Students head back to school

Bigfork students returned to the school Tuesday, Sept. 7, to a number of facility and technology upgrades completed over the summer.

They also met some new people that had been added to the staffs and some people already familiar to students and parents who stepped into new roles.

"I'm really excited about this school year," said Jackie Boshka, Bigfork Elementary and Middle School principal. "We're really at a point in the district that we are really going to be advancing student learning, improving communication with parents and making better use of technology."

BIGFORK ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL

The facilities at Bigfork Elementary and Middle School were just recently remodeled, so no building improvements were needed over the summer. The focus instead, Boshka said, was on technology. Through end-of-the-year funds last spring, the school was able to purchase 12 new interactive whiteboards. That means that now every classroom, except for a few of the first- and second-grade rooms have the technology.

"We're really excited about that," Boshka said. "We're planning some teacher training on it."

This year Boshka is also launching an initiative to encourage good attendance called "Miss School, Miss Out." Through it, students will be recognized and rewarded for attendance. Both students and parents should expect to hear more about the program as the year progresses.

The elementary school will have two new teachers this year. Two teachers, Nancy Trembath and Clara Tennant, opted to take the district's early retirement incentive offered in the spring. Stepping into Trembath's shoes will be Carrie Ann Smith in the fourth grade. Tennant's position at the sixth-grade level did not need to be refilled due to the small size of that class, but the incoming fifth-grade class was larger and needed another teacher. Joe Pitts, who had previously taught in Thompson Falls and Evergreen, will take that position.

Bridget Martel may have been seen around the school last spring, but she will officially be a full-time reading and math intervention staff member for kindergarten through eighth grade this year.

A few familiar faces within the district have moved around to new positions. Former kindergarten teacher Joyce Singleton will be moving to doing solely intervention work this year as well. Mary Sullivan, who teaches junior English at Bigfork High School, is also teaching middle school English.

The elementary school is keeping a close eye on the size of its first-grade classes. Last year as kindergartners, the number of students was large enough that a fourth teacher had to be added right before school started. For accreditation standards, class sizes can't be more than 20 students.

BIGFORK HIGH SCHOOL

One of the significant improvements at Bigfork High School over the summer was an installation of a new speaker and intercom system throughout the building, Bigfork High School Principal Matt Jensen said. The school used to use a phone system, but that couldn't reach all students.

"Now we'll be able to get school messages to the entire student body at the same time," Jensen said.

The inside of the building received a fresh coat of paint and some maintenance work on the floors.

"These items needed to be replaced for several years and we had the opportunity to do it with some facilities money," Jensen said.

On the technology side, the school added five Interwrite Mobi instructors to its collection. This brings the school close to having 100 percent of its classrooms with interactive technology.

Upgrades to computers in labs and adding computers to individual classrooms also took place since school got out in June.

At least one new face will be seen on the teaching staff at BHS this year. Randi Tunnel will be the new band teacher, with a twist. She'll be teaching both at Bigfork schools and Swan River School.

She replaces former long-time band teacher Doug Peters, who resigned in June after administrators had expressed their intent to recommend his termination to the school board.

One period of band for ninth through 12th grade will be offered as well as two periods at the middle school level. She'll then also teach for two periods at SRS.

Some returning teachers moved around between last spring and this fall. History teachers Cynthia Wilondek and Stormy Taylor took on additional subjects to fill in for Lindsey Aldrich, whose position was eliminated due to budget cuts. Aldrich is now the secretary at Somers Middle School.

Also moving around will be Anna Young, who formerly taught Spanish at the middle school level. Young takes over for Hauna Trenerry, who was also lost in budget cuts. Trenerry now teaches in Hamilton.

DRIVERS' EDUCATION

One of the biggest program changes at the high school level is for drivers' education. Lyle Whiteman, who formerly was a Title I aide, will take over the drivers' education program. The program, which was usually run within the school's schedule two times a year, will move to before and after school in four different segments that run concurrent with sports seasons and summer break.

The goal, Jensen said, is to give students who participate in athletics the opportunity to take the course through the school in a season they don't play in. The sessions will be Sept. 20 to Nov. 20, Dec. 14 to March 5, March 14 to June 10 and June 13 to Aug. 13.

Regardless of which session students want to attend, they need to sign up as soon as possible since the deadline for all is the start of the first session, Jensen said. At that time, any sessions that have less than 10 students will be canceled and those students who signed up will be informed and offered to move to the remaining sessions. Students can sign up in the front office.