Bigfork High School bond summary

By Denny Sabo

Bigfork High School has been a central focus of our community for many years. The first graduating class entered in January of 1964. President John Kennedy's call of, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" was still ringing in their ears. The gunshots from the Texas Book Observatory were fresh in their memory. Vietnam was a place that wasn't even taught in geography. The members of that class are the first wave of the "Baby Boomers" are now poised to retire now.

Bigfork High School has served them, and the students that followed them, very well. It has been source of education for the students and a source of entertainment for the community. Sporting events, plays, graduations, band and choir concerts all contributed to our quality of life in The Last Best Place in the country.

Although the basic foundation and walls of the school are still sound, much of the remainder of the facility needs to be repaired or replaced. It does not have enough classrooms for the breadth of classes that need to be offered. The science and computer facilities are obsolete. The students need facilities that are available in most other schools of similar size in Montana; a place to sit to eat lunch; a choir room; science labs that are sufficient to teach the varied subjects in today's curriculum. Health classes deserve to be taught in a classroom and PE deserves safe and comprehensive facilities. Showers and locker rooms need to be upgraded so students will actually use them. The art classroom just needs more space. Lastly, much of the building is just worn-out. Repairs on top of repairs don't last.

We need a high school that will last the major part of the first half of the 21st century. While we can't guarantee that this version of the school will be sufficient for the next 50 years, we do believe it will be sufficient for the next 20-30 years.

This bond proposal also gives our community a modern library, open at expanded hours that will service all of our residents, and relieve some of the downtown parking congestion.

The cost of this addition and upgrade is $11.1 million. In 1998 when the last bond proposal was put to the community, the cost of a brand new school was $8.5 million. This shows the inflationary effects that have happily impacted the value of our properties but has hurt our ability to build new facilities. If we as citizens choose to wait, five years from now the cost of a new sufficient facility may double again.

Your elected High School Board of Trustees has been working on the best possible solution at BHS for two years. We have brought in outside experts and architects to advise us on what is deficient in our school and what needs to be done in the most efficient manner possible to fix the problems. That's the content and the proposal detailed in the Bond request, a high school without luxuries but with the necessary facilities to equip our kids to compete in the 21st century!

Denny Sabo is a school board trustee.