Fern reflects on school board service, looks to Legislature

When a student enters the classroom, that’s just the beginning of their educational opportunity.

It’s a philosophy that longtime Whitefish School District Board trustee Dave Fern has ascribed to during his tenure. During his final school board meeting earlier this month, he read a piece of the state Constitution that says all students are guaranteed an opportunity for education.

“That’s really strong language,” he said. “There’s not a lot guaranteed in our constitution.”

He says all students are unique — some might have two supportive parents at home making sure they have their needs met, while another may be working a job and raising their sibling — but each deserves a quality education. He points to many of the Whitefish school projects — such as the Center for Applied Media, Arts & Sciences and the planned Center for Applied Sustainability, both at the high school — as examples of the way the Whitefish schools have worked to provide different opportunities while making sure students have the base knowledge to prepare them for after graduation.

“It’s about individual education,” he said. “When you open the door for students you provide opportunity, but simply opening the door is the starting point.”

Fern, 66, has served on the school board continuously since 1992, covering nearly eight terms and 24 years of service before resigning this month. He served as chairman of the board for four years, has served as president of the Montana School Boards Association, and has been on the board of directors for the Montana High School Association.

Fern, a Democrat, this fall was elected to represent House District 5 in the Montana Legislature.

Before he heads to Helena this week, Fern sat down with the Pilot to reflect on his time on the school board and take a look ahead to the upcoming legislative session.

Looking back on his more than two decades of service with the school board, Fern recalls all the people he has worked with, the lifelong friendships that have been formed, and what’s been accomplished in that time.

“I’m just one of hundreds of people who take on the role of volunteer whether it’s for a nonprofit, the dog park, the school board or the city council,” he said. “I have faith that as long as those boards can endure that will define the greatness of our society.”

He says the staff at the school district office works quietly behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly, including the business department, which he calls the “engine” of the district.

The owner of Chimney Solutions, Fern has lived in Whitefish since 1989. He and his wife Heather have three grown children, who all graduated from Whitefish High School.

Over the years, he’s come to learn that the school board sets the tone and direction for the school district. He said the design of the school board limits the individual trustees while ensuring that ideas have to be merged into one goal.

“There are all kinds of diverse positions and opinions,” he said. “That has made serving on the school board a pleasurable experience.”

Students should always remain the focus no matter the opinion, he says, as well as looking for ways to improve education in the schools. He said technology, hands-on learning, collaboration, project-based learning, those are more than just buzz words.

“Trustees shouldn’t be satisfied with the status quo — they need to be looking at what’s next,” he said. “We need to always assume we are making a great school.”

In the past, Fern has said he’s proud to have been a part of the building improvements at the middle school and the construction of a new high school building. He says he’s disappointed he won’t get to see the results of planning for upgrades to the Muldown Elementary building as the district tackles issues facing the aging facility.

As a trustee, Fern said he always tried to stick with issues that mattered most and keep after them no matter how long that might take. He said that often means continually reminding fellow trustees and the district superintendent that the issue is important and continually bringing the issue up even if the method can be “a bit annoying.”

He points to some changes, that while are worthwhile and possible, can take years to happen. The high school’s move to a block academic schedule, which was implemented a few years ago, took 20 years of work to make it happen, he noted.

“Good ideas will always be good ideas,” he said. “If you’re patient enough to stay with the system, you can see tangible, measurable change.”

When Fern sat down as a member of the school board after he was first elected to the position, he said it was the first time he had attended a school board meeting. He knew he wanted to serve and the school board provided that opportunity.

“I wanted to plug into a component of local government,” he said. “I had vague memories of a school board from when I was in school as inapproachable and that’s never what I wanted to be. This is a small town and there were a lot of supermarket discussions.”

“Now I hope I can plug into the Legislature and have that same outreach,” he said.

The 2017 legislative session begins Jan. 2, 2017. Fern already has a number of bills he has submitted for consideration. He is serving on three committees in the House — local government, taxation and transportation.

One of his bills would encourage school districts to offer, in the early grades, innovative dual language immersion programs for students by creating a grant program to support the language programs.

Another bill looks to allow cities to authorize a local option tax of up to 4 percent. Fern said this type of tax could empower cities to tackle issues such as creating dedicated funds for infrastructure.

Fern has also put forward a constitutional initiative regarding tobacco products and recreational marijuana. He says the initiative looks at whether the legal age for using tobacco products should be raised to 21, and if recreational marijuana is legalized, if it should also have a legal age of usage set at 21.

Another bill would look to change state law regarding land trusts used for affordable and public housing. It will make appraisal and sale of houses that are not owned by the individual, but by a land trust, easier, he noted.