Keeping the Paradise school building alive

Community members united to discuss how to keep the building operational

PARADISE – Approximately 30 members of the community joined together at the Paradise school building on Wednesday, December 4 to discuss future plans for the historic building.

Commissioner Carol Brooker helped organize the meeting, although she stressed that she was not at the meeting as a government official.

“This is not the government coming to Paradise to tell you what you should do with your school. I’m a friend of the arts and that’s why I’m here,” said Brooker.

The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm ideas of use for the building. Since there is little hope of ever reopening the doors as a school, the time is now to move forward with new ideas.

“Think outside of the box. Tell us what you guys have been thinking about – what your dreams for the school would be,” said Brooker.

The hope was to also create a committee that would later move forward with the ideas discussed.

Terri Kendall, the clerk for the Paradise school, explained the school board decided to go through the abandonment process where the school would neither be annexed into the Plains School District nor consolidated with them.

“We are just letting the district sit here for three years and then it will automatically go to Plains,” said Kendall.

With a lack of interest from the Plains School District, the ideal situation would be for the board to sell the property to a non-profit for a few dollars.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what the board would really like to do with this property is to hand it over to a nonprofit group which will take care of the property, use it and keep it in good shape,” explained Kendall. “We just don’t want to see it sit here and let the flies and mice take it over.”

It was explained that whoever did take it over would have until June 30th, 2016 to do something with the building. Until that date, the school board will continue to maintain the building.

Once that time is reached, school district number 8 will no longer exist and it will dissolve.

The first idea for the building came from Karen and John Thorson, two members of the Artists of Sanders County. Karen explained originally the plan was for their organization to use the school as a visual arts center, however, after a tour in October, it was decided the school was too big for the organization.

This is when the idea for a multi-purpose facility came into play.

“(The school) is bigger than we are but we’d like to offer some ideas tonight and among those ideas, encourage use of at least part of the school for an arts center for the county,” explained Karen.

John said the two recognize the importance of the building to the community and one of the important pieces to the puzzle would be to preserve it as best as possible.

“I think we recognize that along with the people, the mountains, the river, this school is probably one of the treasures of Paradise. And I think it’s both an opportunity and a challenge for everyone in this room to try to find a nice, positive future for this facility because it served Paradise so well for 100 years,” said John.

The idea stemmed from a handful of key points. Because of the size of the building, Karen said it was evident it would have to be a multiple use facility because the building is bigger than any one group in the county.

The idea was to include visual and performing arts, as well as a northwestern Montana visitor center, a place to hold community and special events including meetings and classes, and to highlight the history of the area.

Combining these ideas encompassed a variety of different possibilities on what the school could become if resources were pooled together. In the end, it could be a one stop shop for numerous organizations and resources.

The main issue of turning it into a mutli-purpose facility is that the school currently does not meet ADA handicap accessibility requirements.

To fix this problem, the Thorsons proposed a foyer be added in between the school and the gymnasium, a two-story building that could later include restrooms, a greeting desk as well as a coffee bar with wifi.

The foyer would be built to include minimal intrusion into the building and it would most likely not be visible from the front of the building. The foyer would help mitigate any problems that currently stand with accessibility and would include renovated restrooms, an elevator to all floors and a new heating system.

The duo dove into their idea further, explaining the basement and the main floor would both be used as public space with rooms for meetings, a video theater and administrative space as well as a possible gift and art supply store. Along with that, there would be rooms that touch on the area’s history – including that of both the school and the railroad.

The upper floor would then be used as a visual arts space with an art gallery, art classes and studio space.

The outside would be redesigned to include accessible parking to the facility and possibly an amphitheater of some sort.

While it was evident that this would come at a high price, a variety of different resources were provided with grants related to arts as well as MSU architecture students helping with the design concepts.

Dave Colyer then presented an idea that would help the fire department as well as provide a homage to veterans.

Colyer was one of ten siblings who attended Paradise school. He stressed the importance of utilizing the building and ensuring it remained a Red Cross Community Center.

“I’m interested in the long term of the school,” explained Colyer.

He proposed a Sanders County Veterans Memorial be placed somewhere on the property – drawing veterans and other people into the county. He also said he would like to see a garage for a fire truck on the lot. Currently the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department has limited equipment in the area because their current garage is too small.

Once his idea was presented, the meeting went into a brainstorming frenzy.

Randy Hojem facilitated the meeting and encouraged everyone to throw out as many ideas as possible.

Once the ideas were up on a piece of paper, the group went through and decided what ideas could be combined.

Out of the long list of ideas, it was decided only a handful would not fit into a multi-purpose facility while all of the others would.

Ideas included a small camping area for RVs and tents, an entertainment center, an outdoor exercise trail and a playground. Colyer’s ideas also seemed to fit well within the multi-purpose facility.

With the annual expenses of maintaining the building running close to $32,000 a year, it was apparent the facility would need some time to get up and running. Currently the school board will continue to pay the operating costs till 2016 – an opportunity Hojem said was great to get the project started.

“Paradise School District is going to fund the maintenance till (June) of 2016 so you guys have this wonderful opportunity to try to get your feet under you and get going without having the burden of operation and maintenance,” explained Hojem. “It’s a pretty big vision, it’s a great vision but it will take some elbow grease and funding.”

With the meeting time running out, it was decided that a smaller group of people would look into grant opportunities and the funding logistics.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place somewhere in January although an official date was not released.