Greetings families,
On Monday, September 18th, the board of trustees met for their regular board meeting. We are grateful for a solid start to the school year and appreciate all the efforts of our principals, teachers, and staff members for all they are doing to support student learning and growth. Our excellent team continues to go above and beyond for your children.
In addition to regular board business of approving minutes and expenditures, several policy
considerations were approved upon the policy committee's recommendation. The bulk of these policies were updated or newly implemented in response to changes made during the Montana legislative session regarding charter schools and communication to parents and guardians. All district policies are available on our website.
Reports included updates from Mr. Price, Ms. Broyles, and Mrs. McIntyre. We are grateful for the cooperation of students, parents, staff, and law enforcement for their diligence in responding to a school threat and keeping all safe. The elementary school continues to face staff shortages. Still, as Ms. Broyles noted, the existing staff is doing incredible work to fill these gaps and provide students with the best possible education. Staff members encouraged the board to continue seeking qualified candidates for the open positions (School Counselor, Special Education Teacher, Paraprofessional) and to work to recruit substitute teachers. If you are interested in filling any vacancies, please contact joe.price@somersdist29.org.
The PR committee, hopefully in collaboration with the PTA, will be looking forward to connecting with many of you throughout the school year to show appreciation for our staff. The parking lot project is completed. The district's project manager is working with the contractor to finalize the total cost as well as outlined in the contract. Rather than emptying the entirety of the building reserve fund, the trustees approved a payment plan through the state of Montana to spread out the project's cost over several years.
Other singular action items for approval centered around the business office. First, trustees authorized the district office to serve as the fiscal agent for the Western Montana Comprehensive System of Professional Development. West Valley previously served as the fiscal agent but can no longer do so. This organization is a resource that many of our middle school staff and others across western Montana utilize for professional development. Two changes to the budget were approved to allow for an increase in funding for the Debt Service Fund and the Building Reserve Fund.
We are grateful for the new addition of paraprofessional Mr. Morin.
We approved the enrollment of out-of-district students into District 29 and acknowledged that other students were leaving our district to attend elsewhere. Unless parents volunteer why they are leaving the district to attend elsewhere, the schools cannot obtain that information. Trustees remain committed to ensuring that our schools are places families want to be. Overall, more students enrolled than left the district, resulting in an increase in our student population.
Finally, we approved board goals for the year. Board goals can be viewed at this link: Board Goals 2023-2024.pdf. We look forward to a good year and are grateful for the wonderful families of District 29.
The next regular board meeting will be at SMS on October 16th, 2023, at 6 PM. Have a lovely weekend.
Sincerely,
Jesica Swanson