By Ed Moreth 

Plains dedicates new building

 

September 2, 2021

Ed Moreth

FIRST SHOT – 1943 Plains High School graduate Neptune Lynch IX takes the first basketball shot in the school's new gymnasium.

Plains School officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate its new multi-use facility Thursday afternoon.

"The building was based on the needs versus the wants of the district," Plains School Superintendent Thom Chisholm said at the dedication ceremony, where he assisted in cutting the orange and black ribbon inside the new gymnasium with Neptune Lynch IX, a 1943 graduate of Plains High School and a substantial donor to the $1.75-million facility. "New is a great color, it looks great on everything," said Chisholm, the superintendent for more than 10 years and the school's former shop teacher.

Nearly 150 people attended the ceremony, including the 95-year-old Lynch, who drove up from Missoula for the event. Chisholm announced that the 8,000-square-foot gymnasium was dedicated to Lynch and his late wife, Mary Ellen. Lynch, Betty Meyer of Paradise and John Amundson of Seattle are the three remaining members of the class. Lynch, who donated $400,000 to the building's construction, shot the first basketball in the new gym. Chisholm told the group that he lives in the log home that Lynch built for his family in the 1940s. The Lynch family dates back to the 1870s, when they established a cattle ranch. "Thanks to Nep for thinking of his alma mater and his willingness to bring our dream to fruition," added Chisholm.

Construction of the building was also possible with a $750,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce and $600,000 from the school district, said Chisholm, who designed the building with Kevin Meredith, formerly the high school principal and now the elementary principal, and Jim Holland, the elementary principal who retired last June.

Chisholm announced to the crowd that the visual and performance art rooms are dedicated to Meredith, who wrote the grant. "Kevin saw an opportunity and acted upon it, even when others, myself included, thought it was an exercise in futility," said Chisholm.

He told the crowd that the "Opportunity Room," an additional space that could be used for a classroom, conference room or concessions during games, was dedicated to Holland and his wife, Ginny, the administrative manager in the main office until her retirement in 2019. He said she worked over a decade to set aside funds and "create a nest egg" for a future building. "But, with the sale of the old grade school, and very fiduciary practices, money was saved to be used for when the time was right," said Chisholm, who also noted that Jim Holland was determined to meet the district's needs during his career. "For over 15 years, Jim never gave up on finding some luck to make a new facility a reality."

The 12,000-square-foot multi-function facility also houses Kristen Cole's 1,200-square-foot art classroom, which is nearly 30 percent larger than the room she had been using for the last 27 years on the second floor above the shop class. "This is incredible; I'm still pinching myself," said Cole, who started at Plains as a substitute teacher before moving on as the full-time art teacher. With her new classroom, Cole got eight new tables, additional storage bins for students' projects, a new desk on wheels, and a 65-inch flat screen television. The room has three large windows, so students can work more in natural light, and her pottery kiln is in the same room, instead of being housed in the maintenance building behind the school. Because her old classroom was also not handicap accessible, she had to provide separate instruction to those with medical disabilities. And one of the four sinks in the new classroom is accessible by wheelchair.

"The best part of this is that if they're investing that much into this, I see that the art program will continue," said Cole, who started moving her equipment and materials from the old classroom the previous Thursday with the help of four maintenance staffers. "I'm so grateful for all this," she added.

The building's gymnasium will be primarily used for junior high and elementary school students. The new space for the lower grade students will save money and time and will ease scheduling problems for all three schools, which were using the same gym for practice and games, said Chisholm. Along with the gym, the building will house locker rooms and public restrooms, a PE office and janitorial space.

Plains resident Randy Garrison, a 1976 Plains High School graduate, served as the event's emcee and provided visitors with numerous details about the building, including a laundry room, a universal fire suppression system, public and team restrooms, four independent heating and cooling systems, heated gutters and 520 feet of sidewalks around the building. The new facility also has air conditioning, something the other gym doesn't have, said Garrison. "If you ever sat on the top row in the back of the other one, you'd know it wasn't," said Garrison.

Chisholm loves the new building, but he is especially pleased with the engineered rubber flooring, which consists of five layers of interlocking materials with rubber paint. Garrison said that with the rubber floor, there would be no need to cover it when they hold concerts, drama club plays or other special events there. In addition, with the push of a button, the basketball hoops can be moved to between 8 and 10 feet high. The junior high basketball teams will have their first games in the new gym in early October, said Chisholm. On Thursday, visitors had the opportunity to shoot baskets and play volleyball in the new gym. Chisholm believes that around 200 people came during the two-hour open house of the new facility.

Terri Henry, who heads the drama club, will be doing the first play in the new building this fall. Chisholm had a portion of the 24- by 32-foot modular portable stage out for people to see Thursday. The stage can be broken down into sections and is on rollers for ease of mobility. The drama club, which used to put on their plays at the Sanders County Fairgrounds pavilion, will utilize a remote control light system to change colors and density for performances. The building has a large automatic roll-up garage door for the drama club and for when the Montana Repertory Theatre hauls in their stage equipment.

Western Interstate Construction broke ground on the building in October and was supposed to be completed by June 30, said Chisholm. He said the school took temporary ownership of the building a week earlier and said that it's 99 percent complete with only minor things that need to be done. Dan McGee, the owner's representative of Western Interstate Construction, was also positioned at the ceremonial ribbon. The superintendent said they plan to landscape the area around the building with rocks or stones for easier upkeep. He's also working on an 18-foot long aluminum Horsemen and Trotters school sign with two 6- by 8-foot Chess-like horse heads on the outside of the building.

 

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