Polson bond

Polson school bond vote approaches

By Kristi Niemeyer For the Valley Journal

POLSON — At Cherry Valley Elementary in Polson, the wriggly kindergarten and first grade students forming a line for recess are among those whose futures will be most impacted by votes cast in the next few weeks. After all, these kids are apt to spend the next 12 years learning, playing, and growing in the four schools encompassed by the Polson School District.

District voters received ballots in the mail last week asking their support for bond measures that could, if approved, dramatically improve the educational environment for all the district’s students.

At first glance, kids are thriving in the elementary school, built in 1963. In Kaitlyn Keniston’s pre-kindergarten class, four- and five-year-olds exuberantly practice their letter sounds before recess. The grant-funded pre-K program helps these 16 kids get a head start “so when they get to kindergarten they just fly,” says Keniston.

A few doors down the hallway, first graders take turns reading aloud from “The Lost Treasure of Captain Kidd.” Veteran teacher Joanie Bowen counsels kids to “pause and stop and think at the end of every page. That’s what good readers do. They ask themselves questions, they write down what they think is important and they have opinions about what they read.”

As they head out the door for recess, she urges them to be “quiet and respectful and kind all the way down the hall.” Most succeed.

Bowen joined the staff at Cherry Valley in 2003 and loves working with this inquisitive, energetic age group. “There’s nothing better than the enthusiasm of first graders,” she says. “They’re very open minded and have no qualms about learning new things – they’re just ready to go.”

John Gustafson, who taught at Linderman for seven years, and spent a year at Polson Middle School before becoming principal at Cherry Valley this year, admires the passion, patience and experience his teachers possess. Watching them instruct 20 little kids in a classroom “is a pretty spectacular thing,” he says.

And yet, teachers accomplish this feat in a cramped building that’s almost 60 years old. Speech pathologists tutor students in the hallway, as their peers enter and exit adjacent classrooms. “Can you imagine trying to fine tune your speech when all this going on around you and you can’t hear the teacher talking to you?”

Intervention specialists are in the same boat, helping students who need extra support in hallways, closets, or in the room that also serves as gym and cafeteria, making it even harder to learn and teach.

And then there’s the challenge of an aging facility, ill-equipped for 21st century education. Cherry Valley is heated with a boiler salvaged from a Korean War-era ship. Windows glaze over with ice during the winter and rooms swelter as summer approaches. And despite the fact that Polson is growing, all four of the district’s schools “are packed to the gills” with

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KRISTI NIEMEYER Children in Kaitlyn Keniston’s transitional kindergarten class master the alphabet, while also learning the skills necessary to flourish in school next year.

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from page 5 students and have been since Gustafson joined the district in 2012.

“This is not a new problem,” he says. “Something needs to change.”

The bond issue, if approved, delivers that change. Cherry Valley, built in 1963, is targeted to receive $16.23 million for a new wing to house eight classrooms, a new front entry, a combined gym and dining commons, and a music room with a stage. The 74-year-old Linderman would receive $9. 16 million to add a music room and expand its library (both displaced when the new gym was built), build a wing to accommodate fifth graders, improve student restrooms and update the dining area and serving kitchen.

The middle school, constructed 30 years ago, receives the most modest allotment at $6.72 million. Those funds would facilitate an extensive remodel, including an upgrade to the central kitchen, where all the district’s meals are prepared, expanding the dining area and school commons, remodeling restrooms, converting standard classrooms to accommodate special education students and adding an outdoor learning area.

The three schools would also be reorganized, with pre-K through second grades housed at Cherry Valley (now K through first), grades three through five at Linderman (currently second through fourth) and grades six through eight at the middle school (currently fifth through eighth).

According to veteran teacher Bowen, that alignment better reflects students’ “developmental continuum.”

The reorganization “makes sense to all of us and I think it makes sense to parents too – most would rather have fifth graders at Linderman,” she says. “And it would be wonderful have second grade here so we can follow what’s going on with those kiddos when they leave our classroom.”

The high school, built in 1972, is on the ballot for $17.76 million. The majority would be used to finance a new two-story addition on the school’s north side to replace aging and unsafe modular units. The addition would house classrooms and labs devoted to science, career training and technology, a metals shop, and music and art rooms.

