Polson students, staff rally around school secretary
Polson Middle School students and staff have spent much of the past week raising money to help school secretary Peggy Kayser, who was severely injured in a automobile accident on Dec. 3.
Peggy and her husband Bill were traveling to Missoula to visit their son, Scott, who had been hospitalized, reportedly after an altercation at a University of Montana fraternity house earlier that day. While en route, their vehicle was hit head-on by a truck driven by St. Ignatius resident Leland Ellwein, and both vehicles caught fire.
Three men traveling behind Ellwein, and who had reportedly called in Ellwein's erratic driving, helped pull the three people out of their vehicles. Bill Kayser, a former Bozeman assistant police chief, died last Friday, Dec. 8 after spending much of the week in a coma.
Although Peggy has health insurance as a school district employee, students and faculty have spent the past week hosting fundraising events and planning future ones to help her with the expected costs of travel arrangements for family members who attended Bill's funeral in Bozeman on Tuesday, as well as other expenses that have arisen while she has been hospitalized. She was released from the hospital on Saturday, middle school principal Brian Adams said, after being treated for two broken wrists and other injuries.
"She came through surgery OK, and she's happy to be home. She's just an amazing person," Adams said. "She just keeps that cheerful attitude that we all know and love."
The fundraising efforts started last Wednesday, Dec. 7, when middle school teacher Darci Nice and students Mesa Starkey, Jordan Hinshaw, and Marisa and Kaelynn Binder got much of the seventh grade class to help chip in for a bake sale, raising $315 in the process.
Meanwhile, school nurse Amy Knutson has been getting donations from faculty throughout the school and district in an effort to help the Kayser family. On Wednesday, a new radio advertisement aired, plugging a chili feed for the family on Saturday, Jan. 7, to take place before the Pirates basketball game at the Linderman gym.
Eighth graders Karston Erickson and Abby Ruhman, both peer counselors at the school, provided the voices for the ad, in which they urge folks to come out to the chili feed next month. It takes place from 4 to 7 p.m. at Linderman, and the cost is $5 per person or $20 per family. There will also be a silent auction.
According to middle school staff, Kayser had a core group of students she jokingly referred to as her "alligators" — a reference to the constant chatting they did with her during the school day, in which students would leave their backpacks with her during the lunch hour or enjoy a piece of candy, or just stop by to talk. The middle school staff has made efforts to ensure children most affected by the news of Kayser's injuries have had a chance to talk to school counselors and teachers about their concerns.
Folks willing to donate silent auction items can contact Knutson at the middle school at 883-6335, ext. 305. If you are willing to make a financial donation to the Kayser family, please mail checks to the school district administration office at 111 4th Ave East, Polson, 59860. School officials are asking that checks be made out to Amy Knutson, who is handling the fundraising, because making checks out to the school district means the payments will have to be routed through its accounting system, and will take a little longer to get to Kayser. Anyone requesting a receipt will be given one.