Two more Polson admins resign

POLSON — The resignations of Linderman Elementary principal Heather Jones and Polson High School assistant principal Brandon Thurston were announced and accepted by the Polson school board at its regular monthly meeting on Monday, April 9.

The resignations make three of the top administrators in the school district to step down after Polson High School principal Rob Hankins resigned about two weeks ago. Polson is also currently without a permanent superintendent following an agreement between David Whitesell and the school board to have Whitesell step down from his position nearly a month ago.

“I think the behavior and treatment by this board of Brandon, Rob and Heather is absolutely shameful,” trustee Bob Hanson said.

The resignations of Jones and Thurston will go into effect at the end of the school year.

On Tuesday, chairwoman Caryl Cox expressed remorse for the recent transgressions.

“I’m sorry we’re losing so many administrators, I really am,” Cox said.

Neither Jones nor Thurston could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

In other action, a motion to immediately begin replacing the Polson High School roof failed 4-3, but the school board made considerable strides to take action.

On March 28, Progressive Services, who won the contract by being a large enough company, but lowest bidder through the TCPN cooperative, were asked to prepare an estimate of what it would take to repair the most critical parks of the high school roof.

“We have a reputation of helping small school districts keep their roofs watertight and keep it within your budget,” Bob Lambert of Progressive Roofing said.

While the majority of the leaks are occurring on a roughly 5,000-square-foot area south of the library, the entire roof will eventually be replaced. The two options facing the school board are whether to replace the roof in one fell swoop or in one-third segments.

Hanson made a motion to proceed with replacing one section now and run a levy, if necessary, further down the road.

“We can do due diligence of getting information that would be needed to complete that whole job and if the levy is successful this year, get the roof done next year,” Hanson said.

By going through TCPN, the price of a new roof is line item, meaning there would be no cost difference between a one-time replacement and doing the work piece-by-piece. Bob Ricketts raised concerns, saying that leaks could continue by replacing a section at a time and suggested that the board attempt to pass a levy to do a one-time replacement and, should the levy not pass, can proceed with replacing the roof in sections.

The leaky roof also brings up issues relating to electricity and water damage, meaning that money will need to be spent beyond simply putting in a new roof.

Fortunately, the building structure is up to par. Student safety was put to the forefront during the discussion, with worries that a wet spring could put that in jeopardy, but it’s believed with a high degree of confidence from the representatives of Progressive Services that the building structure is adequate. The district has the option to hire a structural engineer, if desirable, for about $1,500 if they’d like a second opinion.

Regardless, Kelly Bagnell, along with the rest of the board, recognized that action needs to take place sooner than later and the board hopes that with more information by the May meeting, it can proceed.

“We have to do something before next school year,” Kelly Bagnell said.

Also at the meeting, the board unanimously passed a motion to approve the transition of recycling duties for the schools from the city to the district. Karen Sargent laid out the details of how the transition will look and said that the city will assist the district in the process, which is expected to take about two months and begin over the summer.

“You should be very proud of your students, faculty, staff and custodial staff because they have really buckled down,” Sargent said.

Dan Kinyon did bring up some cons, notably that it will cost the district money, however, the public will no longer be bringing their recycling to the schools, as a green slatted fence is outlined at the sports complex near Kerr Dam, which will be the new public drop-off location.

Personnel cost is expected to be roughly $3,000 per year, but there are ways to save money, such as using a staff member, accompanied by students, to make the trips. Student representative Tyler Krell thought the Key Club would be willing to go one step further in their actions. The club currently takes it out of their school and puts the recycling in the city bins.

“The idea behind this whole thing is to get kids to be better stewards of Montana,” Sargent said.