I am excited to run for the 1-year slot on the GFPS School Board. I am an advocate for student success, teacher support, community partnership, transparency and safe, cost-effective schools. I served on local PTAs for nine years, have volunteered for our public schools for more than 16 years and will complete a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga in August.
I encourage partnerships between families and schools and believe all of our students should have the opportunity to learn and improve in the strongest, safest, fiscally responsible public school system we can provide. I will continue to be an advocate for our teachers, who are now facing unprecedented challenges. I will also promote innovative partnerships between our schools and our community that meet the needs of our workforce and build student life skills.
The biggest challenge facing the district is helping students catch up who fell behind the last couple years. I will work to be a liaison between families and schools as we find creative solutions to make sure this generation is ready to thrive and contribute to a strong society.
I’ve lived in Great Falls since 2003, where my husband, Scott, and I raised our two daughters, Lizzie, 21, and Hallie, 19. The girls attended Great Falls Public Schools. Lizzie is a junior in college, and Hallie is a freshman.
I am the communications coordinator for NorthWestern Energy. When our family can get away, we enjoy hiking together, especially in Glacier National Park.
Find Amie Thompson for School Trustee on Facebook and Instagram.
Here is a screen shot of the questionnaire, titled ‘Questions For Exploring Sexual Orientation’:
How would you react if a stranger in a public park, or even a friend, started asking your 14 year old child these questions?
With the school board election right around the corner in Great Falls perhaps the candidates should be asked if they think this kind of questionnaire is appropriate and what they would do if it was distributed in our Great Falls pubic school system.
Here are the candidates running for Great Falls’ school board. We’ve included the emails listed on their candidate registration forms in case our readers want to contact any of them directly with questions or ideas.
Following the list of candidates is information on the upcoming school election from the GFPS website. E-City Beat is sending candidates a request for candidate profiles which we will publish in the coming weeks.
Three seats that represent both elementary and secondary districts on the board for three years, until May, 2025. Anyone interested in these positions must live within the Great Falls Public School District boundary. The positions are currently held by Mark Finnicum, Jeff Gray, and Gordon Johnson.
One seat, a one-year position will fill out the remainder of Jan Cahill’s term. Nathan Reiff was appointed by the Board to fill Jan Cahill’s open position until the next regular election.
Candidates will need to declare their intent for either the one-year position or for the three-year terms.
Great Falls Public School trustees are unpaid volunteer positions. Trustees are requested to attend an average of three to four monthly meetings that focus on curricula, policy, budget, administrative issues and other topics.
There are seven trustees on the Great Falls Public School Board. The seven seats represent both the elementary and secondary districts.
For more information, call Brian Patrick at 406-268-6050.
Ballots will be sent out on April 13-18 and in order to be counted, must be received by May 3rd. Ballots can be mailed back or dropped off at the Cascade County Elections Office until May 3rd. Voters may also vote in person at Expo Park on May 3rd.
Ballots may be dropped off at Elections Office at the Courthouse Annex at 325 2nd Ave North on Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm before Election Day. On Election Day, ballots can be dropped off at the Exhibition Hall at the Montana Expo Park 400 3rd St NW or/and Courthouse Annex from 7:00 am-8:00 pm.’
An article in the Great Falls Tribune about the Great Falls Public School District cancelling something called ‘Rainbow Day’ during ‘Inclusion Week’ has made national news.
The article, posted on the Tribune’s Facebook page today, Monday 3/28/22, was written by the Tribune education reporter, Alisha Jordan and has subsequently appeared as a feature on the national MSN internet news feed.
‘According to flyers sent home with students, March 1 was designated as Rainbow Day to “celebrate diversity.” Kids were encouraged to wear “Rainbow Colored clothes and celebrate inclusion of everyone.”
According to sources familiar with the incident and representatives from the LGBTQ Center, GFPS dropped Rainbow Day because parents had complained that it “pushed the gay agenda.” ‘
It’s not clear in the article or from the GFPS web site whether this action was taken by the school board or by the administration.
