A piece in E-City Beat last week got me thinking about our local teachers. Most of our Great Falls teachers are really good, honest, hard-working folks who just want to make a difference in the lives of kids and our community.
Unfortunately sometimes our teachers don’t get enough thanks for what they do for kids, some of which have irresponsible parents who regard school as free daycare or worse – teachers as surrogate parents.
So with school starting this week, let me take this opportunity to say ‘THANK YOU!’ to all of the awesome teachers in our public and private school systems here.
I was raised in Great Falls, raised my own two daughters here, started helping to raise my grand-kids here and will happily credit the Great Falls public school system and our awesome teachers for the job they do in helping to educate our children. Both of my daughters’ success in life is in large part due to the quality public education they received here.
The E-City Beat piece from last week mentioned that teachers and District employees, especially the Administration on the hill, need to do a better job at public relations if they want to pass local school levies, and I agree.
But the far more troubling issue facing public schools funding in Great Falls is illustrated in the following data contained in a US Census Bureau interim report released in February of this year. In an 8-year span between 2010 and 2018:
Gallatin County (Bozeman/Belgrade) population increased 22,363 = 25% growth.
Flathead County (Kalispell) population increased 11,179 = 12.3% growth.
Missoula County population increased 9495 = 8.7% growth.
Lewis & Clark County (Helena) population increased 5305 = 8.4% growth.
Yellowstone County (Billings) population increased 12,155 = 8.2% growth.
Silver Bow County (Butte) population increased 784 = 2.3% growth.
Cascade County (Great Falls) population increased 320 = 0.4% growth.
If we don’t turn this around then all the positive PR in the world won’t make a difference because we won’t have the tax base to continue our local legacy of quality public education.
Like it or not, ready or not, we are competing with other state and regional cities for resources, taxpayers, and the kind of growth necessary to prosper and fund things like public education in the 21st-century.
Yesterday a concerned reader sent E-City Beat some screenshots of an exchange on Facebook involving a teacher in the Great Falls Public Schools District who uses the FB handle of Tricia Henneberg which clearly says she is an employee of GFPS. Henneberg is Tricia Loucks, listed in the District directory as a Special Ed Teacher at CMR.
The exchange starts with a FB user posting a poll question asking if high school shooting sports should be allowed.
Henneberg responds:
First of all let me say that I know that Henneberg’s name-calling and disdain for someone who simply disagrees with her is not representative of the overwhelming majority of our local school teachers or District employees.
But if you have ever wondered why the GFPS District has fallen out of favor with many local taxpayers, this kind of stuff is part of the reason.
Amazingly, Henneberg then doubles down later in the exchange by responding to a different citizen who is in favor of high school shooting sports:
Okay, if you don’t like the idea of high school shooting sports, that’s just fine. But that’s not the troubling issue here is it? How can we support teachers who call us morons?
After a bit, Henneberg offers…what? A justification for her rudeness? An apology?
If this is what Henneberg considers to be an apology, or if she thinks “working without getting paid” buys her the right to call the very people that pay her salary “morons” (from a special ed teacher?), then quite frankly she shouldn’t be teaching in our school system. She is supposed to be an example to the kids. What kind of example is she providing here?
We all work hard. Many of us, especially entrepreneurs and business owners, work a lot of hours “without getting paid” so that we can provide jobs, pay taxes and take care of our families.
Maybe the District should institute a Taxpayer Sensitivity Training program for teachers and administrators. Because so far, when it comes to persuading Great Falls taxpayers to pony up another million dollars here or two million there, because of attitudes like that of Henneberg the batting average for the GFPS District has been abysmal recently.
Is Great Falls Public Schools rewarding failure when it promotes administrators to higher positions?
In the business world, some would suggest that failure is part of the creative process, and it should be rewarded, and encouraged. Why? Because the fear of failure is an inhibiting force that stifles the presenting of new ideas according to a piece written by Andy Golding for STRIVE – Employee Experience Design.
Golding reports that: “More and more we are seeing businesses take steps to acknowledge and then reward failure”. She cites the example of “WL Gore, the makers of Goretex, was once voted the most innovative company in the U.S. They have long celebrated when a project doesn’t work, with beer or champagne – just as they would if it had been a success”.
Whether the paradigm of applauding failure should be accepted practice in the operation of a school district, or any entity of government is doubtful. A private business absorbs failure in a financial sense, but the same practice in a school district involves taxpayer’s money and the well-being of students. In this application, failure is failure and shouldn’t be rewarded.
