Lay offs

In response to a recent letter from Dana Carmichael, while I appreciate her inspiring counterpoint to the absolutely unnecessary publication recently of letters questioning the decisions made by the Whitefish School Board regarding the termination of a popular teacher, I hope that the citizens of Whitefish realize the unfortunate state of affairs that caused it to happen in the first place.

I say that the publication of the letters was unnecessary because, as the Pilot reported elsewhere in the same issue, a solution had already been found to retain the teacher in question. Why the editors chose to print these inflammatory letters remains a mystery to many.

The fact is the school district is losing students at a rapid pace, which is the cause of the financial straits that they are now facing. The teacher mentioned in the letter was also not the only one faced with the elimination of their livelihood. Unfortunately for those other dedicated teachers and staff members, their jobs were not saved.

Population decreases and the current world-wide financial crisis are not the only reasons for this. Many students who continue to live in the Whitefish School District are choosing to leave the district because they believe the "grass is greener" in neighboring schools. This fallacious attitude is not only disappointing, but as Ms. Carmichael has stated in her many examples, it is often contrary to the remarkable achievements and qualities of the district, its staff, and the student body.

The support and loyalty for our schools, from the entire community, must be encouraged and allowed to thrive before it is too late, and the school district is once again faced with the need to lay off additional wonderful and beloved educators and staff.

Tim Mahoney

Kalispell

Health enhancement

Every year, Muldown Elementary School students benefit from tremendous community support for our Health Enhancement program.

This winter, the Big Mountain Ski Club again made a large donation to cover the transportation costs for our third- and fourth-grade ski and snowboard lesson day at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

In addition, the Glacier Nordic Club donated supplies and manpower to groom cross-country tracks on our playground for our cross-country ski unit.

This spring, Glacier Cyclery, Great Northern Cycles, and Sportsman & Ski Haus donated bike helmets to be raffled at our helmet promotion table at Mully Night. The Montana Trial Lawyers Association also gives us helmets to distribute to needy students each spring.

In addition to bike helmets, Sportsman & Ski Haus donates entries to the Whitefish Lake Run to be used for prizes for our students.

Our newest curriculum addition involved a fourth-grade adventure day on the high school ropes and challenge course, for which recent high school graduates Kelsey Holmes, Abby Bryson, Jason Schmidt and Eric Clay assisted.

This is just a fraction of the community involvement that I witness each year. Thanks, Whitefish. Your schools thrive with your support.

Vonda Garcia

Health enhancement teacher

Muldown Elementary School