This Post Contains Content Not Suitable For Children
One of the reasons E-City Beat occasionally publishes anonymous articles, and allows our volunteer staff to remain anonymous if they so choose, was vividly illustrated yesterday when we published a piece on Critical Race Theory.
It’s hard to shock me nowadays, but one commenter succeeded in doing so on our Facebook post which promoted the CRT piece on the blog.
First, a brief background. In response to the article, a local teacher, Kristin Ann, commented her opinion which disagreed with the article’s premise and points.
That’s fine. We invite open, civil debate and diversity of opinion. ECB staff rebutted Kristin Ann’s comment and you can read the entirety of the thread here.
What’s not fine is a comment made by someone called Yuri Matsko in response to our rebuttal to Kristin Ann.
Is it any wonder that some people request anonymity when faced with this kind of response to their opinions or associations?
Matsko refers to himself as a ‘former teacher’ on his social media and styles himself an ‘educator’. Is this the kind of character we want our children exposed to in our school system?
I ask my volunteer staff to document and screenshot any violent or threatening content on our Facebook page and blog so they were able to capture a screenshot of Matsko’s filthy, unhinged personal attack on me before he was able to delete it.
After he deleted it he made another comment on the post which I’m sure he thinks is funny or somehow appropriate compared to his original comment:
A ‘huge hate boner’? ‘Sad old white men’?
Matsko is so totally lacking in self awareness that he calls ECB ‘disgusting’ for publishing a piece which expresses an opinion different than his own but fails to see his own use of extremely disturbing vile language and imagery as sick and disgusting.
Matsko should not be anywhere near our children in my opinion, but unfortunately his colleagues in the ‘education’ community apparently don’t see it that way, because there was not one rebuke of Matsko from the several local ‘teachers’ commenting on the thread. Not one. In fact there were several ‘Likes’ for his comment.
It actually gets worse. Apparently Yuri Matsko is also a member of the Great Falls Early Childhood Coalition, listed as a ‘Parent/Teacher’.
Let me remind you of Yuri Matsko’s comment, which he subsequently deleted, but not before we were able to screenshot it:
“Dear ECB Staff (probably that fuckin Phil guy), please go fuck yourself with a broken bottle, you donkey raping shit eater.”
Do you want Yuri Matsko, ‘teacher’ and ‘educator’, anywhere near an Early Childhood Coalition or in any way involved with your kids?
Editor’s note: E-City Beat respects this writer’s request for anonymity, for obvious reasons. We would like to also mention the upcoming appointment of a GFPS School Board member. The GFPS Selection Committee will conduct an interview for the two applicants from 2-4 PM on July 16 at the district office. The interview session is open to the public.
I’m a long-time Great Falls citizen and a fan of your blog. Since Critical Race Theory has been in the news a lot lately, I thought it might be worth checking out how CRT has made its way into the Great Falls Public School district.
I am a retired teacher, and am friends with many teachers in Great Falls. Several members of my family even work for the school district. In many ways, our district is (thankfully) a lot more conservative than other AA Class districts throughout Montana.
I never saw a lot of overt teaching of how white students are inherently racist (beyond the normal social studies curriculum, which tends to put a lot of blame on western civilization for all of the world’s problems).
But there is one way that CRT has infiltrated even out here, and that is through the practices of so-called “restorative justice” and “standards-based grading.”
I don’t know how well-publicized restorative justice is in our school district, but there have already been several faculty meetings about it in the various secondary schools. Many teachers were told that they would all start implementing it soon. However, the way it gets implemented is vague. Right now, it appears mostly in the way administration handles disciplinary issues.
Traditionally, there were consequences for breaking rules. A student attacking a classmate, for example, would result in automatic suspension or expulsion. Under the tenets of restorative justice, however, things like suspension or expulsion are frowned upon and even avoided if at all possible.
This is because restorative justice is the belief that “punishment” for breaking a rule should be avoided, in favor of other practices like having “one-on-one conferences” with a student.
Restorative justice goes beyond just consequences, though. It seeks to actually redefine what constitutes a “problem behavior.”
Under restorative justice, things that our own childhood teachers would have considered “insubordination” may now just be shrugged off as no big deal.
