Race on for Polson School Board
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POLSON — With the school board election on May 8 and ballots already in the mail, Polson School Board candidates answered questions related to their potential new position. Six candidates are vying for three elementary school seats and one high school seat. All positions are for three years.
Candidates are incumbent Caryl Cox, Jami Hamel, incumbent Bob Hanson, John Kelly, Michael LeaderCharge and Ashley Schweigert.
Candidates explained why they are running for school board and what strengths they bring to the position.
• Cox, an incumbent and current school board chair, said she’s running for school board because she’s “been on the board for four years and there's a lot of unfinished work I'd like to be a part of. We started a long term strategic planning process last year and I intend to work to resurrect that process with staff and community involvement in order to address the following questions: What should we do to address the most pressing educational/curricular issues facing students today and in five, 10 years? Who are our different student populations and what can we do to ensure they are engaged in the educational process? How can we improve our aging facilities so the physical environment is optimal for learning? How can we impress upon state legislators the importance of their constitutional imperative to provide a basic system of free quality education?
A synergistic board/superintendent relationship, which I intend to facilitate, is key to revealing creative solutions. I've been to Helena twice to speak with legislators about important educational issues. I am a board representative on the Montana School Board Association Class A caucus; this caucus meets monthly to discuss common problems and potential solutions. With a new superintendent, administrators, some new board members and an engaged community, our future now is ripe with possibility.”
• Hamel said as a parent, she became concerned after reading and hearing about the chaos going on in the Polson School District. She wants her children to be focused on school and education, not the politics going on around them.
She has local government experience since she served on CSKT Tribal Council for eight years, from 1998 to 2005, working as vice chair for six of those years. The Tribes have more than 30 programs and departments the Tribal Council oversees. Hamel also currently serves on the Tribe’s budget committee that manages a $120.8 million budget.
• LeaderCharge said he has about 10 years experience in youth development, and four children.
“I believe myself to be a good leader. I also bring the strength (needed) to work as (part of) a community, which is (a) huge (issue) with a school board,” he noted.
• When conditions exist that have adverse effects on the entire community, Kelly believes it is our obligation to step up and be part of the solution because duty does not have an age or time limit. He has a strong background in business administration including experience in conflict resolution, planning, budgeting, labor relations, customer relations and community involvement.
• Hanson, also an incumbent, said he brings the strengths of honesty and probity. He said, “I am honest and forthright.”
Candidates addressed what they thought the main issues the Polson School Board of Trustees faced and how they would solve them.
• “You know, the reason I decided to run was the school board was losing the trust of the community,” LeaderCharge said, adding that with the constant fighting nobody really knew what was going on or why.
He said the school board needs to involve parent groups, school groups and the Tribes.
• Kelly said restoring the trust and confidence of the community, staff and students was an issue for the school board as was selecting administrators who have the ability, dedication, vision and leadership qualities to meet the district’s current and future challenges.
“It is critical that all members of our community have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the selection process,” Kelly said. “I will make every effort to have this happen. This is the common ground on which we can begin the healing process.”
• Cox said a newly configured board and new superintendent can hopefully demonstrate a united front, open to possibilities and creative solutions to address serious issues. This is critical to moving forward.
• “We need to get back to working for the kids,” Hanson commented. “We need to quit telling the administrators how to do their jobs; we need to simply provide goals, hire them and let them do their jobs and quit undermining them.”
• “I see the School Board as losing focus of what their role is,” Hamel said. “They don’t seem to be functioning as a unified board.”
She said it seemed apparent there was a split between the board members and so the focus was more on board actions than educational needs and the students.
She added that as a new trustee, she would take advantage of the board member training offered by the Montana School Board Association and also work at communication and collaboration with other trustees.
“There is no purpose in blaming problems on the past or the current board; it should be about working together in a positive environment and moving forward,” Hamel continued
When asked what he believed the role of the school board is in School District 23 Hanson said, “I believe the role of the district should be to hire good staff and support them, not undermine them or micromanage them ... hire good people and let them do their job.
Teachers’ jobs are to teach, a principal’s job is to lead and supervise his or her building, and a superintendent’s job is to see to the staff and their needs and be responsive to fiscal restraints, he said. The school board’s job is to provide goals and objectives but not micromanage. We are supposed to oversee and be responsible fiscally,” Hanson explained.
• LeaderCharge said he believes the school board serves as the leadership group for the school district and one of the leaders in this community.
“They (the school board) need to act as such, and they do need to involve everybody in the process,” he explained.
He added that he thinks the board, in its position of leadership, needs to show this level of commitment and strength.
“The school and school administration are looking to the school board for stability. There can’t be fighting, arguing or mistrust,” he added.
The school board needs to step up and be able to put all that aside since their job is to be there for the kids, “to provide the best possible education for every kid in that school.”
• According to Hamel, school trustees should be effective leaders. They should engage with the administration, teachers and community in a collaborative effort to deliver the best educational services to students.
“The welfare of the students in the district should be a top priority,” Hamel noted. “Trustees should work together to provide the best possible school program, staff and facilities.”
• Cox said it is the board’s responsibility to create policy consistent with the priorities of our community.
“We have the final say in personnel, curricular and some student matters,” she explained.
“But primarily, our role is to work in partnership with the superintendent and the educational community to define a common mission and goals that reflect the priorities of the community and then to make sure those priorities are reflected in action.”
• “The duties and powers of the Board are well defined in MCA 20-3-324 and 20-3-362,” Kelly said. “In addition, the board is morally obligated to uphold its Code of Ethics adopted in Feb 2012.
(Editor’s note: former candidates Ivy McGowan and Andrew Learn have opted out of the race; and, as of press time, Schweigert had not responded to the questions.)
Meet the Candidates
• Michael LeaderCharge
Age: 40
Family: married; two daughters, ages 11 and 7, in the school district; lived here about a year
• John Kelly
Age: 76
Family: Married with four children
Occupation: Semi-retired
Has lived in the area 14 years.
• Robert Hanson
Age: 70s
Family: wife Val
Occupation: retired
Lived in the area since he retired 21 years ago and before in the '40s and '50s
• Jami Hamel
Age:46
Family: 22-year-old daughter Arisha Hales, 17-year-old daughter Mariah Hamel, 15-year-old son and daughter, Gerald and Malia Hamel, and 2-year-old grandson Caden Hales
Occupation:Policy Analyst/ Tribal Council Support for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes since 2005.
• Caryl Cox
Age: 56
Family: Spouse: Thomas Cox; Children: Emily, 28; Nathan: 1981-2003
Occupation: retired; but previously taught statistics and evaluation at S. Illinois University and ran a small business in program evaluation. I evaluated primarily federally funded social service programs in the Chicago area.
Lived in the area permanently since 2006, on and off since 2000.
