Deer Park School, the oldest active school in Flathead County, sits on a hill between Columbia Mountain and the Flathead River, surrounded by the peaks of the Flathead Mountain Range. The former one-room school serves 199 students in grades Kindergarten through 8, most of whom live within a two-mile radius of its campus. The district dates back to 1886, and the school’s signature white building, adorned with a bell tower, has been holding classes since 1921.
“Deer Park is a very close-knit community. We have students that their grandparents, their great-grandparents went to Deer Park,” Cindy Barnes, chair of the Deer Park School Board, told the Beacon. “We’ve been on the same property, using the same facilities for a very long time.”
Now, Deer Park is a contender for one of the most prestigious educational awards in the country, a tribute to the achievements of its educators and the success of its students.
The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) on Feb. 2 announced that Deer Park is one of three Montana schools nominated for the National Blue Ribbon School award, a program run by the U.S. Department of Education that recognizes schools based on their academic excellence or their progress in closing educational achievement gaps. In addition to Deer Park, two schools in Gallatin County, Amsterdam Elementary and Anderson School, were nominated this year.
“I think that the staff and the administration and the community have worked very hard and are responsible for the success at Deer Park,” Barnes said. “To see it rewarded is a really good feeling.”
Barnes, a member of the school board since 2007 whose two children passed through Deer Park School, said that the small nature of the district has brought both unique benefits and challenges. With small class sizes and a tight geographic zone that the school pulls from, students are able to form strong relationships with their peers and their teachers, who get to know each other well over the course of their education.
Yet, Barnes said, limited facilities and unique student needs have pushed the district to seek out creative solutions. Most recently, Deer Park began partnering with the Columbia Falls School District to bring in a lunch program. Due to spatial restrictions, the district was previously unable to serve lunch to students, a critical service at a school that serves many low-income students.
“We are a smaller district,” Barnes said, which often leads to more instances “where we need to work with students in order to help them succeed.”
OPI Superintendent Elsie Arntzen in the Feb. 2 press release said, “These elementary schools reflect educational excellence in Montana families, students, and teachers. I am grateful to the school leaders and teachers that continue to pursue academic success for all their students.” In 2022, Bozeman’s Monforton Elementary was the only Blue Ribbon awardee in Montana. The awardees are chosen by the U.S. Department of Education and will be announced in September.