But has less than stellar performance, that could be regarded as failure, been rewarded in our local school district?
The answer may be found in two recent GFPS hires, the new superintendent and the new assistant superintendent for secondary education. As it turned out, the existing assistant superintendent of secondary was promoted to superintendent after the field of applicants was narrowed down to three, one eventually dropping out and the other deemed to have insufficient experience coming from a principal’s position at Lincoln Elementary, finally leaving one candidate for the position – Moore.
The problem, as I see it, is that as assistant superintendent of secondary, Tom Moore’s tenure brought us a decreased graduation rate at Great Falls High of 75.8%, and a combined graduation rate of our two high schools of 80%. That means at best, 20 students out of every 100 do not graduate, albeit on time.
Should presiding over a poor, decreasing graduation rate be rewarded with a promotion to Superintendent and a huge salary raise?
I also believe you can credit Mr. Moore with many of the planning decisions made as result of the $40M construction bonds allocated to the two high school projects, which I believe to have “missed the mark”. Is his promotion to the superintendent position rewarding failure?
Next, with the vacated position of assistant superintendent for secondary, Ms. Heather Hoyer, current principal of Great Falls High, will be promoted to assistant superintendent of secondary education. There is still reason to believe she made a serious error in judgement by not reporting a sexual assault that occurred at Great Falls High School in the fall of 2011 while she held the position of associate principal at the school, by not reporting the incident directly to the police department, or even to the principal of the school.
The incident involving two football players occurred on September 13, 2011 in the locker room shower, and received national attention when reported by KRTV, and later by Yahoo Sports. “the 2011 Great Falls (Mont.) High football team was rocked with a hazing scandal that revolved around an activity called “power gobbling,” in which upper class members of the football team picked up freshmen victims in the shower by their crotch. In the process of that hazing activity, Great Falls senior Alex Mauricio Botina-Roehm allegedly stuck his thumb up a freshman’s rectum.”
As further explained in a letter from the victim’s family to the GFPS school board:
“Power Gobbling is when a student comes up behind you, makes a fist and then rams the fists into the testicles of another individual. This time the rectum was also penetrated, causing excruciating pain.”
Initially reported September 15, 2011 by the victim’s family to Kathy Van Tighem, a counselor at GFH:
“From: Kathy Van Tighem <kathy_vantighem@gfps.k12.mt.us> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 12:05 PM To: Sherry Marshall Subject: [Forwarded from mirapoint] FW:
Just to let you know this will be addressed today—Mrs Hoyer does not know who made the report, nor the age of the student, therefore, neither does Coach Krahe. If you are comfortable, please tell Tanner thank you for having to courage to tell you.”
Van Tighem then immediately reported the incident to associate principal Heather Hoyer:
“From: Heather Hoyer Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 10:43 AM To: Kathy Van Tighem Subject: RE:
There will be a come to Jesus talk tonight, courtesy of Coach Krahe. It will stop. If this is going on, there is more happening. Matt did say that many of the boys are choosing not to shower here and just go home. Maybe this is why.”
Further, the school’s community resource officer from the Great Falls Police Department was first informed by the victim’s family on October 30, 2011, when the school failed to do so. It was also at that time that the school’s principal was made aware of the incident.
In a case involving sexual assault, Title IX obligates any faculty and staff by law, except those protected by confidentiality (SHARPP, the Counseling Center and Health Services) with knowledge of a sexual assault/act of sexual violence involving a student to report that information immediately to authorities.
In the GFPS Complaint/Incident Report dated November 11, 2011, signed by Heather Hoyer acting as the Building Administrator, and by the 15 year old victim, without parental presence or consent, Hoyer’s notes, “Had decided to wait until season (football) was over before reported to SRO (police school resource officer) & school”. The victim and his family deny that they wanted to wait to report the incident to police.
Is this the kind of judgmental failure that should be rewarded with an elevation in responsibility and pay?
How would you feel if this happened to your child?
All the evidence indicates that the truth fairy made a visit to the Great Falls Public Schools Budget Committee last week when they recommended that no levy be placed before the voters as part of the May 7th school district election.
But before you feel free to spend that would-be tax increase, please remember that the issue isn’t settled until the entire school board votes on the issue. As some have suggested, you might want to attend the school board meeting on Monday to voice your No-Levy support.
