Deer Park School is seeking approval of a $4 million bond to construct a new building to address aging facilities and add space. 

The main level of the proposed building will be roughly 6,670 square feet, encompassing four classrooms, a boy's and a girl’s bathroom, lockers, a conference room, janitor's room and storage space. A secure vestibule would lead to a waiting room and new main office and administrative offices. The basement level will house a mechanical room, pump room, crawl space and storage space. 

On Tuesday, Deer Park Principal Sheri Modderman, school board member Gary Anderson and booster club member and parent of three, Ashley Young, provided a tour of needs and proposed plans, starting in the existing main office building, which served as a teacherage in the late-1930s and early-1940s. 

Once inside, it’s close quarters standing in and around the front desk.  There is not much space for waiting students and Modderman said it’s not uncommon in the morning for the waiting line to trail outside. The principal’s, clerk’s and lunch coordinator’s offices are located in the building. 

"We are looking to replace this building and the Quonset hut, which is attached,” Modderman said. 

With a desire to preserve a piece of history, the district plans to sell the old teacherage, possibly through a live auction, and see it relocated, Anderson said. The group noted that both buildings have infrastructure problems — namely plumbing and electrical — and lack storage space. 

“We had water line issues, so we’ve been working, I feel like all year, on that. Then it interfered with all of our plumbing ... this [building] and the Quonset hut and the bell tower [building] a little bit too,” Modderman said. 

Back outside, the group walked over to the Quonset hut, which opens directly into the music room where teacher Paul Bruce’s kindergarten class was getting underway. Next door, Samantha Marcus was teaching art.  

The pre-owned Quonset hut was donated to Deer Park in the 1960s and initially served as a gym. It currently houses music and art classrooms, a Title 1 room, bathrooms and the school’s before- and after-school programs.  

“It has definitely lived past its useful lifespan,” Anderson said. 

Shutting the door, the music room becomes dim. 

“The problem here is there’s obviously no windows,” Anderson said. 

The electrical system is also lacking; there is one outlet in each classroom, for example. Anderson noted that some of the fluorescent lights are out because of failing ballasts, which are expensive to replace. One row of light switches by the exterior door in Bruce’s classroom serve the entire building. 

When asked about the music classroom’s acoustic quality, Bruce responded bluntly: “Dead.” 

“What you should do is go on the other side and listen to what happens,” Young said. 

“You were five minutes too late for band classes,” Bruce added. 

But a band performance wasn't necessary to notice that sound is audible from either side the wall from teacher’s instructing the class to music being played. 

The layout of the Quonset hut also leads to interruptions. To get to the bathrooms, or Title I room, for example, students must walk through the band and art room.  

“You’ve got three teachers that are extremely passionate about what they’re doing and we’re, unfortunately, in a building that’s falling apart,” Bruce said. 

Beyond the art room are two small bathrooms. The boy’s bathroom has two stalls and one urinal, which had to be replaced due to a leak and hard water “gumming up” plumbing. The boy’s bathroom also serves as storage. Stacked on a shelving unit were winter snowshoes interspersed by janitorial supplies.  

The girl’s bathroom only has one stall and contains a utility sink that art students use to clean paintbrushes and other supplies. 

Near the bathrooms is a closet that was converted into the Title I room, where students who are struggling academically receive additional instruction and support. The converted space is an improvement from when Title I classes were held in the music room, separated from the band by a set of bookshelves, Modderman said. 

“As you can imagine, trying to teach reading during music classes is really hard, so that was one of the things we wanted to do, is where could we move our Title I program ...” Modderman said. 

 Like the main office building, it’s tight quarters.  

“It’s a decent sized closet, but when you put four or five kids in there it gets pretty tight,” she said. 

Established in 1886, Deer Park is the oldest school operating in the Flathead Valley, according to the district. Other buildings on the school campus will not be touched in this bond project. 

Registered voters living in the school district should have received ballots in the mail. Ballots are due to the Flathead County Election Department, 290B N. Main St. in Kalispell, by 8 p.m. May 6. Ballots may be mailed or hand delivered. People may also drop ballots off at Deer Park School located at 2105 Middle Road, Columbia Falls. 

If the 25-year, $4 million bond issue is approved, the owner of a home with an assessed value of $200,000 can anticipate annual taxes to increase by about $162.25. Owners of homes with assessed values of $300,000 can expect annual taxes to increase by $243.37.      

“As this area grows, it’s actually spreading [the tax burden]. Everybody’s getting a smaller piece of the pie,” Young said.  

"The cost of course is a concern and we are hopeful we can try to offset some of that with just being very frugal with how we are spending that bond money, looking for grants, looking for donations, shopping around for contractors,” Modderman said. 

Young added, “Historically, this school’s been really good at doing a lot with a little money. I think taxpayers can be pretty confident in knowing that [the district] is going to do their best to ensure that we use as little of the bond as we have too.” 

If approved, the district has two years to sell the bonds and three years to spend the proceeds, Anderson said, noting earlier that the district currently has no debts. Timing may play a critical role as it remains unclear how Trump administration tariffs will affect future construction costs. 

“Well, everybody doesn’t know what that’s going to do yet,” Anderson said.  

“So we would be watching and working with builders and trying to determine when the best time to go forward would be,” Anderson added. 

Deer Park voters will also elect a new school board trustee to a three-year term. Candidates are incumbent Cynthia Barnes and Mikala Cordes. 

In addition to the bond issue and trustee election, Deer Park voters will help decide the fate of Kalispell Public Schools’ $1.97 million high school general fund levy. 

If the high school levy is approved, the owner of a home with an assessed value of $200,000 can anticipate annual taxes to increase by about $33.04. Owners of homes with assessed values of $300,000 can expect annual taxes to increase by $49.56.    

In 2018, Deer Park voters rejected a $1.85 million bond issue that would have funded building a new art and music room, library media center, main office and entrance, and a flexible learning room. The money would also have been used to renovate existing space and infrastructure.  

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected].