ONCE there were two public high schools in the city: Kalkadoon and Mount Isa.
And then in 2003 they closed and were merged under the one name of Spinifex State College. Kalkadoon become the senior campus while Mount Isa was labelled the junior.
Mount Isa State High’s deputy became the acting principal who led the transition and when the two schools became one was promoted to the permanent position. 13 years later Spinifex State College’s first and only principal has accepted her position at Forest Lake State High School. Around the same time Denise Kostowski has also reached the milestone of working 30 years for Education Queensland. Although the move has timed with the milestone it was a coincidence.
28 of Mrs Kostowski’s teaching years were spent in Mount Isa. The other two were in Nanango. Since moving to the Isa she has met her partner, Richard, had two children, and been involved in camping and supported local sports such as rugby, soccer and softball.
On her list of professional achievements is the amalgamation of two local high schools. Both schools had much higher numbers in the past and yet as time went on both schools were struggling in various departments. “So even before we merged, Mount Isa students would go over to Kalkadoon and study, and vice versa.
“It just made sense to have all the students together because we can maximise the curriculum program that was offered to them.”
The transition was smooth but there had been much consultation for a community divided by strong allegiances and rivalry for each school.
“We had to build a new culture for the school, because Mount Isa and Kalko had very different cultures within their school. Every school had its way of working so we had to build a new culture,” Mrs Kostowski said.
It was not as simple as clashing the two cultures together and hoping the students would naturally find their own way.
“It was very important to say ‘we’re a new school now, and this is what we’re going to do.’
“Obviously having junior and senior students on different campuses was very different, so we had to say ‘these are the expectations, this is what our school is about.’”
The creation of the state’s new residential college encouraged improved education from the smaller surrounding communities, and was done during the transition. This came with a host of challenges to predict.
“We had to basically rewrite and reinvent and recreate policy documents because our policies were all written for students that come to school from eight o’clock to 3 o’clock in the afternoon," she said.
