Staff, other cuts could save Canyon school, for now

Canyon Elementary appears to have earned a reprieve, at least for one year.

The School District 6 board took a first look at a new plan that would cut staff at the Hungry Horse school, but allow it to remain open next year.

"With this plan and other cuts I'm looking at we could maintain our current status," Superintendent Mike Nicosia told the board Monday.

Teaching and staff positions would be cut at the school. The school currently has 19.35 full-time equivalent positions and the new plan would reduce that to 14.8 FTE.

The board has not made a final decision on what will happen to Canyon, but is expected to vote on plan as early as March 8. Facing about a $286,000 budget shortfall in the elementary district budget next year, the board has looked at closing Canyon Elementary.

The School Board held two public hearings this month on the proposal. Several people voiced opposition to the closure plan.

Nicosia unveiled a new plan Monday.

"The board has asked me to put together a plan that meets accreditation and still allows us to meet a quality education for the Canyon students," he said.

Right now there are six teachers at the school, who teach one classroom each for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Under the new plan, one teacher position would be eliminated. Kindergarten, first and fifth grades would have individual classrooms. One classroom with second and third grades combined and one classroom with third and fourth combined would be created. Classroom sizes would range from 15-22 students under the plan.

"I don't think everybody feels good about combo classes, but they're a reality in smaller schools," Nicosia said.

The principal position would be eliminated and replaced by a head teacher position. Currently Matt Fawcett serves as half-time principal and half-time special education teacher. Special education instruction would be combined with the duties of the physical education teacher.

The counselor position would change to one-half day from a full-time position. The librarian position would also be eliminated and covered part-time by another staff member. The number of paraeducators would change from six to five. One part-time custodial position would also be cut.

The music program is also part of the cuts planned, but could be saved through some adjustments to the cuts.

"The priority would be to bring back the music instruction," Nicosia said. "It may not be as much as now."

Additional savings in the elementary district would come from a moratorium on paraeducator hiring and eliminating one teaching position from Ruder Elementary, which would likely come through attrition. No changes are planned for the junior high.

Closing Canyon Elementary and busing its 92 students to Glacier Gateway and Ruder has been one of the options for making up the shortfall. District enrollment has continued to drop over the last decade, but Canyon's has been declining more rapidly. School funding is based largely on enrollment numbers and as those numbers drop so does state funding.

However, the new plan could be just a stopgap.

"Even though this may be a one-year solution, the following year we would have to look at this again," said boardchair Jill Rocksund.

Nicosia said the state Legislature has not been cooperative in providing the necessary funding for education. He suggested folks contact state officials with their concerns.

"If we can't impact the Legislature, I don't see how we stay open another year (beyond next year)," he said. "It takes things like this — the potential closure of a neighborhood school —to get people involved."

Several Canyon teachers and staff in attendance at Monday's meeting seemed in favor of the plan.

First grade teacher Nicolette Bales said she understands that enrollment at Canyon has dropped, but she's grateful for the school board's efforts to keep the school open.

"We feel your commitment," she said.

The board Monday did vote to call for a levy election for the elementary and high school districts. If approved, a levy could only add about $56,000 to the elementary budget. While the board approved the election, it does have until April to decide if it will actually run the election. In most years, the board has voted later to cancel the election.