Restorative justice has its roots in Critical Race Theory. Just Google “restorative justice” + “critical race theory” for endless sources to back this up.
Our district has many examples of severely troubled students, with well-documented histories of violence and insubordination, who have received little to no consequences for their ongoing behavior. Ask any teacher you know about this, and I’m sure they can give you many examples.
Whether this is restorative justice, or just admins not wanting to rock the boat, I do not know. And I’m not saying students never get expelled, but I do believe teachers today are putting up with far, far worse behavior than they used to. And oftentimes, with little to no consequences for the students in question.
I assume the restorative justice part of Critical Race Theory made its way into our district because of threats from the ACLU, which you can read about here:
The ACLU believed that because non-white students had a higher incidence of being written up in Great Falls, this was evidence of widespread “racism.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was shortly after this report was published that teachers started getting lectures from administration about how restorative justice and standards-based grading was the future.
Here are some examples of restorative justice being mentioned openly in school documents and articles about the district:
I’ve also attached an image I’ve obtained from the official school software used for behavioral reports (write-ups) for students. Note the “restorative practice option” as one of the available consequences.
Standards-based grading is also linked with Critical Race Theory. Faculty members were told (again, by admin with zero input from any parents or teachers) that this is the direction our schools and district would be moving in.
In a nutshell, standards-based grading is the philosophy that grades should only be assigned based on whether the student in question knows the information listed.
Under standards-based grading, things like following deadlines, following rules, neatness, attention to detail, creativity, honesty, attitude, etc. are not allowed to be factors in a grade.
For example, a teacher could not give a student a bad grade in math if the student never turned in his multiplication assignments, as long as the kid could demonstrate that he already knew his times tables.
I don’t believe most parents in our community would approve of this grading philosophy, or the philosophy of restorative justice, but these changes were never made widely known to the public. Teachers were just told about them with no discussion, and expected to follow along.
The following link is from the GFPS web site, with the title: “What’s Coming – Standards-Based Report Cards.” https://www.gfps.k12.mt.us/Page/363
Some articles effectively criticizing standards-based grading and linking it to CRT can be found here:
So I apologize for such a long email, but I thought I should really get this info out there since Critical Race Theory is such a hot topic.
I don’t know whether our administrators are pushing this stuff because they don’t know any better, or sincerely think it’s going to help, or what. I get the impression that it’s being forced on them from people even higher up.
I suspect former superintendent Tammy Lacey had a lot to do with getting this stuff introduced, but I have no evidence of this beyond my hunch.
On Thursday, October 15 I did a ride-along in a Great Falls Police Department patrol car with Master Police Officer Pat Brinkman.
It was a real eye-opener for me to witness first-hand what our local law-enforcement officers deal with, even though I only caught a brief glimpse of what they do and see every single day, day in and day out.
In the course of my ride-along I saw how our police officers deal with white, black, and brown folks here in Great Falls, and how they maintained a level of courtesy, professionalism, awareness, and genuine human empathy in every interaction.
Also that afternoon I personally witnessed our police officers and other first responders deal with two attempted suicides. Right here in Great Falls. Two. In a span of about four hours.
In the first incident the person’s life was quite literally saved by two GFPD officers working in tandem and using their training to prevent a life from being forfeited.
In the second case I saw up close and personal how our police and other first responders worked to get an almost-successful suicide to the emergency room just in time. Thanks to Great Falls Fire Rescue, Great Falls Emergency Services and GFPD.
We can be proud of our Great Falls Police Department. Very proud, and very confident in their abilities to serve and protect ALL of our citizens.
Thanks to Captain John Schaffer for allowing me to ride along and to MPO Brinkman for showing me the ropes and giving me a fresh perspective.
As long as I am a Great Falls City Commissioner I will do everything I can to make sure that we’re not going down the road of “defunding” or “reimagining” our amazing GFPD.
Imagine going to work every day to protect and serve your community.
Imagine being the wife, a son or daughter, the mother, father or other loved one of a local law-enforcement officer who goes out to serve and protect our community every day.
Imagine that.
