By NANCY KIMBALL

Course offerings being developed for Glacier High

The Daily Inter Lake

Construction at Glacier High School on Kalispell's northwest horizon is edging closer to the day in June next year when teachers and administrators plan to move in.

Glacier's curriculum and a transfer policy between Glacier and Flathead High, too, remain works in progress.

But school officials promise to announce final course offerings for both schools by mid-January or the first of February. The transfer policy also will be in place by then.

That's the word last week from Callie Langohr, appointed in February to become Glacier High principal. She led a recent parent information meeting, along with Glacier Assistant Principal/Activities Director Mark Dennehy and Assistant Principal Micah Hill.

At Flathead, Principal Peter Fusaro's team includes Frank Jobe as assistant principal/activities director, Mike Lincoln as assistant principal and a dean yet to be hired.

Glacier opens with grades 9-11 in fall 2007. All seniors will stay at Flathead that first year, but both schools will have all four classes beginning in 2008-09.

Parent questions at recent meetings focused primarily on academics.

. Flathead High is approved as the only campus for International Baccalaureate, a rigorous college-prep course of study. Glacier High will be Kalispell's only site for advanced-placement courses.

One early proposal would allow Glacier High students to take up to three International Baccalaureate courses a semester at Flathead High, but no decision has been made on that yet.

Langohr said Glacier High will open with seven advanced-placement courses - language and composition (11th-grade English), statistics, chemistry, world history, U.S. history, studio art and Spanish. In addition, one advanced-placement course in government may be offered at Flathead next year only to accommodate seniors finishing out their high school career.

Along with the transition to two high schools, the curriculum is making the transition to a career cluster concept - offering career-specific courses in six main groupings for students interested in the health field, for example, or engineering and industrial technology.

Registration for fall 2007 classes at both schools begins with curriculum night on Feb. 20. Rural schools register for classes Feb. 21-27 and District 5 registers March 6-9. Registration wraps up by March 16, and a master course schedule will be ready by April 30, Langohr said.

Students are assigned to one school or the other based on their home addresses in Kalispell or by the rural elementary school they attended. Whether assigned to Glacier or Flathead, students will be allowed to take individual courses at the other high school.

Students may travel between schools, with permission, to take courses not offered at their home school. But enrolling in the school not designated as their "school of record," or assigned high school, is another matter.

Langohr said she and others are taking a look at the transfer policy.

Tentatively, it allows transfers because of mental or physical health problems, academic program offerings, and school officials' directives for a student to transfer due to behavior or safety issues.

There also must be space for the student in classes at the other high school.

A discussion on the policy is scheduled for the school board's Nov. 14 meeting.

. A freshman academy is planned at both high schools. It operates much like the middle school concept, with teams of teachers working with the same groups of students all year.

. Sophomores and juniors will add something called 21st Century Literacy to their regimen of career-focused studies. It prepares them to be good students and launch them into career or college by teaching time management, study skills and more. They will learn how to gather and evaluate information, how to think critically and solve problems, how to make the most of teamwork through cooperation and leadership, and how to lay a foundation through ethical values such as honesty, respect, integrity and others.

. A major senior research project is in the works, but probably will not be incorporated in next year's curriculum. It could allow students to conduct research and spend time with experts in their chosen field before writing and defending a thesis of sorts.

. The school board last month voted to switch high school classes from a six-period to a seven-period day, opening up more course opportunities for students and boosting academic rigor. A 15-member committee of parents, students, administrators, teachers and trustees is reviewing graduation requirements that will change with the shift to seven periods.

Langohr expects their recommendation to go to the school board Dec. 12.

Coaches also are being shifted into place between Flathead and Glacier.

Some head coaches were announced earlier this fall: At Glacier High, Grady Bennett will coach football, Christy Harkins volleyball, Jerry Boschee girls track and Greg Adkins speech. In music, David Barr will lead band and Kurt Weber will direct choir.

Sherry Simmons will conduct orchestra at both high schools.

Flathead High's head coaches will be Fred Febach in boys basketball and Kim Elliott in girls basketball.

All other head coaching/directing and assistant positions will be posted for applications from the public on Feb. 5. By May 3 all positions will be filled, and will go up for board approval on May 8.

Throughout the process, Langohr said, the school wants parents involved.

School officials are asking for volunteers on five committees - graduation, school song selection, open/closed campus policy, school mission statement and school accreditation. They want parents to help with computer technology, move supplies from Flathead to Glacier, coordinate small projects, be tour guides for open houses and serve on the Parent Council.

As the transition continues, school officials want to dispel the perception that Glacier and Flathead will be unequal - that one will offer a better education or culture than the other.

"There's not going to be an old school and a new school. There's not going to be a poor school and a rich school, " Langohr told parents. "Flathead High School is not the old school, it's the original school with a rich tradition and a rich culture, and Glacier High School will have that rich tradition and rich culture."

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com