Security will be significantly beefed up at all four buildings. “You want to think that nothing’s going to happen,” said Gustafson. “But in the world we live in, you have to be prepared if the worst happens – our number one priority is keeping our kids safe.”

Removing or encapsulating hazardous materials, such as asbestos and lead, is also part of the project, as well as enhanced fire protection, and new water, sewer and electrical services as needed.

“I just feel the community needs to rally to support our schools because this is what feeds our community,” says Gustafson. “We need strong schools, a good place for our kids to grow. They spend a lot of time here so it’s important that we have good facilities to do it right.”

If both measures pass, they would raise nearly $50 million for district-wide renovations. That’s $10 million less than a bond proposal that was defeated two years ago. Since then, the district has worked hard to find a “no-fluff” solution that’s hopefully more palatable to voters, who haven’t passed a bond levy in 20 years.

Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds were deployed to address heating, ventilation and air conditioning issues, reducing the cost to local taxpayers. The budget was also trimmed by eliminating a proposed events center from the high school bond measure.

The current proposals would cost property owners $79.49 annually on a home valued at $100,000 and $158.98 per year for a $200,000 home for the elementary bond; and $26.86 for a home valued at $100,000 or $53.71 for a $200,000 home for the high school.

Bowen points out that if voters continue to oppose school improvements, the price-tag will keep going up. “Fingers crossed that our community can come out and support Polson schools because we need it this time,” she said. “We really need it.”

She believes the bond resolutions, if passed, represent an investment in the

Judicial candidates apply for vacancy

By Kristi Niemeyer For the Valley Journal

MONTANA — Four attorneys have applied to fill a vacancy in the 20th Judicial District, covering Lake and Sanders counties, pending the retirement of Judge Jim Manley on June 1. Gov. Greg Gianforte will appoint the new judge and is currently accepting public comment and letters of support at nominatejudges@ mt.gov.

Candidates are Benjamin Anciaux, Kathryn McEnery, Molly Owen and Alisha Rapkoch. To qualify for consideration, each must receive at least three letters of support.

According to information posted online at nominatejudges.mt.gov:

Benjamin Anciaux has served as a deputy Lake County attorney since 2015, maintained a private law practice in Polson since 1986, and worked as Ronan city attorney since 2018. He’s a graduate of the University of Montana Law School. During more than 35 years of practice, he’s worked as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, handling criminal and juvenile cases, including those involving youth dependency and neglect.

Kathryn McEnery moved to Montana from Illinois, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Valparaiso University School of Law, was editor of the school’s law review, and interned with the U.S. District Court for the North District of Indiana and the Porter County Circuit Court. She was elected to her current post as Powell County Attorney in 2018, after serving as deputy county attorney for nearly two years in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County. She was a city attorney in Hot Springs and Thompson Falls, and also helmed a private practice and worked for law firms in Missoula and Kalispell.

Molly Owen earned her law degree in 2012 from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State in Tempe, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, earned the Excellence for the Future Award and was managing editor of the Arizona State Law Journal. She’s served as town attorney for St. Ignatius since 2017 and worked as deputy Lake County attorney since 2015. She was an assistant city prosecutor for the City of Mesa and spent a year working as a judicial law clerk for division one of the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Alisha Rapkoch, an assistant public defender for Region 1 in Kalispell, earned her law degree in 2014 from the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando, FL, graduating with high honors in trial advocacy and litigation. She’s spent most of her career working for the state of Montana as a public defender, employed at offices in Missoula (as managing attorney) and Kalispell.

A 10-person advisory council will scrutinize applications, interview candidates and make recommendations to the governor. Committee members include attorneys Casey Emerson, Ann Marie McNeel, John Mercer and Ryan Rusche; Boone Cole, former chair of the Flathead Joint Board of Control; Dennis DeVries, former Polson city judge; Becky Dupuis, co-owner of Polson Theatres; Susan Lake of Lake Farms, Inc.; Don Strine, former justice of the peace for Sanders County; Lori Thibodeau, a probation and parole officer for the Montana Dept. of Corrections; Teresa Wall-McDonald, human resources director at Salish Kootenai Community College; and Ben Woods, Lake County undersheriff.

The public comment period ends May 11 and the governor has until June 10 to announce his appointment.