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Muldown Elementary: Should it Stay or Should it Go? School district, community approaching crucial decision for largest elementary school in Montana
WBY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
HITEFISH – LLOYD “MULLY” Muldown had two great pas- sions in life – skiing and
education.
In the 1930s and ‘40s, he was one of
the nation’s pioneer downhill skiers and spearheaded the development of Big Mountain resort. At the same time he was envisioning the nascent ski slopes overlooking town, he championed the importance of education in his roles as an active community leader, a teacher and later as the superintendent of public schools in White sh.
Muldown gained statewide and national recognition as an educational visionary who helped lead the so-called open classroom movement, which rede- signed the traditional one-room school- house model into an expanded learning environment with groups of students working together instead of individu- ally in larger classrooms. After White- sh incorporated Muldown’s vision, the school district was showcased in lms and studied by academics across the country. By the 1970s, the open class- room model was a pillar of the modern American education system.
During his tenure as superintendent, Muldown was the driving force behind the development of a large new elemen- tary school on East Seventh Street. Crews broke ground in 1966, and in the follow- ing year students in rst through fourth grades moved into the newly completed site, which was later named in honor of its great advocate.
Fifty years later, Muldown Elemen- tary is brimming with students – nearly 670 – and living up to the educational aspirations of its forefathers.
Yet the building itself is showing its age with desperate indicators. The 86,000-square-foot facility’s heating and ventilation system runs on two boil- ers, both of which are outdated but one that is 60 years old and remains opera- tional through piecemeal maintenance. The roof is structurally failing and leak- ing, leading sta to set up garbage cans throughout the building that routinely catch water. Winter snowfall forces the school to pay $3,000 each time to have the 50,000-square-foot roof shoveled to prevent caving. Electrical issues, over- crowding and safety concerns, parking and drop-o congestion — the list of problems continues to pile up at the larg- est elementary school in Montana.
Second-graders work on a computer coding project at Muldown Elementary School. BEACON FILE PHOTO
L’Heureux said.
The new sections would be built
rst and would house students when the older section of the school is completely gutted and remodeled, L’Heureux said. The school would rearrange the parking and drop-o areas as well as the school’s entrance. A new full-size gym would be added to complement the smaller gym that is currently overcrowded on a reg- ular basis. There would also be new kin- dergarten classrooms and a multi-pur- pose room. Future space could be used for early education programs.
The third option would simply address the dire maintenance and struc- tural issues present in Muldown at a cost of roughly $13 million. The building would essentially need to be gutted and renovated, L’Heureux said. The facility could be upgraded to 21st century learn- ing standards in the process. The con- struction process would require students to use temporary modular classrooms at a nearby site during the 32-month dura- tion. It would cost roughly $500,000 to lease the modular sites for that time span, L’Heureux said.
During the Dec. 1 forum, a resident raised concerns about demolishing or abandoning the current Muldown Ele- mentary, which holds a sentimental value for many in the community.
The school district hopes to gather community input on the three options in the coming weeks and months before recommending one to the school board.
“We want that input to nd out whether there is that kind of emo- tional attachment to this building and the Muldown legacy that goes with it,” L’Heureux said. “We’re not the ones to make that decision. You all are.”
Mike Muldown, the son of Lloyd “Mully” Muldown, was asked to speak at the event and o ered insight into his father’s dreams and passion for the local schools.
“He was so passionate (about educa- tion), almost to a fault,” Muldown said.
Muldown said he and his family are not advocating for any speci c option, nor are they opposing any possible changes.
“We all have sentimental attachment to this building, of course, because of who we are,” he said. “There’s not any push- back whatever way you go, at least from our perspective ... You have to do what’s best for the students and the faculty and the administrators and the citizens of School District 44.”
“We have signi cant challenges and we need signi cant help to move us for- ward,” White sh Schools Superinten- dent Heather Davis Schmidt told a crowd gathered at the elementary school on Dec. 1 for a community forum devoted to addressing the issues.
The school district and a task force of sta , community members and planners have been devising a plan to address the future of Muldown Elementary for the last year.
The group has whittled down nearly a dozen options to three possibilities: build a new K-4 elementary site next door to the current facility; signi cantly upgrade and expand the current site; or simply address the deferred maintenance that is most pressing.
The goal is to deliver a recommenda- tion to the school board by March 21. Any building upgrade would require voter approval of a bond, which could be oated in October 2017.
The option with the most initial sup- port is building a new 84,000-square- foot elementary school, which would cost roughly $21 million and take 30 months to complete.
To cover a 30-year bond worth roughly $20 million to build a new school, prop- erty taxes in the White sh school district would increase roughly $97 annually for a home with a market value of $239,665, which is the median value in White sh, according to the school district.
The new school could accommodate more than 700 students, according to Steve L’Heureux, the private architect who is working on the project for the
school district.
The bene t of the new school would
be that the former elementary site could be used for other programs, such as early education, or it could be torn down. It would also require the least disruption during construction; students would continue to attend the current Muldown while the new site is developed next door.
The second most popular option is building roughly 35,000 square feet of new space onto the existing school while also addressing the structural issues. This option would cost roughly $16.35 million but require an estimated 45 months to complete.
For the expansion option, prop- erty taxes in the school district would increase roughly $72 for a home with a market value of $239,665.
The upgrades and expansion would allow Muldown to accommodate signi - cantly more students and preserve the existing site, but it would lead to size- able disruption during construction,
“WE HAVE SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES AND WE NEED SIGNIFICANT HELP TO MOVE US FORWARD.”
- HEATHER DAVIS SCHMIDT
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
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DECEMBER 7, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM