Bigfork High School considers building renovations

The Bigfork School District is in the exploratory stage of discussing a potential renovation of the high school.

The district recently contracted with CTA Architects Engineers of Kalispell for pre-bond educational master planning services. CTA’s fees for services have not yet been finalized, according to Bigfork Superintendent Matt Jensen.

“We’re assessing what we have and exploring opportunities,” Jensen said, noting the district will start by reviewing a 2007 facility assessment.

The district is looking into updating the high school and creating classrooms to make the building usable for modern learning. Currently there are three high school classes held in the middle school and elementary building. Jensen listed other issues at the school, too.

“We have size restrictions in our English, math, special ed and science rooms,” he said. “Currently we do not have a classroom for health. We hold health in the gym. We have a very outdated science lab.

“Our foyer is insufficient to accommodate the number of students we have,” he said. “Consequently the students eat lunch in the hallways or classrooms. And then we have a few classrooms operating out of converted spaces that weren’t intended for classrooms.”

The last improvements made to the school were in 1999 and 1968. In 1999 a minor expansion was done to build a foyer and restroom, according to Jensen. The last time major construction was done to the building was in 1968 to add space where social studies and math classrooms currently are housed.

There are a couple of stages to complete before any decisions are made. The school board will have the final say.

“Stage one is facility assessment and preparation,” Jensen said. Renovation and expansion discussions are not being driven by increased enrollment because enrollment has gone down slightly. Current enrollment is 283 students, down from 293 students in October 2014.

Bigfork residents are invited to be part of the process by attending facilities review and planning workshops. The first all-day workshop is March 3. Community members interested in attending may call 837-7400 for more information.