Community discusses possibilities to improve high school

Last week the community continued discussions to help achieve a vision for the future of Bigfork High School.

Thursday was the second of three visioning workshops focused on potential renovations to high school facilities.

Nick Salmon of CTA Architects led the discussion, which started by looking at “the world outside of Bigfork.” 

Participants in the workshop looked at a number of designs other high schools had adopted. He pointed out parts they liked, parts they didn’t and discussed what of those options would work in Bigfork, and more importantly, which of those ideas community members would be willing to pay for with a bond.

Rough financial figures were tossed into the brainstorming process, though no monetary figure has yet to be determined. Right now all options are on the visioning table, including what it would cost to completely rebuild and what it would cost to renovate.

The idea of rebuilding, Salmon said, “is a helpful one to hold on to because it helps you evaluate if you’re spending your money wisely.”

Salmon said the cost to build a new 60,000 square-foot building would be about $14 million. The high school is currently about 40,000 square feet. Taking care of some of the deferred maintenance to the building, such as roof and floor replacement, would be about $2 million, he said.

“It all comes down to what’s the best use of money,” Salmon said.

Salmon also mentioned that though structurally the building is fairly sound, it is considered to be in poor condition.

“All in all the high school has great bones,” Fran Quiram with CTA architects said. “It’s workable.”

After the visioning committee determines what options they think would be best for a renovation, they will submit it to the school board. The board will then vote on whether to ask for a bond to fund the renovation. A vote would then go to the community to support the bond.

The last bond the school district passed was in 2007 to do work on the Elementary and Middle School building. A bond was proposed at the same time for the high school but failed.

Part of the brainstorming process on Thursday was about determining a balance that the community would support.

Some key areas where the group generally agreed needed some attention are a place for students to eat lunch, the science lab, locker rooms, gym, a vocational education building and classroom sizes.

Renovation or replacement of the gym was discussed. Concerns with the high school gym include a leaking roof, low ceilings and a floor that can no longer be sanded and refinished.

Ideas floated went from building an entirely new gym and remodeling the existing one into other needed space, to raising the roof, to doing nothing.

“This gym is the right size, it’s just not the right height,” Salmon said.

One idea that would address both a lunch area and space for projects was a multipurpose space that could be used throughout the day for a variety of purposes. Salmon said that about 30 percent of the building is not used for instruction. Multi-use facilities allow for flexibility, and take back the use of space already available, he said.

They also discussed having a large space that the public could use, where student work is displayed. This idea was discussed along with the idea of having more community collaboration in the school, including sending students out into the community for internships.

“At the same time we want our kids to be engaged with the community outside … we want the community in our school,” superintendent Matt Jensen said.

The classrooms, while a few are large enough, several are not. Jensen pointed out that the simplest way to deal with future increased enrollment, would be to have more students in a classroom. Some of the classrooms currently can barely fit 25 students, when they need to be able to hold 30.

Salmon pointed out that having small class sizes was also one of the things that makes the Bigfork school district attractive.

In the vocation education facility, safety was a concern, with space for students to learn welding, close to where they do wood work. The art classroom is also located in that building, which many felt wasn’t the best environment for it. 

“It’s not an ideal place to have an art room,” Jensen said.

The shop was built in 1954, Jensen said, and its roof is 25 years old. “It’s really outdated,” he said.

Other concerns community members brought to the table was accessibility for disabled people.

Some voiced hopes that included trying to make the building environmentally friendly, and perhaps trying to incorporate solar panels.

High school parent and Bigfork Elementary teacher Jill Morley said she didn’t think the overall feeling of the school was very inviting and should be addressed.

“Kids, when they come to school, it needs to be joyful and happy,” she said.

One problem the school faces with the idea of expansion is flat ground to expand on.

One idea for expansion was to relocate the bus barn, which currently sits behind the gym, and add to the building in that space. The idea of storing the buses somewhere off campus was also floated.

“The busses really only need to be on campus 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at the end of the day,” Salmon said.

Other ideas included integrating the vocational education buildings into the main building and expanding the high school toward the Elementary and Middle School building.

Architects with CTA will draw up some proposals before the next visioning meeting based on those discussions.

The next visioning workshop is April 16. The public is invited to be involved during the open house from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym.