WHITEFISH- The Whitefish School District is hosting a public meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14 to discuss future needs at Whitefish high School.
The community engagement meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Whitefish High School cafeteria and will focus on possible expansion needs at the high school and its activities complex.
A Long-Range Facility Plan adopted by the school in 2021 recommends “identified significant growth and critical needs of the high school as a top priority” moving forward.
School officials note that over the past decade the district has expanded by more than 300 students with 2% annual growth expected.
A variety of designs and concepts will be presented at the meeting as the district investigates the needs of the school and whether to seek a potential bond.
Officials believe the high school is expected to exceed its designed 600-student capacity by the next school year.
Whitefish High School Principal Kerry Drown says teachers and students are being moved around constantly as the district struggles to find space.
“People sharing spaces, teachers on carts moving between classrooms, those are the things that start to compromise our ability to do our best as educators and that’s what we don’t want to do, we want to provide an excellent opportunity for our kids and the facility is something that needs to be able to support that,” said Drown.
Additional information about the growth in Whitefish schools can be found at https://whitefishschools.org/.
