West Glacier Elementary School Prepares for Season of Change
From starting the year with a transportation roadblock to ending it with the departure of three teachers, the small, tight-knit district has spent much of the year building a plan to guide it into a changing future
By Mariah Thomas
After starting the school year with a transportation roadblock, West Glacier Elementary School knew it would be one filled with research and planning for the future.
Now, the school district is looking toward the end of the year primed for a sea change. Three of its teachers are leaving — one retiring, one for another teaching opportunity and another for a year-long leave of absence. The departures mark an abnormal amount of turnover for a school that has historically seen strong teacher retention. The school has also shifted its transportation norms in the wake of the retirement of longtime contracted driver Gerard Byrd.
For the district, a unique one for its small size, teacher-led structure, and proximity and access to Glacier National Park, the combination of changes has led to the development of a new plan the school hopes will guide it into the long-term future.
Part of that three-year plan, which board chair Courtney Eberhardy said has been at the center of several school board discussions, consists of the district baking in its own transportation system. Eberhardy and Marcia Stolfus, the county superintendent of schools and the district’s administrator, said that will likely take some time.
“We have a three-year plan, but we also have to be very cognizant of, if it doesn’t work for a full route, what our options are,” Stolfus said. “… It’s our goal, but there’s no guarantees.”
The school sent a letter to parents Thursday informing them of its plans.
“As working with a bussing contractor does not appear to be an option, the district has explored the possibility of beginning our own transportation program,” the letter stated. “While this remains a possible long term goal, it is not feasible to purchase a vehicle, begin operating a transportation program, and hire qualified drivers for the upcoming school year.”
In the immediate future, the district will continue providing families affected by the lack of transportation with individual transfer action contracts. Those contracts pay parents on a per-mile basis for transporting their own students. Legally, if a district cannot provide families who need it with transportation, it must reimburse them for the cost of driving students to school.
But in the long-term, the district hopes to fundraise and save to purchase a pair of 15-passenger vans.
Eberhardy said the district has been renting those vans for field trips throughout the 2025-2026 school year. With the district’s small class sizes, the vans can transport all students in most of the school’s classes. And they’d be large enough to transport the students who historically relied on Byrd’s bus to get them to school. Plus, they come with the added benefit of not requiring a commercial driver’s license to operate.
Stolfus and Eberhardy estimated the vans would cost between $30,000 and $50,000 to purchase, however. That doesn’t include additional costs associated with running a transportation system, from vehicle maintenance to paying drivers.
The district’s parent-teacher committee is working on fundraising efforts to help meet those costs. The district has also added a donation page to its website.
Donations go into a Student Activities Fund, which provides funding for field trips, guest instructors, supplies for special projects and more. Donors can choose where their funds go, how much they want to give, and whether they want to make a one-time or recurring donation.
Beyond transportation and the requisite funding ask, the district’s plan also includes an adjustment period for its teachers to adapt to upcoming staffing changes. The school is in the throes of a search for four new teachers: three full-time roles and one part-time Spanish teacher, along with a part-time paraprofessional position.
Those searches come as teacher recruitment and retention have been challenges in the state and valley, though Stolfus said retention at West Glacier Elementary remains strong.
Eberhardy hopes recruitment for the open positions goes smoothly, given several features in the small district that she said could attract teachers: a four-day work week, small class sizes, a teacher-led team that runs the school and a unique curriculum that includes regular field trips into Glacier National Park.