16 June 2016

Does expanding Flathead High School make sense?

The trustees of School District 5 think so. They’re asking the voters to approve $28.8 million in bonds this fall, with $18.2 million going for upgrades at parking space starved Flathead High that would increase the school’s capacity by 150 students. One million is allocated for acquiring parking space, but only on a willing seller basis.

This makes little sense to me. Instead of pouring more money into an old building in a bad location, the trustees should be making long range plans to replace Flathead High with a new school on a tract of land large enough to accommodate 100 years of growth.

If more classroom space is needed, add another wing to Glacier High, where there is plenty of land and the building is only a decade old. That would make Glacier High the larger school by a significant amount, but there’s no reason the district’s two high school need to be roughly the same size.

Moving students from Flathead High to Glacier High also would solve the parking problem at Flathead High.

I doubt this bond will pass. And at this point, I don’t think it should pass.