Polson School Board's marathon meetings continue
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POLSON — The latest in a series of long meetings for the Polson School Board of Trustees went from approximately 5:45 to 10 p.m. Dec. 12 in the Linderman library, moved from the district conference room because of the crowd.
Chair Caryl Cox began the meeting with a statement about behavior.
“For some time now,” Cox read, “there has been an unsettling and disheartening lack of civility and decorum in our public meetings. Trustees have interrupted each other, verbally attacked one another and have been caustic in their disregard of differing ideas.”
Cox added that she had received credible word of a potential disruption at the meeting and had asked for the presence of law enforcement.
“Anyone wishing to speak must be recognized by the chair. If you interrupt another speaker, I will call you out of order,” she said.
She cautioned members of the audience to limit comments to school and or district operations.
Cox stated if she called anyone out of order, and they persisted in speaking, she would either recess the meeting or ask law enforcement to escort the speaker from the premises for disrupting a public meeting.
Lindsay Howard, from Americorp, spoke to the board regarding the Farm to School program.
Using nutrition education, with resources for teachers, the school garden and greenhouse program and local procurement, the program helps fight the childhood obesity epidemic.
“A CDC study shows one in three kids is either overweight or obese,” Howard noted.
Howard has been working with Jim Steiner, head of food services for School District 23, to connect with local farmers, processors and distributors.
A common misconception about local food, Howard said, is that it’s more expensive. She added that while it does take more time to find local foods, they are more nutritious and purchasing them benefits the local economy.
“It’s an investment in your students,” Howard added, “and they are why we are all here.”
In other business, the board passed a motion approving the hire of three paraprofessionals for the burgeoning kindergarten class.
“We are technically one full class plus one (141 students total) over accreditation standards,” said District 23 Superintendent David Whitesell.
The cost of paraprofessionals for the rest of the year will be $43,000, opposed to $28,000 for hiring a new teacher, according to Whitesell.
Cherry Valley Principal Elaine Meeks spoke in support of hiring three paraprofessionals.
“My recommendation on any subject is what I think is best for the kids,” she said.
The board also approved a request from Chris Bumgarner, PHS Choir teacher, to take a group of students to Spokane, Wash., to see a play.
Trustees also set up a calendar committee for the 2012-13 school year and heard reports from the Polson Education Association and Polson Classified Education Association negotiation committees.
The climate survey committee will use the MyVoice surveys as a piece of the climate survey and revise and review for next year, according to Tamara Fisher, the district’s Gifted and Talented teacher and committee member. The committee will add four or five open-ended questions to the second part of the survey for analysis of trends and include parents and the community in the survey. The questionnaire seeks feedback about what the school district is doing well, what it needs to improve on, what each school is doing well and what it could be doing better. There will also be room for community comment.
Polson First Interstate Bank representatives Jarrod Shue, and Jon Shandorf reported on the two components of FIB’s relationship with the school district — managing operating accounts and wealth management.
It was reported that the bank charges less to manage the funds than Lake County did, and there is no more zero interest.
After a motion from Trustee Nancy Lindsey, the board voted to form a committee to look in detail at the investment and cash flow strategies and report back to the board.
For district goals, the school staffs will begin to generate objectives at the January PIR day.
According to board policy and Whitesell’s contract, he should be evaluated each year.
“Under evaluations in my personnel file, the jacket is empty,” Whitesell noted.
Trustees discussed what instrument to use and when to evaluate Superintendent Whitesell.
After a lengthy discussion, the Montana School Board Association template used to evaluate prior Superintendents Sue McCormick and Daniel Haugen was chosen.
The board unanimously voted for an evaluation session on Jan. 9 with Trustees Bob Hanson and John Laimbeer compiling the completed forms. District attorney Michael Dahlem, Whitefish, was on the phone during this portion of the meeting.
The rest of the meeting dealt with agenda item No. 3: board dysfunction and potential corrective measures.
Trustee Brian Havlovick said, “It’s like being an addict; the first thing we have to do is admit we have a problem. It’s not going to be comfortable, but it’s time to air it out.”
Reading from a written statement, Havlovick described three incidents that came up in the past six or seven months where he felt blindsided by Chair Cox.
Havlovick prepared a suggested Board of Trustees Code of Ethics that “addresses what we are here for and reminds us of what we’re here to do.”
The first plank in Havlovick’s code was “that my fellow citizens have entrusted me with the educational development of the children and youth of this community.”
Following the lead of Cox and Havlovick, Hanson also had a written statement.
“I believe that the root of the problem boils down to a desire on the part of several trustees to subsume the role of the superintendent and take those functions unto themselves,” Hanson said.
He suggested the chair step down.
“I haven’t prepared a statement,” Trustee Kelly Bagnell said, asking Hanson if he read the whole e-mail regarding torpedoing Havlovick’s research on the climate survey.
“If there is dissent, it comes from there,” Bagnell said, motioning towards Whitesell.
Trustees Lindsey, Ricketts, and Laimbeer spoke in favor of Cox remaining chair.
Trustee Theresa Taylor noted that the board was in place to serve the children.
“We aren’t serving the interest of those students and the rest of the community. ... Focus on that and remember why it was you ran fro the board in the first place” she stated.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the district office conference room.
