Two seats open on Arlee School Board
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ARLEE — The Arlee School District will have two open seats on the Board of Trustees in May: one seat for a one-year term and one a three-year term. Vice-chair Jeanine Pendergrass announced at the monthly meeting that she is leaving her position because she has accepted a new job in Roy, Mont.
“I am very sad to be leaving everyone behind,” Pendergrass told the board and audience.
Trustees discussed of switching to a mail ballot election, but the board decided against the alternate voting method.
The board approved an out-of-state band trip to Silverwood, Idaho.
“It’s not only a fun trip but for recruiting and retention,” said band teacher Rich Brinkman, adding that band members will perform at Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho, tentatively scheduled for mid-May.
“Every couple of years we could do this. I went on a band trip as a student, and it was memorable,” Brinkman said.
Gary Decker from the Jocko Valley Trails committee informed the board that the trail near Oxford Lane, north of the school, has been finished and surveyed. Decker was present to make sure the survey was filed as an attachment with the project’s easement.
“Thank you for all your work; you can see all the trails going up,” school board chair Amy Burland told Decker.
The trustees also decided to have Superintendent John Miller contact the Office of Public Instruction to use the district’s built-in minutes to make up for a snow day on Jan. 19. The board had three options to choose from, including a make-up day, using the built-in minutes or emergency day or utilizing the board’s power to forgive one day.
“John can contact OPI and adjust minutes, and if that’s a problem, we can go another route,” Pendergrass said.
A proposal from Northern Hardwoods to apply a protective coating to the gymnasium floor was approved.
igh School principal Jim Taylor announced that 23 juniors were recipients of Gear Up achievement grants worth $1,500 when they graduate. Arlee will also implement ImPACT, a computerized neurocognitive assessment, to help determine whether an athlete can return to play.
Elementary School principal Lisa Morger-Miller announced that there were 64 elementary students on the honor roll, and 21 had perfect attendance. Morger-Miller also presented the board with several reasons why elementary teachers chose not to apply for the Striving Readers Grant. Teachers believed they were already addressing reading goals with several initiatives implemented in the school district. They are also busy, and Morger-Miller said that two teachers are pregnant, two are working on their master’s degrees, and several teachers also coach school sports. The Striving Readers Comprehensive Grant is a $7.6 million grant received by the Montana OPI to subgrant 95 percent of the funds to eligible districts.
Superintendent Miller shared with the board information from a meeting he attended for Graduation Matters, a program designed to ensure that Montana’s public schools are graduating more students ready for college and careers.
“It has a huge community piece to it,” Miller said of the program, which encourages communities, businesses and parents to become involved by either mentoring or offering internships among other services to students. Statistics indicate that more than 2,000 Montana students drop out each year.
“I think it’s valuable,” Miller said. He shared with the board that according to statistics gathered in 2008, 82 percent of Arlee high school graduates returned to college for the second year, compared to 50 percent in 2004, which is high compared to nearby districts of similar sizes.
It was also announced that Shawn Orr has been nominated as Indian Educator of the Year and Val Espinoza was nominated for an award in the Support Staff category of the awards. Winners will be announced in April.