The truth fairy’s visit to the budget committee was more of a gentle tap on the shoulder, rather than an in-your-face confrontation. Still one school board trustee, Jeff Gray, seemed to get the message on several levels. Now it might also be the case that since trustee Gray is running for reelection, he also could have been reading the tea leaves.
Jeff Gray gave the reason that the budget committee made the decision to recommend against a levy this spring is because the voters still don’t understand the difference between levies and bonds. Does he really think we are that stupid, or is it just another excuse?
According to the Great Falls Tribune, Gray also said “…if they don’t do a levy there will be about $1 million in cuts they will have to make. All those things will continue to be felt. Maybe not seen by the public, but they are felt by the staff…the students will feel it”.
One area where cuts will not be felt, administrator’s salaries, and you can take that to the bank!
Of course, the committee’s decision to recommend that another million-dollar levy should not be attempted at this time, brought tears to the eyes of outgoing superintendent Tammy Lacy who was, as reported by the Tribune, “heartbroken”.
In addition, according to an item in The Electric school board chairman Jan Cahill stated the following: “To the people who want to vote no on school levies, shame on them,”
The more significant revelation from trustee Gray came when he admitted the truth: “With public school funds continuing to decrease, there are harder long-term decisions that will have to be taken into consideration, such as consolidating schools.”
This is a reality that Tammy Lacey has in the past rejected out-of-hand, but that any serious planning would dictate. Consider this; Billings has a population of 125,000 and has 22 elementary schools, Great Falls has a population of 58,000 and has 15 elementary schools.
Several of our schools on the east end of town were built when Malmstrom Air Force Base was going strong but are now not strategically located for our current and future populations, and could be integrated into other existing schools which are sited to allow for expansion.
That’s just one example and there are more potential consolidation opportunities.
The truth is that Great Falls is not, and likely will not be booming anytime soon. The Truth Fairy who tapped Jeff Gray is right, not the Sugar Plumb fairies that the school administrators and decision-making community crony leaders are listening to.
The sad truth is that we probably spent $50M before we woke up, if we are truly awake.
There are 58,000 stories in this naked city, a few less than in New York City, which was the location for the 1948 Academy Award winning film, and later television series, ‘The Naked City’. The film was shot partially in documentary style on location in the streets of New York. According to Time magazine, the television series was “not just another cop show” and has been heralded as one of the most innovative crime shows in history because it put a “face on crime”.
Going beyond the simple struggle between good and evil the Naked City explained the more hidden side of personal conflicts. You might call the stories presented in the television series a compilation of mini psychodramas.
Season 4 brought ‘No Naked Ladies in Front of Giovanni’s House!’ to the small screen, which David Maine of PopMatters, describes “the show’s overarching tone could be described as humanist, if not outright bleeding-heart liberal. In fact, if the show had a motto, it might be: “Things are not what they seem.”
I believe the Great Falls High School play, ‘Converge: E Pluribus Unum’, researched and written by Sarah Butts, shares some similarities with ‘The Naked City’. The GFPS website describes the play as an “original production based on interviews with Great Falls Public Schools youth and educators who shared stories of struggle, loss, triumph and hope. These personal stories will raise awareness and spark conversation about the depth and breadth of hardship many youth and families in our community face”.
You might also say that the play attempts to put a face on the low Great Falls High School graduation rates as the objective because these are real kids, facing real problems, not just a mathematical percentage. That is why organizations like Graduation Matters are responsible for providing funding for the docudrama and the sequel video production.
Just as The Naked City presented the raw look at conditions and interpersonal issues in the real New York City, Converge in its verbatim format presents unaltered testimonials of life in Great Falls for some students in our school district. Drug abuse, teen pregnancy, homelessness, sexual orientation, sexual assault and lack of parental involvement, certainly all play a role in student success or failure.
On May 7th, the Great Falls Public School District will most likely be asking taxpayers to approve another operational levy, and my guess is that ‘Converge: E Pluribus Unum’ is a strategic part of the district’s plan to achieve success at the ballot box.
