School board debates feedback processes from leaving staff, community members

The Whitefish School Board is showing interest in standardized exit interviews from employees leaving the district as a means of gathering feedback. 

“Not from a micromanagement perspective... I think it is helpful to know why people leave. We need a neutral third party to look at that,” Trustee Rayne Beach said during the board’s meeting last week.*  

Trustee Katie Clarke added, “people are able to be more honest with a third party, because they’re not burning bridges with people they’ve worked with for years.” 

Eight employees resigned and two retired this year, which the district says is typical. The district has about 250 employees total.  

The district does not have a human resources department, so exit interviews are conducted by the administration.  

Superintendent Dave Means recommended that the exit interview stay in the role of the administration. 

“To my knowledge, it is not typical across the state in districts of this size to hire an external party,” Means said. 

He said he is not opposed to hiring a third party, but that he finds hearing the information directly to be helpful. 

Trustee Darcy Schellinger said, “I understand this is of value to a [Superintendent,] but we’ve been talking about hiring an H.R. person from the beginning of the year because of [Means’] capacity, which we need used in other places.” 

Trustee Elizabeth Pitman clarified that the push for exit interviews is not from any concern or ill-intent, but to look beyond Whitefish’s “bubble” to find improvements. 

Trustee Shannon Hansen said that proper governance would dictate that information from exit interviews is something that the school board shouldn’t see regardless, unless a major theme arises. 

The board agreed that it was a conversation to continue, given it is too late to hire anyone for the end of this school year.  

THE BOARD unanimously approved the district administration’s recommendation for staff renewals for the 2025-26 school year.  

Prior to approval, however, Schellinger stated that she was “in between a rock and hard place.”  

“For the second consecutive year, I find myself weighing community feedback that is in direct conflict from the hiring recommendation from the administration,” she said. “This places all trustees in a difficult position, balancing our community’s important perspective against administrative guidance.”  

Schellinger called for additional measurements for evaluations, stating that when students and parents have concerns, they address only individual cases rather than underlying issues. She said there should be a system for tracking complaints to identity patterns requiring attention.  

Trustee Jerrie Boksich suggesting improved mentoring as a proactive means to meeting standards.  

"Our goal is for every teacher to be successful," she said. "And teachers teaching teachers is the best way." 

Part of the difficulty is the way feedback from the community is given to trustees, the trustees pointed out, with informal emails being not ideal.  

Hanson said that never in his tenure has anyone given public comments at school board meetings about staff renewals.  

“Maybe that’s where it starts,” he said.  

No individual staff member was named as a reason for concern in approving the renewals. 

The board approved two collective bargaining agreements with employee unions.

A Whitefish Education Association (WEA) agreement includes 3% wage increases and an agreement with the Whitefish Classified Employee Association (WCEA) includes increases of $1 per hour for existing employees and 75 cents for new hires. 

The agreement with the WEA's increases are due in part to the STARS Act, which increased starting teacher pay in the state’s K-12 schools.  

“I want to thank the board for supporting interest-based bargaining,” said Adrienne Odell, representing Whitefish Education Association.  

Schellinger added a thank-you for anyone who wrote letters to legislators, or who took the time to advocate for public education in any way, contributing to the passage of the STARS Act. 

CONSTRUCTION of the Whitefish High School athletic expansion is now targeted to start concurrently with the academic portion in March 2026.  

The district estimates having more evolved budget estimates in June.  

The academic design includes a “Bulldog Boulevard” that links two central areas, the commons and the gym foyer.  

The design prioritizes “needs” of the bond language but set aside additional wants, said Shane Jacobs, architect and project manager from A&E Design. 

Trustee Quincy Bennetts questioned if there would be adequate parking with the athletic expansion taking some of the existing parking spaces.  

“One of the things we wanted this for is accessibility,” she said.  

Jacobs said they are discussing several possibilities. They may need to have additional parking elsewhere; they may have outside parking drop off zones by the field, and there could be future parking adding at Memorial Park, per the city of Whitefish’s master plan, he said.  

For those who want to learn more about the expansion design, there is a town hall at the high school at 6 p.m. on May 21. 

THE DISTRICT received a $10,000 donation from the Whitefish Community Foundation to replace the genie lift at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center. 

The district also received $70,000 from the Whitefish Education Foundation to purchase music instruments, the beginnings of WEF’s “Make Music Resonate” campaign.  
“We’re in a rare place,” Pitman said, commenting on the generosity of the community. 

Pitman and Schellinger were sworn in for new terms as trustees. Pitman was selected by the board as the new chair and Schellinger as vice chair, a reversal of their previous roles. 

Student Representative Jake Dunker was praised by the board for his extensive student reports at board meetings. The senior, set to attend Columbia University in the fall, was awarded an outstanding service award by Whitefish High School Principal Kerry Drown.  

“One of the fulfilling things as principal... is to see what our future holds in the hands of people like you,” Drown said.  

 *Editor's note: This quote was corrected to reflect a missing word, "not." 

    A preliminary concept of the athletic expansion. (A&E Design photo)