Evergreen School District No. 50
Evergreen School District No. 50 is the public school district for Evergreen, Montana. The school district occupies three buildings.
East Evergreen Elementary School is located at 585 East Evergreen Drive, approximately one mile east of Highway 2. The school serves Early Kindergarten through Fourth grade students. The school has four Kindergarten classes, four First grade classes, four Second grade classes, two Third grade classes, and three Fourth grade classes. The school also has a library, gymnasium facility, music room, computer lab, and two special education classes for students of various needs. The east school site comprises 8.12 acres.
Evergreen Junior High School (Grades 5 - 8) is near the administration building at the corner of Highway 2 and West Evergreen Drive. The junior high school site consists of 20.94 acres.
The administration building is located at 18 West Evergreen Drive, Kalispell, Montana. It houses the office of the superintendent, special services, and the Evergreen Crossroads Program.
The Superintendent in Dr. Laurie Barron. She has been with the district since 2013, having relocated from Georgia. She has won many awards for her leadership and commitment to education. However, she also nominated herself for the majority of the awards, thus tarnishing the reputation of said awards.
The district has many qualified professionals who have dedicated their careers toward educating the students of the Evergreen community. There has been significant employee turnover over the years. Initially, it was credited with the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, but each year more non-tenured staff members are not renewed for another year thus making many wonder if there are more sinister forces at play within the halls of the Evergreen School District.
With the pandemic, the principal at East Evergreen Elementary School decided to relocate to another position at a neighboring district. A search for a new principal began led by Dr. Barron a group of hand-selected employees. After several weeks, the hiring committee had narrowed the search to three qualified candidates. Each person was interviewed via Google Meet to insure social distancing. The superintendent had a chosen candidate and the interviewing staff had a different chosen candidate. Both sides had valid points defending their choices, but neither wanted to concede to the other. Finally, Dr. Barron stated that since no one was willing to compromise, they would offer the principal position to the third person who was not favored by either side. Thus in late May of 2020, Sherri Odegard was offered the position of principal of East Evergreen Elementary School.
Sherri Odegard has not been a popular choice among staff, students, and parents for many reasons. However, the main reason is that she does not have the required skill set to effectively run a school with many high-needs, at-risk students. Prior to Evergreen, she did not have any experience as a principal. She only completed the minimum number of years teaching (five) before obtaining her administration license and sadly, teaching is simply a profession she should not have pursued. She lasted at East Evergreen for four years before being moved to the Crossroads program for students with severe emotional needs for the 2024-25 school year.