high school can privately accommodate students in wheelchairs. There are also not proper handrails or ramps that are handicap accessible. There is one science lab but it has antiquated ventilation. Bathrooms throughout the school are similarly inadequate along with the locker rooms in the gym.

“We’ve actually done a pretty good job of using our general budget to fix some of our needs, like replacing some of the heaters. But the costs to just maintain an old building get to be more and more,” Jensen says. “We’re at a point where we could keep pouring money into this building or we could just do it right.”

There’s another growing issue — the lack of space.

Enrollment in Bigfork has now risen for five straight years after seeing a consistent drop a decade ago. Last year Bigfork’s elementary district had 556 students, 18 more than a year ago and 64 more than in 2004. The high school had 296 students, 10 more than a year ago but 79 fewer than in 2004. Projections show the district’s enrollment could hit 1,123 students within 10 years, according to CTA’s report.

Most of the classrooms can barely fit 20-25 students and some do not have windows. The high school does not have enough space for its current student body and classes have been moved to the adjacent middle school building. Out-of-district transfer students — who encompass roughly 20 percent of the high school enrollment — are no longer being accepted because of a lack of space.

Another class was moved into the crammed industrial building between the high school and middle school, which was built in 1954 and now houses welding, art and shop classes. Band students squeeze between instruments that stuff the music classroom.

Between the high school, middle school and elementary school, there is one cafeteria, and it’s not uncommon for students to eat in the hallways or other various places, Jensen says.

“I really have to give credit to our staff. Look at how well we’re doing considering the situation,” Bigfork High School Principal Alan Robbins says. “We’re trying to have a true 21st century classroom education and it’s pretty obvious when you see the spaces we’re limited with kids being able to do group work and hands-on learning, and that’s important.”

Jensen said the goal of the workshops is to collaborate with the community and develop common solutions for the school. By doing this, he hopes the community will find solutions that voters would be willing to support through a possible bond.

“We’re very conscientious that when we go to the voters, the scope of the project will be adequate and fit our community,” he says. “We’re looking at what’s the most cost efficient way to reduce the overall maintenance costs that we will continue to have and to find what spaces will be more financially beneficial to make improvements that will save us money in the long run.”

The latest Bigfork school community meeting is scheduled for April 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. inside the gym. Community members are also welcome to tour the school with administrators. Call 406-837-7400.