Board accepts bond vote

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

The Bigfork School District Board of Trustees voted to accept the vote that defeated the $11.1 million high school bond at last week's meeting.

The board agreed that the high school has plenty of issues that need to be addressed, but two defeats in six months for the high school bond means that the issue will have to be reevaluated in the future before coming back to voters.

"Personally, this is very sad for me," said chairman Maureen Averill. "I don't think there was any fluff in what we were asking for."

Trustee Mike Roessman pointed out that it took the Anaconda school board six times before voters agreed to a bond and it took three times in Townsend.

"The onus is on the board to find a solution that is palatable to the community," said Trustee Denny Sabo.

Averill said she'd like to see a short survey sent out to voters to get a better idea of what might be more desirable to them and to gauge the effectiveness of the district's and others' education on the subject.

It was also noted that survey gathered nine years ago after a bond failed that would have built a new high school north of Bigfork voters said they defeated the issue because they wanted the school to stay downtown. This time some public opinion favored building a new facility from the ground up.

In other business at the meeting, the board approved the 2008-2009 academic calendar, which will start one week later than usual to accommodate a construction schedule on the elementary school. School will also dismiss at 3:10 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. next year. Holidays and practice schedules won't be affected by the changes, Superintendent Russ Kinzer said. The last day of school will be June 10.

The board voted to accept an anonymous donation in the amount of $10,000 to Bigfork Elementary School for the purchase of smartboards, electronic white boards that are becoming more common in classrooms around the country.

Kinzer said the school usually receives somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000 in donations each year and that they are often earmarked for some specific purchase.

The next school board meeting will be at 5 p.m. on March 19 in the high school band room.