In other words, if you can’t shame ‘em, educate ‘em and if the voters say no, blame ‘em. Only more money can solve our problems according to Superintendent Tammy Lacey, who wrote on the district’s website, February 25, 2019:
“Converge has reminded us that we belong to a community and that means we should be joining hands, minds and yes, dollars, for the common good. By living in a community, we have responsibilities…to each other and to the next generation. No one understands that responsibility more than you. Thanks for your devotion to our kids, our community and our future. I’m listening for the winds of change and I hope you are too.” (emphasis added)
If, as it’s beginning to look like to me and others, the GFPS District is using ‘Converge’ to push another school tax increase it would be a slap in the face to the good work done by the students in the play and to the local groups trying to raise public awareness of some real social and family problems. And it would backfire, because we aren’t stupid.
Will the levy, if it were to pass, go to help students, or will the money go to increased administrative salaries, like the huge raise for the new superintendent, and health care insurance premiums as has been the case in the past?
“There are 58,000 stories in this Naked City. This has been one”
Today E-City Beat received the following letter written to the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees. We are respecting the letter writer’s request to remain anonymous.
Windchill chart.
“To whom it may concern,
I have just called my son out of classes for today due to dangerously low temperatures. This is something I should not have to do. You, as the school board should have done so for the whole district. Many children are forced to walk through uncontrolled intersections and dangerous weather conditions to get to school simply because our school board and city doesn’t seem to care about protecting our kids in inclement weather.
I am begging you to reconsider your stance on snow days and let them happen. Also, when you consider the current temps outside and the fact that the main campus of GFH (where all of my sons classes are) has an inadequate heating system because you chose to ignore the fact that it needs YEARLY maintenance.
This is creating inadequate learning environments for the kids. Especially those with documented learning and physical disabilities. You can’t learn when you’re cold. GFPS should be ashamed of themselves for allowing our children to be in an unsafe learning environment.
——(Editor’s Note: Combine the inadequate heating system with the documented high levels of CO2, a condition that has been proven to diminish cognitive function, and existed at Great Falls High for over 50 years, it should come as no surprise that a safe and healthy learning environment has not been provided for students and staff.)——
To add insult to injury, lets also address the fact that NONE of the schools are locked during school hours. Get camera and buzzer systems installed because anyone can just walk into a school and cause problems. All they have to do is look like they know where they are going. Last year, at East, I had a meeting, and I stood in the hall outside the classroom for 10 minutes before anyone even noticed that someone was out of place. Class was still going, so the halls were pretty much empty except for myself. That scares me. Did you not see what happened at Sandyhook? School doors should be secured during school hours for the safety of our kids.
I would also like to ask why you thought that the very end of April was the best time for spring break? Did you know that 90% of schools DO NOT do Easter Break because the timing of that changes every year. They all go on break at the end of March. For a full week. (Btw, thanks for letting them have a week for once… Let’s try and get winter break up to 2 weeks like the rest of the nation.) I can send you some sample calendars from around the US so you can see for yourself.
After a few anxious days of presumably running around like chickens with their heads cut off, local school district administrators concluded that they needed to further explain, or make excuses for, the horrendous graduation rates report issued by the Montana office of Public Instruction; Great Falls High School 75.8% and CM Russell High School 84%.
At their offices looking down over the taxpayers of Great Falls, district officials had an Archimedes moment and realized that, “Hey, this will make passing an operational levy for the customary $1.5 million this spring more difficult, if not impossible.” Of course, if this really happened, it would go down as a stellar example of deductive reasoning.
While doing the “Chicken Dance”, the district administrators came up with a two-prong narrative to explain the dismal graduation rate in Great Falls. First, a whole bunch of excuses why the problem is not their fault and second, a few heart jerking feel-good stories. No, they didn’t take any responsibility themselves.
The reported excuses included the following according to Superintendent Tammy Lacey:
Expelled students affect the graduation rate, and 2018 was a record year for expulsions, but the “safety of all students trumps the graduation rate.
The HiSet Program, (just a fancy name for a GED), which allows students to have a fast-track preparation to get the equivalent of a high school diploma earlier Than their scheduled graduation date still counts against the high school graduation percentage.
Lacey also said that since the “legal dropout age in Montana is 16….maybe this has some economic impacts…because right now you can get a job, two jobs in our community, and for some students, because of their life stories, that is more appealing than their high school diploma.” You bet Tammy.
Then Tammy fired the first salvo at Great Falls taxpayers in the upcoming battle for an operational levy in the May 7, 2019 school election. She said: “I noticed that the lowest dropout rates were in 1992 and 2014. That was the year after we passed a major mill levy that had value-added programming for it to support, in particular, the mental health needs of students.”