Then imagine seeing ‘F— The Police’ spray-painted on the side of a downtown building. That happened in Great Falls a couple of weekends ago. Right downtown in our hometown.
A lot of our friends and neighbors don’t have to imagine the kind of stress and fear associated with seeing themselves and their loved ones, our local law-enforcement folks, insulted, shamed and smeared on a regular basis – because they live it. Every day.
It’s time for the Great Falls silent majority to show up and to stand up and be counted.
The opportunity to show the world how much we love, appreciate, and respect all of our local law-enforcement, law-enforcement personnel, and law-enforcement families and loved ones is this Saturday, October 3.
Our rally will start at 1:00 PM, Saturday, October 3rd at the Gibson Park Band Shell. Bring signs, flags, balloons etc.
We will hear some comments from local law-enforcement and family members and then we will walk over to the Great Falls Police Department HQ to give them three big ‘hip hip hooray’s’. We will walk back to the band shell and give the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office three big ‘hip hip hooray’s’.
In addition to the rally, Wendy Dick is organizing a ‘Black the Blue Ride’ in conjunction with the rally.
All cars and motorcycles are welcome to join in the drive around downtown displaying your flags and signs in support of local law-enforcement. There might even be some honkin’ goin’ on.
The ride will form up at the Mitchell Pool parking lot starting around 11:30 AM.
For the rally, we ask that you wear a mask if you can and practice social distancing at this outdoor event, per City County Health Department guidelines. We will have hand sanitizer stations available.
The Great Falls Community Police Foundation will have a table at the rally selling ‘Back The Blue’ signs to raise funds to aid the Great Falls Police Department with purchases of equipment and education not accounted for in the annual budget.
And please remember that this is not a demonstration AGAINST anyone or anything. It is a community show of support FOR our awesome law-enforcement folks and families and law-enforcement personnel.
Let’s show the world how much Great Falls loves, supports, and appreciates local law-enforcement.
For some in the local education/union/non-profit cabal, the passage of yesterday’s school levy wasn’t nearly satisfying enough.
“Winning” — which was all “for the kids,” right? — only served as preface to the final act: revenge.
If you had the audacity to oppose the levy, you might want to think twice about saying so publicly, especially if you own a business and care about your livelihood. If you voted no, you are a dissenter, and therefore, you must be destroyed.
On The Electric’s Facebook page, commenter Cory McKinney drew the ire of a person called Shelli Lavinder-Schwalk. According to GFPS’ website, Lavinder-Schwalk is the President of the Great Falls Education Association. That’s not true, of course; Lavinder Schwalk hasn’t been the GFEA president for years. She now works as a field consultant for the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the parent organization of the GFEA.
When McKinney quipped that landlords will raise rent, Lavinder-Schwalk urged all GFPS staff to boycott Mckinney’s wife’s business, Bright Eyes Cafe (formerly Five Loaves).
Interestingly, though, it wasn’t Lavinder-Schwalk who first identified Mckinney’s connection to Bright Eyes. McKinney can thank serial commenter Carrie Smale Galvez for that.
Incredibly, Galvez actually claimed she was trying to help McKinney — by sending a flag to educators, on a Facebook page heavily trafficked by educators, that McKinney is “often critical of GFPS.” Then, Galvez issued her own veiled threat to boycott Bright Eyes.
It is unclear where McKinney “verbally lashed” at Galvez.
As for Lavinder-Schwalk’s comment, you won’t be able to find it in the original thread. After receiving a tip from a reader, I called the GFEA to confirm her employment as president. I spoke with current president Bob Griffith and Linda Ballew, who told me that Lavinder-Schwalk has not been with the GFEA since 2018. Curiously, her comment disappeared about 20 minutes after I spoke with Griffith and Ballew.
I was able to capture a screenshot, though (nice try, all).
No matter your feelings on a particular policy question, assaulting the livelihoods of the very community members who pay our educators’ salaries and benefits, and just because they merely disagree with you, goes too far.
Lavinder-Schwalk obviously discredited herself, but here’s betting that in the eyes of MFPE boss Amanda Curtis, her vitriol will be celebrated instead of condemned.
