School board trustees want to keep the public informed and involved
The District 29 School Board hopes that this is the first of many letters describing the ongoing activities of the board. The board is pleased to announce the addition of two new members, John Hollensteiner and Sam Bagley who were seated at the end of May 2012. With the addition of our new members, we look forward to providing more communication regarding our efforts.
Part of a school board’s responsibility is to be informed in order to make good decisions. John Hollensteiner, Tim Rogge and Sam Bagley attended a course on legal responsibilities as trustees in May. Courtney Shaeffer and Tim Rogge attended the Helena MSTBA Symposium in June.
The first major decision of the new board was to issue a contract for the long-overdue replacement of the Somers Middle School roof. The work will be completed by Aug. 13.
The Board was able to renew many teacher contracts in June with more hires to come through the summer before school starts. We were able to standardize our principal’s contracts, hire a new Superintendent (Paul Jenkins) and correct our clerk’s pay scale to be commensurate with her experience. We updated our hiring process and wording on one other document (with the guidance of MTSB legal counsel) to get some of our policies more current. Although it was emotional at times, we also corrected a previous decision and offered a paid position to a non- teacher to fill the position of head football coach for the Somers Middle School. This decision was based on our feeling that all coaches should be under the umbrella of the school district and its policies. Even though the policy was to make the position available to in-house applicants first, we felt that the coach who was put in a tough position deserved the chance to coach under the umbrella of the school district this coming season. The updated policy for hiring a coach will apply to next season’s football program.
The board feels it is important to be fair and transparent when legally possible. Privacy issues regarding personal information about public school employees must be respected at all times. We ask in good faith that people respect that. The second thing we ask is respect for the board and the processes we have to abide by. It might seem unfair but there are procedures that need to be followed by state and federal law. These procedures are required for several reasons.
1. The public is invited to participate in discussion of non-agenda items only and we are happy to receive the input as it is often a great source of ideas. However, we appreciate it when people present their ideas in a polite, non-confrontational manner. One suggestion is to write an email to the board member/s prior to the meeting. This way the board can respond at that meeting rather than at the following month’s meeting so valuable time is not lost.
2. How the board works.
The board has committee meetings comprised of two board members, the clerk and superintendent. These meetings are for the board members to work through issues before presenting them to the full board and the public. These meetings are not public discussion meetings unless the committee invites public participation.
3. Working meetings are where the full board meets as a whole to discuss issues that are not being voted on. It is an opportunity to kick ideas around. Again, these are not public discussion meetings unless the board opens it up to the public.
Why is this, you might ask? We, the board members are voted for by citizens to do the job and our names are on the record for our actions. In order to get these things done, we need to be able to work in small groups to explore ideas, verify them and then the full board implements them. This organizational method will allow the board to work more efficiently for the public and address issues by priority. All committee meetings are a matter of public record as are our board meetings. Phone and email addresses for board members are published on the District 29 website so you may contact them. The Board has some tough calls coming ahead and wants to make good decisions concerning all the kids, the teachers, the staff and the tax payer. We might not all agree, but the process can be orderly and respectful. All our board votes have been 5-0 or 4-1. We believe that we have made a good start - we are demonstrating that we can work together for the Lakeside/Somers School district and the people who support it.
Sam Bagley, Trustee
Courtney Shaeffer, Trustee
Public Relations Committee