Monthly school boards round up

The following are news items from area school boards from February meetings.

Polson

Letters of interest are being accepted to fill an empty Polson Board of Trustees seat.

Board members unanimously accepted Nancy Lindsey’s resignation during their Feb. 11 meeting, said Pam Owen, the school district’s business manager.

Lindsey, who served 1 1/2 years on the board, wrote in her resignation letter that she will be out of town extensively throughout the remainder of the year and thus unable to perform board duties.

“It has been a privilege to serve with each of you and with those other trustees who are no longer on the Board,” she wrote. “Especially, it has been a privilege to serve the school and community.”

Community members interested in filling the seat must live within the district, be a registered voter and submit a letter of interest to: Polson School District #23, ? Pam Owen, 111 Fourth Avenue East, Polson, MT 59860 by 3 p.m. on March 21.

Board members will appoint a new member on April 15, Owen said.

If the seat goes unfilled for 60 days, the county superintendent will appoint someone, she added.

Whoever fills the seat will serve through the May 7 election, when the seat will be filled for the remaining year of Lindsey’s term with a successful election candidate, Owen said.

Five seats, including Lindsey’s, are open in the May 7 election. Two seats are for three-year terms, one is two years, and two are one-year terms.

Arlee

A new strategic plan gives the district goals and a common direction for the next 20 years.

The plan, approved during the school Board of Trustees’ February meeting, focuses on five main goal areas over the next five years: Community engagement and support; enhanced student achievement; financial accountability and certainty; quality instruction; and facilities.

A facilitator, contracted by Arlee schools through the Montana School Boards Association, identified the goals and crafted the document after three public meetings.

All the goal areas will work together to create better student achievement, Superintendent George Linthicum said.

“My take is that none of the five can function well without the other four being there,” Linthicum said.

The plan also creates a platform for ongoing discussions about how to reach the goals while keeping a central focus, he added.

To view the complete plan, visit www.arleeschools.org/cms/lib6/MT01001201/Centricity/Domain/1/Arlee%20Strategic%20Plan%20Final%202%2012%202013.pdf.

School members will meet March 12 to vote on whether or not to send a budget amendment for $14,759.53 to the state Office of Public Instruction.

If the amendment request is approved by the superintendent of instruction, the state will pay the district the additional funds to cover part of the cost of added paraprofessional employees due to increased enrollment, Linthicum said.

He added he’s happy to have extra students, and glad that state law allows for the request for additional funding from the state.

“It’s a good thing that we can do it,” he said.

State funding for school districts is determined in part by enrollment counts. The spring count for enrollment at the K-6 level was 15 students higher than last spring’s number, which was the number the state used to formulate funding amounts, Linthicum said. The state also has classroom size requirements, which if not met can impact a school’s accreditation. To meet the standards, Arlee hired extra paraprofessionals, he said.

Total, the district will spend approximately $20,000 on added materials and paraprofessional hours to accommodate the extra students, Linthicum said. While the state funds, if approved, won’t cover the entirety, it takes care of a large portion of the costs, he said.

Ronan

A strategic plan, more than a year and a half in the making, has been approved for the Ronan School District.

“That was the easy step,” Superintendent Andy Holmlund said. “Now the work really becomes the embedding of that information with our staff.”

Employee, community and student input were all considered in the plan, and those groups will continue to be involved in the carrying out of the plan, Holmlund said.

“We are setting ourselves up to accomplish incredibly high-level issues,” he said, adding that to do that, more than just district employees need to be involved.

Five goal areas to be achieved over the next five years are identified in the plan: School/community relations and communication; technology; staff; enhanced student programming; and facilities.

The key to the plan is making sure students are prepared for the real world when they graduate, Holmlund said.

“It’s all about student achievement.”

While the plan stretches over 20 years, it includes mechanisms for continual review and adaptation.

“This is a continuous, ongoing effort, so it doesn’t stop,” Holmlund said.

He added he’s most excited about school board support of the plan.

“We’re looking forward. We’re not looking in a rearview mirror.”

To view the plan, visit www.ronank12.edu/index.php/strategic/index.