Deer Park's rejuvenation

Deer Park School has seen a lot of positive changes this school year, not the least of which is a brand new after-school enrichment program.

“Our enrollment has been decreasing over the past few years,” said school librarian and principal Bobbie Vaden. “We tried to identify the reasons. One of the major issues for this community was childcare (before and after school). We now have the Crash Zone, a before- and after-school program designed around academic enrichment.”

Deer Park applied for and received a $5,000 Montana Out-of-School Time grant from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. That grant in part defrays the cost of program director Kathy DeMarco.

“She specializes in science and she's doing a remarkable job with the children,” Vaden said of DeMarco, who spent years teaching in Alaska before moving with her family to the Flathead Valley.

Parente can drop their children off at the Crash Zone in the morning at 7 a.m.

Requirements of the grant are that the after-school program address nutrition, health and exercise and academic enrichment. The students who attend are given a nutritious snack, homework assistance, a recess and some kind of academic program.

“Our numbers are really good,” Vaden said. “We have 12 to 15 students after school every day. We have at least five new students we wouldn't have had if we didn't have the (after-school) program in place. The Crash Zone was our way to bring some of our children back to this area. It's working.”

Deer Park has gotten more than half a dozen new students in the past few weeks, bringing total enrollment to 60.

For the enrichment part of the program, the students learn about new subjects they might not otherwise in the already jam-packed school day.

One day last week, the students learned about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores by looking at animal skulls DeMarco borrowed from Tolar's Taxidermy. The kids ran their hands along the skulls, guessed what kind of animals the skulls belonged to and learned about the differences in jaws and teeth between the creatures. The students learned about antlers and felt the soft fur of a lynx pelt.

Before learning about the skulls, the children had a recess and snack. DeMarco also spent more than hour helping the students with their homework.

The students have spent other days learning about such subjects as fire prevention, grizzly bears and bats.

“We're doing great,” Vaden said. “We went through a very difficult time. The community, the board, the teachers have pulled together to ensure we overcome the issues we had to face but we are determined. Deer Park is going to be better then ever.”

In March, Deer Park’s former principal, Dennis Haverlandt, resigned after being suspended for a month following a letter of no confidence to the school board signed by all but one of the school’s teachers. Bobbie Vaden took over duties as principal at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

The school, which houses grades kindergarten through eighth, is known for small class sizes of six or seven students.

“That's what people love about (Deer Park),” Vaden said. “The kids get individual attention and that makes the difference.”

The school's other goals are to address the needs of the community while serving it. The school does not have a gifted and talented program and instead fills that need by offering multi-age classrooms. Students who need more help in certain areas can re-take classes. Children who are at a higher level can move up. A second-grade student could spend reading time in a third-grade classroom for example. Teachers LeeAnn Degele, Susie Morey-Menke and Gina Schiff are teaching in the multi-age classroom style.

“The flexibility is the key,” Vaden said. “There is a learning community. Do we want to keep an advanced students reading with other kids in his grade or do we want him to grow?”

Other changes at the school include a new counselor, Lacey Eccles, who works at the school one and a half days a week.

Deer Park School is located at 2105 Middle Road. For more information, call 892-5388 or visit http://www.deerpark.k12.mt.us/.