The Rice Ridge Fire evacuations have moved classes in Seeley Swan High School temporarily to the Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, starting Tuesday, September 5.

MCPS Communications Director Hatton Littman said that once the first week of classes were postponed, officials began searching for an alternative location without having to bring the students all the way to Missoula.

"We're really lucky that the principal, Dr. Kat Pecora, has a personal relationship with staff at the Resort at Paws Up, and she was able to have conversations with the owners. and they generously offered their brand new administrative building that they haven't even put their staff into yet," Littman said. "They've offered it to the school for their use for the unforeseeable future as long as it takes to determine how long it will take to move students back into the Seeley Swan High School."

Littman said even though Paws Up is a luxurious resort, it's not equipped to be a high school.

"It will be a lot of adjustments for classrooms," she said. "We are delivering some temporary technology items, but essentially, students and teachers will be altering what their formal lesson plans may have been in order to stay on task with their content. We'll be delivering about 23 Windows laptops and Chrome Books to help them, and students who take the Montana Digital Academy will be able to get online and stay up to date with that."

Littman was clear that transportation to and from the resort has to be limited to school buses, and not personal student vehicles.

"We have a very clear and concise fact sheet on the Seeley Swan webpage, and it identifies which bus routes will be able to be picked up at their home location, essentially coming in from Condon, which bus routes will pick up at Lindy's Steak House in Seeley Swan and they'll transport those students directly to the resort, and they back to Lindy's Steak House or back to their home bus stops. No one will be allowed to bring a personal vehicle without the direct permission of the principal, Dr. Pecora."

There is no timetable as to how long this arrangement will continue due to the fact that the Seeley Swan High School was one of the structures evacuated due to the Rice Ridge Fire.

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