Back to School: Elementary PE classes among additions in Troy

Troy teachers are preparing their classrooms and school officials are scrambling to get everything in order before the buses fire up and the schools come back to life on Aug. 26.

Troy students can look forward to changes, big and small, to expand their education and physical fitness.

Elementary students will now have daily physical education classes, and students of all ages will be able to take advantage of the new activity center, which has racquetball courts and a climbing wall that was heavily used over the summer.

“It’s always exciting to start a new year,” said Lance Pearson, principal of W.F. Morrison Elementary School. “Our new P.E. teacher will be coming in, and he’s excited about a climbing wall and working with the kids on there.” 

The new activity center will also give sports teams like basketball and volleyball more flexibility so that early morning or late night practices should no longer be necessary, superintendent Brady Selle said. 

Selle also pointed out the district’s list of new technology – 50 new computers in elementary classrooms, a new laptop lab for the high school and Smartboards in every elementary classroom. Smartboards are large, interactive computer screens that can be used to instruct a variety of subjects.

“You’re looking at kids and learning, and they have different timeframes and different learning styles,” Pearson said. “Smartboards accommodate them.”

Troy High School principal Jeff Ralston is eager to observe the work of journalism students this year, who now have the opportunity to produce a monthly newspaper and broadcast news over KVRZ radio station.

“The most important thing we can teach is how to communicate, that is, in speaking and writing,” Ralston said. “You’re getting that with the newspaper and the radio.”

Yearbook has been turned into an after-school club to make room in the journalism program for the newspaper and radio show, Ralston said. The newspaper is being revived after a four- or five-year hiatus.

Student broadcasts will stream live from the high school’s own studio to KVRZ, which will put them on the air for listeners in Libby, Troy and Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Ralston envisions students broadcasting Troy sports and news, and maybe even serving as a deejay.

“It will be the same kind of stuff in the newspaper … and if a kid wants to do music, he can put together a play list and can deejay,” Ralston said. “The radio station in Libby is pretty open to whatever we want to do.”

With only a week until school starts, Selle implores parents with new students to register their children in kindergarten on up as soon as possible.

“If there are any more parents with kids we would like to get them registered,” Selle said. “Our numbers are low, and we know there are more little ones out there.”