School board hears ‘Indian Education for All’ plan
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POLSON — Jere Mayfield presented the final draft of the Indian Education for All district-wide comprehensive plan at the Sept. 12 meeting of the Polson School Board.
Mayfield and a team of eight Polson teachers have been crafting the plan for a year and a half. A $25,000 grant enabled the district to put together the plan.
“The goal of the grant was twofold,” Mayfield said, “to increase the content knowledge and comfort level and to develop a competent Indian Education Plan.”
Cherry Valley Principal Elaine Meeks was the administrator on the district team. When asked by Trustee Theresa Taylor how she felt about the plan, Meeks said, “I think it’s a good plan … except we don’t have an Indian Education Specialist.”
The Indian Education Specialist position was eliminated during the spring meetings as one way of dealing with the half-million dollar budget shortfall.
Superintendent David Whitesell said, “I was pretty instrumental in getting this position passed. It is a position that is needed in this district.”
Adding that the first-year position Indian Education Specialist needed to be tweaked, Whitesell said it should be replaced when money becomes available.
In other business trustees accepted out-of-district enrollment with Trustee Theresa Taylor dissenting. Taylor expressed concern about the number of students affecting accreditation standards, particularly in 7th grade.
Another area of concern is the kindergarten, which has 134 students. Accreditation standards call for 20 kids per class, and Cherry Valley has six classes of kindergartners. For each child above the standard, state law calls for 1.5 hours per student of paraprofessional assistance. That works outs to 21 hours necessitating hiring three 7-hour paraprofessionals or the hiring another teacher. However the board made no decision regarding this matter.
Polson High School student Kelsey Koberg reported on the 4-Star Debate camp she attended. Polson Rotary sponsored Koberg, one of 48 students from the United States and Jordan, so she could attend the debate and leadership camp established by General Tommy Franks in Hobart, Okla.
Leadership issues also came into play when the negotiating teams of the Polson classified and certified employees’ unions and the trustees met to hammer out the present school year’s employment contract. Trustee committees noted no contract has been agreed upon.
In other business, the trustees passed the out-of-district enrollment and paid the warrants and claims.
Since the agenda was huge, many of the items, such as the climate survey and the district and superintendent’s goals, were postponed until the work session on Sept. 26. Chair Caryl Cox will try to coordinate the date with Deborah Silk and Lance Melton from the State School Board association.
