It’s your school too

The last thing the Whitefish School District (WSD) needs is a new football field. The first thing the district needs is to ensure the safety and social-emotional wellbeing of all students with a guarantee of a free and appropriate education.  

I’m an avid supporter of education, community and open dialogue. As the executive director of the Whitefish Lake Institute, husband of a veteran teacher with 30 plus years of experience — all in Whitefish, and parent of a neurodivergent teenager, it’s time for me to share insight into the decision making and misguided priorities of the district.  

Not long ago, the district settled a lawsuit where a student with hemiplegia, who reacted to being bullied, was secluded off-campus at two Whitefish business locations. At one business location, an armed security guard escorted the student to and from the restroom. There’s a lot to unpack here, but to summarize, the family reports their child has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was unable to return to school, and no longer trusts most adults. 

That family stood up to the district, and so did we. After thoughtful deliberation, my wife and I felt the need to file a lawsuit against the district on behalf of our son based on their treatment of him. Like the family before us, we recently settled our lawsuit with the district. We didn’t ask for this responsibility, but we felt the duty to defend our son with the hope that it would encourage thoughtful changes to benefit all students and families. After all, if the school district did this to our son and family, where my wife is an employee, what chance would you have to navigate a similar situation? 

Our son was 8 and 9 years old at the time in question where he sustained school-based emotional trauma while at Muldown Elementary. There are a lot of details to share but in the interest of brevity, here are a few excerpts from experts that worked on our case. A clinical pediatric forensic psychiatrist has stated that my son has “suffered significant harm as a result of mistreatment by Whitefish School District staff while he was a student at Muldown Elementary.” The chair of the University of Montana School of Education stated, “the care provided by WSD in this case clearly falls short of standards of practice and procedures for any child.” 

The district’s actions toward my son included yelling, shaming, excluding, locking him in and out of classrooms, rejecting, suspending, secluding, blaming, discriminating and trampling upon his and our family privacy. Coupled with their inability to follow established plans and protocols to provide support, it dysregulated my son so much that it led to his expression of suicidal ideations, him running away from school and manifested in physical altercations. An individual’s fight or flight response is strong when threatened. 

One of the district’s goals is, “to provide safe, inclusive, and welcoming schools.” That sounds admirable in their glossy marketing dribble. The reality is that my son was removed from his same-aged peers for more than 45 days and then secluded across town at the Whitefish Middle School in a downstairs windowless room with no egress for 18.5 days. While there, the district removed from him a certified teacher, access to specials, field trips and access to recess.  

Does that sound like an inclusive and welcoming school with an appropriate educational setting? How about one for a student with ADHD and anxiety? Any elementary student benefits from interactions with peers, fresh air and exercise at regular intervals throughout the day. The district chose to sentence him to prison.   

One of the bad actors central to our lawsuit was a district employee who received a “negotiated retirement.” This individual was financially incentivized to retire and received an extension of health insurance to age 65. Rather than terminate this employee, they were rewarded. Others have been promoted, including your superintendent, who has a psychology degree and is fully aware of the consequences of secluding children. It appears that the management paradigm supported by your taxpayer money is to reward employees that are acidic to the system while not providing appropriate support to teachers or services to students. 

Should staff time and tax dollars be spent on lawsuits and rewarding individuals that should have been fired, or should that time and money be invested in building Whitefish schools as a leader to address social and emotional concerns? This community has demonstrated the willingness and vision to support other important community issues. Mr. superintendent, perhaps you should reach out. 

Whitefish School Board trustees, please fulfill your fiduciary responsibilities as stewards of public trust and stop blanket support of your administration. Build a legacy that fosters an inclusive environment where all students and staff feel seen and heard. You should seek innovative solutions to the problems that have been perpetuated through your actions or inactions.  

The first thing you should do is contract an outside independent audit (not MTSS) of your system, staff, programs and policies, followed by meaningful social/emotional/behavioral training for all of your staff. It should be eye-popping to you that with a quick search of the board of trustee documents, there have been 14 litigation strategy executive sessions since 2019. Why so many closed-door meetings about litigation? The time and effort that the district has spent addressing multiple court cases should open your eyes to an educational paradigm that is not working for the district, the community and most importantly your students. 

Mr. superintendent, you have demonstrated no desire, imagination, or creativity to solve the most important pressing issues facing your students and staff. Your leadership priorities are woefully misguided. Rather than promote strong inclusive leadership and understanding, you have fostered a culture that scapegoated a helpless 9-year-old boy and a child with hemiplegia. It’s time to look in the mirror. 

Mr. superintendent, the football field can wait until your house is in order. Whitefish community, vote no on the Whitefish High School athletic improvement bond, and continue to vote no until your school district can demonstrate proven gains toward treating all students with empathy, equity and respect. Methods to boost social, emotional and behavioral learning are infinitely more important than a new stadium. 

Whitefish community, please vote yes on the academic expansion bond to support all students and the many wonderful and talented teachers and staff that serve our community. 

Education cannot succeed in a vacuum. Unless the district crafts a thoughtful plan in tune with current societal challenges faced by our youth and reaches out to partner with the community, more students and families will suffer. Without change, the standard response from many other families that have undergone similar struggles with the district that I’ve spoken with is to simply remove their child from the school district. To those families I say, it’s time to stand up for change — it’s your school too.  

My son graduated from Columbia Falls Junior High last spring. No school can ever be perfect, but Columbia Falls Junior High treated my son with empathy and respect. He played football, basketball, baseball and typically made the honor roll. He will spend a lifetime recovering from what happened to him at the hands of the WSD. He is now, and will always be, fighting to triumph over the trauma that he experienced while a student at Whitefish schools. 

Mike Koopal lives in Whitefish.