BHS bond ballots mailed out today

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

The ballots for the $11.1 million high school bond went out today, Feb. 14, to voters in the Bigfork High School district.

This is the second time in five months the school board has gone to voters in hopes of upgrading aging school facilities. In October of last year a $5.5 million bond for the elementary school was approved and the high school issue was voted down by just 54 votes.

The mail-in ballots are due back into the district office — not just postmarked — by March 4.

The board chose the March 4 date because it was as far away as possible from the holidays and the last date the County Election Office would allow a mail-in election because after that the staff are busy preparing for primaries and the general election.

After reviewing the results of the last bond election and examining the plan that school board trustees had laid out, it was decided by the board to approach voters once again as soon as possible with the same proposal.

"The board had a lengthy discussion about the library issue, dollar amounts and alternatives to renovation," said Superintendent Russ Kinzer at a Nov. 15 meeting. "They decided this was the best and only course of action."

Issues that came up in the first go-round were questions about the updates versus construction of a whole new facility and concerns over safety — especially in connection with a proposed joint-use library that is part of the school bond proposal. That library would serve both Bigfork High School and the community and act as the Bigfork branch of the Flathead County library system. The current library, located on Electric Avenue, has been established as inadequate for the growing community.

Another change undertaken was the organization of a citizens group to advocate the bond and help educate voters. Last fall, Kinzer and the superintendent's office took on the task of educating voters, making presentations around town. But Kinzer was officially a neutral party, unable to advocate for the bond.

The new citizen's groups called CAUSE — Citizen Advocated United for Student Education — is headed by Mary Knoll and has undertaken a campaign to answer questions and address concerns that voters raised last time around.

High school improvements would include a new common area/cafeteria, a weight room, renovated art and computer rooms as well as the new and enlarged joint community library.

Also on deck would be new science labs, as the current one is approaching antique status.

"The lab is 50 years old," Kinzer said in an interview in September. "It limits teachers' ability to provide lab activities."

The renovations would also phase out portable classrooms currently used for 6th graders and high school math classes. Those buildings, designed to be temporary structures, are nine and 18 years old and, according to Kinzer, showing sign of their age.

Kinzer said the district office is offering tours of the facility, as they did for the last election, and anyone who wants a walk-through should call the district office at 837-7400.