She added that since that time, they haven’t passed additional mill levies, but they’ve cut millions of dollars from the budget and 89 staff positions. Lacey said: “I’m just starting to wonder if those cuts, the number of 89 fewer people to develop a relationship with our students and our schools that those cuts aren’t coming to roost”.
Great Falls Tribune, “Graduation rate of GFPS students in 2018 dropped, 1/29/2019.
We get the message – don’t blame us for the poor graduation rates, blame the taxpayers who have voted NO for more money. In other words, if you want higher graduation rates, “Hand over yer booty you scurvy dogs!”
Today, the Tribune reported what some people learned last weekend; the Great Falls Public School District has only one remaining candidate for the new superintendent’s position.
With the assistance of the Montana School Boards Association, (for which GFPS payed MSBA $8,000 of taxpayer money), the field of seven applicants required to respond by the deadline of November 30, 2018, was reduced to three.
The much loved and respected Lincoln Elementary School principal Jon Konen was eliminated because in part trustee Jason Brantley said “he didn’t feel Konen was ready just yet to serve as superintendent“. How would he know? Trustee Jeff Gray said; “The learning curve with Jon and Greg is far too great”. Again, how would he know? Did the board ask Mr. Konen how he would correct the dismal graduation rate at Great Fall High, 75.8%? Not to my knowledge.
What was Tammy Lacey’s administrative experience before she was hired as superintendent? She came from a teacher/principal and HR background and was never a superintendent or even an assistant superintendent.
Then, this past weekend, Dr. Greg Nyen, superintendent of Waupaca school district in Wisconsin, with a high school graduation rate of 92%, withdrew himself because he “didn’t think GFPS would be a good fit for him now”. Do you think Dr. Nyen heard that the Superintendent of the Whitefish school district is looking for another job? Whitefish is where Nyen admittedly fell in love with Montana. Too bad he didn’t go skiing at Showdown, right?
What we have now is a game of musical chairs with one chair and one player. That one contestant is Tom Moore, Current GFPS assistant superintendent of Secondary, K 7-12.
Moore will be the only one interviewing for the superintendent’s job at 5:30 tomorrow evening, Thursday 1/24/19, unless the board of trustees decides to conduct a new round of advertising, which according to the chairman of the board, Jan Cahill, could be possible since there is still plenty of time to do so.
It should be noted that Missoula just started advertising for their new superintendent. Perhaps Tom Moore might be interested in moving to Missoula, considering that he recently applied for the same position in Kalispell.
Would anything change with a Superintendent Moore, or would it be the same old, same old as we reported in a previous E-City Beat article? While it is certainly true that Tammy Lacey has been the face of the district, Tom Moore also owns the current graduation rates, and many of the decisions relative to the $98M construction bond projects. For example, a number of local construction companies and architectural firms are not happy with the process to award contracts. Major general construction contracts have been awarded without competitive bidding and architectural work has been awarded using a secretive evaluation model where selection committee members are not identified on their grading sheets. So much for transparency and public record laws.
Transparency and the public’s right to know has also been thwarted in recent cases of thefts from the district and a teacher’s sexual relationship with a student.
In addition to the most recent reporting of a 75.8% graduation rate at Great Falls High, during Mr. Moore tenure as assistant superintendent for secondary, the AYP report for GFH from 2007 to 2011 is equally troubling. See below.
“More recently,GFHS has had trouble meeting the “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) standards established by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Schools that miss AYP are put on a watch list. If a school misses AYP for a second consecutive year, the school is publicly labeled as being “in need of improvement.” The school is then required to develop a two-year improvement plan for the subject(s) that the school is not teaching well. GFHS was forced to develop this plan for implementation in the 2007–2008 school year. Missing AYP in the third year forces the school to offer free tutoring and other supplemental education services to struggling students. GFHS was forced to offer these services in the 2009–2010 school year. If a school misses AYP for a fourth consecutive year, the school is publicly labeled as requiring “corrective action.” Corrective actions could include wholesale replacement of staff, introduction of a new curriculum, or extending the amount of time students spend in class. GFHS was forced to implement corrective action in the 2010–2011 school year.” SOURCE – Wikipedia
Given that multiple motions to approve Mr. Moore as the next GFPS superintendent failed on votes of three in favor and four opposed, and with the elimination or withdrawal of the other two viable candidates, the advertising and selection process should begin anew and the board needs to ask the tough questions and ferret out some original ideas for improving the school district. Curiously, the four women board trustees voted in opposition to Mr. Moore and the three men voted in favor. Are women better judges of people? Maybe.
