Arlee parents voice frustration to school board

ARLEE — The special disciplinary meeting concerning two teachers created intense emotion at last week's regular school board meeting, and close to 200 people filled the high school gym to voice their opinions to the school board.

The disciplinary meeting held late last month was closed to the public and many people were not happy with the outcome of that meeting. They felt that the action taken by the board regarding allegations that teachers Shawn Orr and Jeff Padgett supplied beer to minors wasn't sufficient.

Just what disciplinary action Orr and Padgett faced has not been made public, but many residents at the meeting felt they should have been fired.

The meeting started out in the library but was soon moved to the gym to accommodate the increasing numbers of people that continued to show up. The board listened to public comment for more then an hour.

Board member Gary Wining made a statement about his vote at the disciplinary meeting. He also said that there is a disparity of information that the public is getting from the news media. But he decided to ask the school board to put a discussion about suspending all overnight trips on the agenda for next month's meeting.

"I based my decision on the facts presented to the board by a lawyer from the Montana School Board Association who did a complete investigation, to my knowledge, who talked to every student and the three adults," Wining said.

Board chairman Gregg Willoughby told attendees that each person had a three-minute time limit during the public comment period.

"This topic was acted on August 28. No new material has been introduced and reopening the subject is out of order," Willoughby said.

The first person called to the podium to give comment was state representative Jeanne Windham.

"Officials are held to a higher standard," Windham said. "I could argue that those teacher's right to privacy outweighed the public's right to know. I think the community wants to know exactly what discipline those teachers received."

Board member Lisa Dumontier made a general statement to the audience and said that she didn't want to rebut any of the public comments. She said that she wasn't happy with the way the media had handled the situation and that only one side of the issue had been presented to the public.

"I'm frustrated by the right to privacy. I ask you to put your feet in the shoes of a board member," Dumontier said. "If everything comes out then be broad-minded about that."

Sheriff Bill Barron said the district needs to take a tougher stance on alcohol use.

"As an elected official, I realize what you people [the board] face," Barron said. "This valley has an unbelievable alcohol problem. As the coroner I put way too many kids in caskets."

Barron stated that the board may have made the right decision but from what he had read about the incident "It doesn't look like it", he said.

"I think the public's right to know outweighs the right to privacy. If this were any one of my deputies they would be fired instantly. From what I know we can't do anything criminally because it was out of our jurisdiction," he said.

Tribal Chairman James Steele, Jr., who graduated from Arlee High School in 1986, said that things have changed since he was in school.

"As a chairman of the Salish and Kootenai board," he said "we have struggled with alcohol for many years. We are fighting that battle on one front and it doesn't help our cause to have members of our community have law enforcement, teachers and other elected officials do things against the law."

"Every year we have an election for the board and I challenge you to vote in the next school election," he said.

State representative Joey Jane took the podium to read from the Montana Code of Ethics.

"Educators should be [role] models," she concluded.

Parent Michael Spade asked the board what was more important, two teachers or several hundred students.

"These kids are our future and we are letting them down," he said.

Many parents said that a recall was in order. They asked that board members resign, and the teachers involved in the disciplinary action be dismissed from their positions.

"It's hard enough that kids have to deal with peer pressure from other kids but when it's from teachers … My decision is to terminate them and we should question the board about their resignation too," David Burland said.

Burland's wife, Amy Burland, then took the podium to say that this issue has been nauseating. She stated that she was once a principal and a teacher.

"I've always defended public education but my parental instincts are much stronger. I've been interested in the infrastructure for the buildings, but it's nauseating to hear this," she said. "We could have billion dollar buildings but what good does that do when we have disease in the staff. If you [the board] doesn't want us to base our decision on what we read then give us the real decision."

Andy and Karen Fisher said that they had a daughter on the Southwest trip and that they have chosen to forgive those involved in the incident and abide by the school's system.

"I think mistakes were made but I don't think that destroying a couple lives is worth all this," Andy Fisher said. "If you want to affect change there are ways to do it."

"We don't know what was said in closed session. I agree with their decision to not terminate the teachers," Karen Fisher said.

Parents continued to make comment against the board and the two teachers.

"I think this decision was based on money," Dara Wilson said. "How independent can a guy be if he works for the Montana School Board Association?"

Joanne Baker, one of the parents that made the original complaint, tearfully made her comments to the board.

"I hope that with this things will tighten up. I heard that it was one or two beers and that that was OK, but to me it's not. My kids are the most precious in the world to me. If I didn't do something I'd feel responsible. I think from now on zero tolerance," she said.

Randy Meidinger, the parent of one of the students on the trip, stated that he is seeking legal remedy against the two teachers. He said that he had heard that none of the students on the Southwest trip had admitting to drinking. Meidinger was the most outspoken of the parents involved, and also filed a formal complaint against the teachers for their alleged actions.

"I have proof off of Myspace.com that one of the students was drinking, and I have the word of my daughter. I will not stop until this is remedied," Meidinger said.