Billings school board continues meet and greet with superintendent candidates

Dr. Valerie Henning-Piedmonte, Mr. Victor Karlsson, Ms. Michelle Gosh and Ms. Kathleen Culligan have chose to freeze their salary for the 2018-19 school year, reduce the vacation buy back to 10 days and contribute an additional 3% to their health insurance so that these funds can be used in an effort to restore a position that was eliminated from the budget.

She said the school district should start by including more race relationship discussion in its professional development for teachers.

Teachers with 33 to 34 years of experience would get a $200 raise while teachers with zero experience would get $1,000, Clark noted, adding, “That’s sort of a slap in the face”.

Whether elected or appointed, school board members serve their communities in several important ways. A state official said the investigation is expected to be completed soon.

Ending drawn-out negotiations that involved a mediator and an independent consultant, the ConVal Regional School Board and an employees’ union have agreed to a one-year contract. According to school board President Walter Schroth, the school board hired veteran education administrators Rodney Greene and J. Thomas Frantz earlier this year to lead a search for a new superintendent.

“Losing good teachers is an enormous social capital deficit”, he said.

“Salaries are a big worm on the hook, like the carrot in front of the donkey”, he said.

District teachers had been working without a contract since their previous agreement expired on June 30, 2017.

These arguments have placed local school boards directly in the crosshairs of the question surrounding their responsibility regarding school security. She said she didn’t fill out the forms correctly because they were confusing.

Boyden said the committee was able to reduce costs in other places, by deferring some maintenance projects such as roofing and window replacement and eliminating the purchase of some new technology items.

School officials said there are no other sites within the district’s borders that would work for the planned high school, noting that a site selection committee considered a number of other properties – including some that were not for sale – but concluded in January that the Gird Valley site was preferable.

Some board members thought it premature to conclude all positions would have to be replaced.

Governing board members said while the move was cautiously studied to make sure it was a sustainable increase, in light of the uncertainty surrounding enrollment projections, they received an OK from two separate reviews, including the district’s auditors, Pearson said.

“The plan for next year makes that strings position undesirable, which would take away this lovely program from a lot of students who care about it”, Foss said.

“Convince us that you won’t summer in Montana and winter in California”, he said.

For starters, he estimated there wouldn’t be 15 teachers who ultimately took the incentive offer.

“You’re not our typical candidate”, said board chairwoman Greta Besch Moen.

Wenrich said when a student comes into the district to cost the district such money is unpredictable. “We want a school, we want great education… We’re not competing the two groups”.

During each of the elections, some more contested than others, Mason said he was confident he was the right choice when making decisions for the betterment of the children. Approximately $36,000 has been granted to the school by the State of Montana, which has barely touched the needs of the district. Additional funding might be on its way in that area. School Board Member Bryan Bettenhausen asked.