Kalispell elementary school district boundaries adjusted

The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees last week approved minor changes to the elementary district boundaries that may impact 46 students and potentially another 41 students who attend from out-of-district for the 2019-20 school year.

“This year we experienced a significant increase” in kindergarten through fifth grades, Kalispell Superintendent Mark Flatau said.

The 46 students breaks down to moving 15 students from Edgerton to Peterson; 14 from Rankin to Hedges; six from Hedges to Elrod and 11 from Rankin to Elrod.

There are currently 2,055 students attending the district’s six kindergarten through fifth-grade schools.

The update comes on the heels of a redistricting process completed in January 2018 to add the district’s sixth elementary school, Rankin, and went into effect this school year.

Rankin Elementary, constructed to accommodate up to 450 students, was built to relieve overcrowding in the other schools, allowing students to return to their neighborhood schools — but that has been an ongoing challenge.

The school district’s aim is to maintain certain enrollment levels at the schools to prepare for potential residential growth anticipated around Edgerton, Rankin and Peterson elementary schools and to prevent overcrowding. In a December 2018 Daily Inter Lake article about overall growth in the Flathead Valley’s schools, Flatau noted tweaks to the boundaries may be needed down the line for the six schools at desired capacity levels and to plan for continued residential growth.

The approval was not without a lengthy public hearing where parents, many from the Hedges neighborhood and Buttercup Loop area, voiced concerns with children who have already changed schools multiple times; fourth-graders who had one year left at their school; children leaving friends and teachers; families who would have to travel longer distances to school; and uprooting them from their school communities.

Parent Latigo St. Marie, who attended Hedges as a child, said it was a big deal for his family to buy a house in the Hedges boundary. His 7-year-old daughter currently attends the school.

“She’s pretty tore up about it,” St. Marie said. “She’s established in her school, really happy with her teachers.”

Buttercup Loop resident and parent Wendy Monen noted her background as a licensed social worker and child/family therapist before speaking about the potential impacts of a student’s well-being, including her son.

“The boundary change would negatively affect him; this would be his third move in three years. I don’t think that’s healthy for him. I don’t think it’s healthy for any child,” Monen said noting her family would visit the school while it was being built and signed the gym floor.

“I just don’t want you to take that away from us,” she said.

Families, however, didn’t leave the meeting without options to pursue if they want their child to remain at their current school.

Flatau explained the In-District Student Transfer policy. Parents who want their children to attend a particular school were encouraged to fill out a transfer request form before an April 15 deadline.

He assured families the issues raised have been heard and will weigh into the district’s decisions on each request.

“We’re going to pay close attention to those will-be fifth-graders as well as the child that this is their third or fourth change in three or four years,” Flatau said.

The In-District Student Transfer policy also outlines additional reasons transfers may be granted, which includes mental or physical health problems, academic program offerings and behavioral or safety issues, for example. Trustees reminded parents that there is an appeal process if a request is denied.

“We realize if we approve requests, we’re not going to get to where we need to be next year [with enrollment], but that’s OK with us, but down the road we will get there,” Flatau said.

The district also plans to solicit families not impacted by the boundary changes if they would volunteer to have their child attend a different school. This might appeal to a parent or guardian that works near a particular school, for example.

“We’ll pursue that and see what response we get in that regard as well,” said Flatau.

As to the 41 out-of-district students attending the elementary schools, Flatau encourages them to enroll in their home school districts because Kalispell Public Schools will not make a final decision on those applications until the start of the school year when classroom enrollment is determined.

In long-term planning, the district has already purchased property north of town as the future site of a seventh elementary, which may be needed in less than four years.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.