SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Elementary School Board discussed employment vacancies within the district as well as a General Fund budget amendment at its regular meeting Wednesday, June 12.
According to Superintendent Chris Stout the district is advertising openings for second and third grade educators, as well as a hybrid position for a junior high library media and social language arts educator. The third grade position isn’t vacant but Stout anticipates current third grade teacher Kristy Pohlman will take maternity leave in the fall.
“I thought it would just be better to hire another third grade teacher. We’re still kind of debating whether we should split that class from the beginning or just keep them together and co-teach,” said Stout at the meeting.
The junior high teaching position became vacant after former junior high teacher Duane Schlabach resigned this past February. The school board offered the position to Jeff Husmann who informally accepted and later formally declined the job. To add to the staff restructuring at SLE, library media specialist Michele Holmes accepted a position at the high school, leaving her job open as well.
While the two positions were vacant, the district offered the teacher’s union a four percent raise, which would put the district nearly $28,000 over budget. Stout said the board could not legally approve the budget at $28,000 “in the hole.”
“In order for that [raise] to work we had to combine a position or get rid of a position,” explained Stout.
As a result, he decided it would be best to combine the two vacant junior high positions into a hybrid position and is listed on the Montana Office of Public Instruction website as a part time social language arts teacher and a part time librarian.
Junior high educator Patti Bartlett explained to the board that the junior high students excelled in standardized testing this past school year she raised concerns about the district’s attempt to maintain the budget while sacrificing student resources at the same time.
“I don’t know if we can do the same thing with a part-time teacher,” said Bartlett. “I would really hate to see a teacher being cut, or part of a teacher being cut, when we are making strides with what we have. If we have less I don’t know if you’re going to see that.”
Sheila Devins, first grade teacher at SLE, asked the board to reconsider the vacant positions to maintain a full-time junior high teaching position by hiring someone who could hold a position for library media and tech “very part-time.”
“A high quality teacher is the number one indicator of student achievement,” said Devins at the board meeting. “I’d hate to see kids get (fewer) electives at the junior high level.”
As of the June 12 board meeting, Stout said they had received applications for the second and third grade positions. He did not indicate if he’d received any applicants for the hybrid position. None of the available positions discussed at the board meeting have been interviewed for but Stout anticipates to begin the interviewing process the week of June 24.
Stout explained to the board that if the district does not receive a competitive pool of applicants for the hybrid position that he would have to revisit how the position is structured. The district must legally have a librarian on staff.
“I admit, it’s an awkward combination,” said Stout.
The board approved a General Fund budget amendment of $55,000 for “unanticipated expenses.” According to District Clerk Heather Mincey, the unanticipated expenses included paying out teachers’ sick days when they left the district. The $55,000 will be taken from the district’s general reserve fund, which has $115,000. She estimated that the district will use around $20,000 of the $55,000 for unanticipated expenses.
The amount that isn’t spend will be put back into the reserve fund to be used next school year for unexpected maintenance repairs. The amendment will not impact taxpayers as the money already exists within the district’s general reserve fund.
The board agreed to not hold a regular board meeting in July. Instead, it anticipates holding a special session to discuss and approve new hires for the vacant positions within the district. The board did not set a date for its regular board meeting in August, which is expected to include the superintendent evaluation.
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