Voters to decide levy, school board seats

Whitefish School District voters will decide two trustee seats on the School Board as well as a technology levy in next week’s election.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 7 at the Whitefish Middle School located at 600 E. Second St.

Voters will be asked to decide on a technology levy to help offset future increases in technology spending in the district.

The increases are meant to shift technology spending into one fund as well as plan for future increases in funds spent on technology, according to the district.

Currently, roughly $183,750 of the spending for technology items are paid for out of the district’s general fund rather than out of a technology levy. Moving current technology costs to a technology budget will free-up general fund money that can be used to meet other student needs, according to the district.

In the elementary district, voters will be asked to approve a $232,600 technology levy and $50,975 general fund levy. In the high school district, voters are being asked to approve a technology levy of $82,887.

Included in the increase is funding would be a second IT specialist position.

If all levies are approved, the annual impact for a taxpayer with a taxable home value of $100,000 would be $8.65, and $17.31 for a home valued at $200,000. General fund levies not expire, like technology levies which have a 10-year term.

School Board

Four candidates are vying for two open spots on the Whitefish School Board.

Trustee Nick Polumbus is seeking re-election to the board, and former Trustee Marguerite Kaminski, Darcy Schellinger and Todd Lengacher are also running for a spot on the board.

Polumbus has served on the board since 2013 and currently serves as the board chair. He is the Director of Marketing and Sales at Whitefish Mountain Resort. He and his wife, Kim, have three boys in Whitefish Schools.

Kaminski joined the board in 2015 after an unsuccessful bid for a trustee position the year before. Kaminski is formerly an attorney, business owner, active duty United States Air Force Procurement Officer and currently works as a boat inspector during the summers. She has also worked as a snowboard instructor, swim instructor, lifeguard, referee, served as a soccer and basketball coach, classroom volunteer, reading mentor, and substitute teacher. She’s had five children graduate from Whitefish Schools.

Schellinger received her bachelor’s degree in business finance from Montana State University and has worked as an agriculture, mortgage and commercial lender in places like New Orleans, Idaho and Nevada. She has two children in Muldown Elementary.

Lengacher is part of the math faculty at Flathead Valley Community College and is the Director of International Studies for the Putney School in Putney, Vermont, a student exchange program he oversees remotely. He has worked as an educator in a variety of roles, including teacher, principal, assistant head of school, dean of students and has been an educator for more than 20 years. He has a daughter attending Muldown.

Full profiles of the candidates appeared in the April 24 edition of the Pilot and online at www.whitefishpilot.com.