Five candidates compete for two school board seats

Five candidates are in the race for two 3-year positions on the School District 6 board of trustees this year, including the two incumbents.

The election will take place on May 8, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Glacier Gateway and Canyon elementary schools and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at West Glacier Elementary School. Absentee ballots were mailed out on April 18.

The candidates include:

• Appointed to the Columbia Falls school board in 2005 and elected in 2006, Jim Henjum and his family moved to Columbia Falls from Spokane in 2001. He has served on the school board’s Advisory Council, Long Range Planning Committee and Insurance Committee.

A 1998 graduate of Gonzaga University, Henjum works as a civil engineer for Eclipse Engineering. He’s active in community organizations and assists in youth soccer, basketball and baseball.

• Hailing from one of the oldest families in Flathead Valley history, Carl Motichka is a 1971 Columbia Falls High School graduate, as were his son and daughter. He retired from Plum Creek Plywood after 34 years.

Motichka says he’d like to see some changes in the school district. With so many people hurting from the economic recession, he’d like to see the school district rein in spending. He’d also like to see school teachers and staff treated the same way as students when it comes to drug testing and drug searches.

• Jill Rocksund has been on the Columbia Falls school board since 1987 and is the current chairperson. She has served on the Policy/Title IX, Insurance, Long Range Planning and Negotiations committees.

With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Rocksund taught for five years in Columbia, Mo., and nine years at West Glacier School. She also worked for 11 years as a principal in Whitefish and continues there as curriculum director for the school district while she completes a doctorate at Montana State University.

• A Columbia Falls High School graduate, Benjamin Shafer works in the process development group at Applied Materials, in Kalispell. He’s been with the company for nine years.

Shafer credits his grandparents, Vaughn and Irene Shafer, longtime benefactors of Canyon Elementary School, for inspiring his sense of community involvement. A Hungry Horse resident and trustee for the Hungry Horse Rural Water District, Shafer notes that his daughter is a fifth-generation Hungry Horse native.

• Glenn Wehe has been the technology director for Evergreen School District for the past 13 years. His background includes more than 20 years in the investment and financial industries and 20 years concurrently in the technology industry.

The father of two students in Columbia Falls schools, Wehe is an officer in the local volunteer fire department. He also volunteers for various local organizations and committees.