Somers-Lakeside School District hires new superintendent

A special meeting of the Lakeside/Somers School District board of trustees was held on June 8 at 7:30 a.m. to negotiate with Paul Jenkins over the conditions involving the district’s new superintendent contract.

The board interviewed Jenkins and two other candidates toward the end of May and they selected Jenkins as the best candidate for the job because of his background experience with fixing budgets. At their previous board meeting on June 4 they agreed to send him an official offer for the position.

On June 4 trustee Sam Bagley pointed out that under the original offer the superintendent for the district would have been working for less than the principals at Lakeside Elementary and Somers Middle School.

During the salary negotiations Chairperson of the board of trustees, Courtney Shaeffer, said she would like to see the district have full-time principals again and would also like to keep as many extra curricular activities in place as possible.

Jenkins turned down the district’s initial offer on June 5 so a special meeting for salary negotiations was held on June 8. Part of the reason the district aimed low with their offer was because of their current budget deficit, which is also the reason they selected Jenkins over the other applicants.

The final outcome of the negotiations was to hire Jenkins for a 225-days per year contract at $77,800 and single coverage insurance.

“We hired him because of his experience, he’s been through budget crisises before and you’re paying for that,” Bagley said.

Jenkins was originally from Massachusetts, earned his undergraduate degree at North Adams State and then attended Montana State University.

Throughout his career he was a teacher for nine years in Massachusetts, a principal for three years in Absarokee, twenty years at Helena Flats School and then Charlo for three more years.

During that time he worked on building projects, helped form a curriculum cooperative in Kalispell, and worked on professional development.

He currently lives in Kalispell with his wife and has been commuting from there to Charlo and is looking forward to the significantly shorter commute time.

When asked about the current status of the football program and other programs facing budget cuts and the recent issues involving the school’s policy with volunteers he said he needs to learn more about it before commenting on the subject.

For more information about the district’s budget and volunteer policy and how it impacts the football program and other extra curricular activities, see the related article.

“School budgets are always tight anymore and I’m going to have to sit down with Diane (Fetterhoff, district clerk) and see where those deficits are and it’s never easy,” Jenkins said.