Bigfork School Board prepares for fall semester

The Bigfork School Board accepted four donations to the district, talked about preparations for the upcoming school year, and met Bigfork High School’s new Spanish teacher, Suzanne Hines at their meeting on July 18.

Plum Creek donated $4,500 toward the GIS Program and Montana Bliss donated $1,200 toward Mary Ahnert’s nutrition class.

Both Kalispell Toyota and the Toyota Dealer Match Program donated $5,000 to the district.

“All of that went to soccer last year, but we met with them and it is going to cross-country, golf, and soccer and some will be left over for miscellaneous things that they or another organization might need,” Superintendent Cynthia Clary said in regards to how the $10,000 would be distributed this year. “Eda (Taylor, district clerk) talked to Sue (Loeffler, crosscountry coach) and she was thrilled.”

BHS cross-country is currently without budgeted funds from the district and relies on fundraisers to keep the program going.

The board of trustees also discussed the work that is being done to prepare for the upcoming school year with BHS Principal Matt Porrovecchio and Bigfork Elementary School Principal Matt Jensen.

“This is the craziest and best time of the year in terms of getting stuff done,” Clary said.

Both schools are currently being cleaned and reorganized, landscape work is being done at BHS with new flags, benches and picnic tables, and new furniture was delivered last week. The high school’s new heating system is nearly complete and should be operational before school starts next month.

Although some of the classrooms aren’t quite finished with summer cleaning, many of the district’s newly hired staff members are going in on a regular basis to prepare for their first semester.

“The new teachers are chomping at the bit to get in the classroom,” Jensen said.

The board of trustees also met the high school’s new Spanish teacher, Hines, at their meeting last week. Hines currently works at Showthyme and was commuting to the Polson School District from her home in Woods Bay. She said that she and her family are excited for her career move and is looking forward to the shorter commute.

The next board meeting will be Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. in the BES cafeteria. The reason the district is meeting earlier than usual in the month is so the board can finalize the budget for the upcoming year before fall begins.