Enrollment across Kalispell’s elementary schools grew yet again this fall, prompting district administrators to issue an immediate work directive for the engineering and design of a new facility.
Mark Flatau, superintendent of Kalispell Public Schools, said a new elementary school is “desperately needed due to current overcrowding conditions.” Following voter approval of two bonds totaling $54 million, the district will move fast to develop the site with the goal of it being open in fall 2018.
“We’re under such a tight timeline to have that school ready,” Flatau said.
Following the work directive, district officials and a committee of school staff, engineers and planners is meeting weekly through November to discuss the finer details of the $15.18 million elementary school that will be built on Airport Road. The meetings will be Nov. 7, Nov. 15 and Nov. 28 from 4-6 p.m. in the basement of the district office in downtown Kalispell. All meetings are open to the public.
“From an educational standpoint, we want to make sure this building has everything we need, first and foremost, in regards to an elementary building and to make sure that it is aligned with our instructional delivery,” he said.
Flatau said the goal is to complete the site design by early 2017 and seek construction bids by April 2017.
The district is also hiring a consultant who will oversee the array of renovations at the other facilities across Kalispell. Each of the city’s schools, including Flathead High School, Linderman Education Center and the Agriculture Education Center, will receive noticeable upgrades in the coming years. The consultant will oversee the largest, most complex projects, such as the $19 million investment in Flathead, while the district plans to manage the smaller projects. District officials have not yet identified a timeframe for each project, but Flatau said work could begin at certain sites next summer.
Flatau said the school board has expressed a desire to involve as many local contractors and firms in the expansive multi-year process as possible as an added benefit to the community after it passed the largest combined school bond in Kalispell’s history.
Flatau said the tentative goal is to have construction completed at all of the city’s schools by fall of 2020.
Kalispell’s expanding facilities reflect the trend of swelling classrooms across the valley. The latest enrollment figures, tallied by the Flathead County Superintendent of School’s Office, show the city’s elementary district gained 22 students this fall, adding to last year’s all-time record mark. There were 3,040 students in the city’s five elementary schools in October, 362 more than 10 years ago.
Elementary enrollments were mostly up across the valley, including small upticks in the outlying rural districts. Whitefish saw the most new students with 39, followed by Columbia Falls (34) and Helena Flats (31). Evergreen saw a decrease of 50 students.
All together, there were 1,093 kindergarten students in the county’s public schools this fall, which was the third largest grade total behind third-graders (1,152) and sixth-graders (1,109).
The number of local homeschool students jumped by 56 for a total of 566, which is 162 more than 10 years ago. Stillwater Christian’s elementary population grew by 30 and Whitefish Christian Academy grew by 22.
At the high school level, growth remains tepid, though the rising tide of elementary students will likely change that trend in the coming years. Kalispell gained 20 high school students and Bigfork gained 18. Columbia Falls gained five and Whitefish lost seven. There were three more homeschool students at the high school level.