In my opinion, we don’t deserve more of the same and if the district fails to select a quality superintendent it will be three strikes and you’re out.
Please call Mr. Jan Cahill, Chairman of the school board, and express your opinion. 899-1988, or email the entire board at schoolboard@gfps.k12.mt.us.
According to the Great Falls Tribune this morning, the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced that the combined graduation rate for the Great Falls Public School District is 80.08%. CMR had a graduation rate of 84%, while Great Falls High has a dismal rate of 75.8% for the school year 2017 – 2018. The Montana total graduation rate for the same period was 86.4%, meaning that both our local high schools were below the state average.
Upon hearing the numbers, current GFPS superintendent Tammy Lacey commented that “We’re a little perplexed and of course disappointed”. A little perplexed? Does this mean that the district is not acceptably performing? Hardly; Lacey was quick to blame the “budget cuts” and presumably the taxpayers for not passing operational levies. Never of course accepting her own responsibility, or that of the district administration, for almost 25 out of every one hundred students at GFH not graduating.
As we all know, graduation matters, and the rate of graduation is a primary metric used to indicate how well a school district is being run. You can shine it anyway you want, but such abysmal graduation rates should have consequences for those in charge.
Coincidentally, the announcement comes when the district board of trustees is about to interview and select a replacement for Superintendent Lacey. If you believe graduation rates should play a role in the selection of a new superintendent, you should note that one of the applicants is current assistant superintendent Tom Moore, who has held his position for 14 years, and one can conclude that his leadership has impacted our middle and high schools and subsequently our district graduation rates.
Comparatively, the Wisconsin applicant who currently serves as superintendent of the Waupaca School District, should be responsible for that district’s graduation rate of 92% as reported by U.S. News and World Report. Waupaca High School achieved a 19.2 college readiness, while Great Falls High School had a readiness score of 13.3.
Results matter when selecting a school district superintendent, or passing an operational levy. Great Falls parents and taxpayers will almost certainly be faced with a levy election this spring, but unfortunately the choice of a superintendent will be made by the school district board of trustees who will decide if we will get the same old, same old, or new ideas and strategies.
Our kids deserve more than they’re currently getting, don’t they?
Will the new GFPS Superintendent be the same old, same old?
Recently the USA Today Network, aka the Great Falls Tribune, reported that a “Superintendent ‘Meet and Greet’ set Sunday”. The field of applicants has been reduced from seven to three, and the finalists will be presented to the public at the Paris Gibson Education Center cafeteria from 1 to 3 pm this Sunday, January 13, 2019.
According to the Tribune, “the Montana School Boards Association and the Great Falls Public Schools board of trustees are giving the community a chance to meet the final three candidates”.
Those making the cut are Tom Moore, existing GFPS Assistant Superintendent for Secondary, Jon Konen, Principal at Lincoln Elementary, and Gregory Nyen, Waupaca School District Superintendent in Waupaca, Wisconsin. Both Moore and Konen have been employed by GFPS since 2007.
According to GFPS, Interviews and a final decision will be made by the school district on January 16, 2019.
The obvious question we have is; what role in the narrowing down, or the cut, did Great Falls parents and taxpayers play in the selection process?
It seems very little, if at all, in spite of our suggestion that community members chosen from the various neighborhood councils be given the opportunity to be part of the process beginning last December.
In my opinion, the GFPS District is facing an increasing challenge with sustainability as evidenced by an almost annual request of the local taxpayers to supplement its operational budget. Rather than the current job description for the superintendent to be a cheerleader to get levies passed, the main goal for a new superintendent should be to improve measurable student results and new operational strategies.
Just one area to seriously explore might be the consolidation of our existing elementary schools. This is something the current superintendent dismissed without a second thought. Considering that the Billings school district has 32 schools and a 2017 population of 110,000, and the Great Falls school district has 20 schools and a 2017 population of 59,000, there would seem to an opportunity to reduce our school district financial footprint and achieve operational savings.
In other words, ideas to improve student opportunities and outcomes should be more important in the selection of a school superintendent for GFPS than levy salesmanship.
The public should have more than two days to weigh in before the final selection.
“More recently, GFHS has had trouble meeting the “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) standards established by the 
