Four school districts have variety of trustee choices
A variety of trustee choices await voters in Smith Valley, Somers-Lakeside, West Valley and Whitefish school districts.
School elections are May 4, but many voters already have received absentee ballots.
Following are brief profiles of trustee candidates from the four Flathead Valley school districts.
Smith Valley
There are five candidates running for two three-year terms on the Smith Valley school board.
Angie Brown
Age: 32
Occupation: stay-at-home mom; website designer
School board or school-related experience: parent-teacher committee member; involved in five-year improvement plan; three kids at school
Why she’s running: “I attend the meetings anyway. If there’s an opening available, I can give my input.”
On budget concerns: “If we can maintain what we have when everything is tight right now ... asking for more I don’t think would be good for the community. Maintaining is my goal for right now, and if we can improve, we can.”
Duane Dierenfield
Age: 45
Occupation: epoxy flooring business owner
School board or school-related experience: girls basketball coach
Why he’s running: Dierenfield said he wants “to get the best education possible for kids.” He also said he is aware of many issues schools face; his wife is a teacher in a different school district.
On budget concerns: “I represent the taxpayers. They’re the ones who are going to vote. I think it’s important to include the taxpayers as much as possible.”
Edward Fox
Age: 68
Occupation: retired from the railroad
Why he’s running: “I want to see the structure of the school stay as it is,” he said, adding that the board has been talking about possibly eliminating the school’s seventh and eighth grades, a suggestion he opposes.
Fox said he also “would like to try to help with some of the financial problems they’re having right now.” His experience as secretary-treasurer of the railroad union could be helpful, he said.
On budget concerns: “Smith Valley School is top-heavy in senior teachers” and might consider offering early retirement incentives, Fox said. That might allow the district to hire younger, less expensive teachers and alleviate the budget crunch so the school doesn’t have to get rid of its upper grades, he said.
Jerry Snell
Age: 35
Occupation: owns rental and disposal businesses
School board or school-related experience: volunteer at Smith Valley School
Why he’s running: “I want to be part of the decisions of the school my kids go to ... and be more a part of the decision-making as far as the school goes.”
On budget concerns: The district needs to find “expenses that can be cut. I do not mean jobs, though, just some regular expenses, hard overhead costs.”
The district also needs to shop around often for insurance and utilities, he said, and consider other ways they can tighten the belt. He also opposes the idea of getting rid of Smith Valley’s seventh and eighth grades.
Richard “Frank” Sutton, incumbent
Age: 66
Occupation: retired from construction and from 10 years working for the city of Kalispell; currently raises miniature horses
School board or school-related experience: about 20 years on Smith Valley’s board; 4-H leader for about 40 years; volunteers with children’s groups at church
Why he’s running: When he turned in his nomination petition, only a couple people had signed up and “I felt the people needed to have a choice,” he said.
But Sutton also has “a passion for the school. I have had for 20 years. My family all went through that school. I guess I just want to see it maintained.”
On budget concerns: “Our principal decided to retire this year, and I’m sure one or two other [teachers] are getting close to that point, which would make a difference [in the budget] later on. How we handle rehiring the principal will make a difference.”
Getting rid of the seventh and eighth grades might not save much money, he added. Teacher salaries would be eliminated, but the school would lose some state funding and taxpayers would shoulder those students’ tuition payments if they went to another district.
Somers-Lakeside
Somers-Lakeside has two three-year terms open on its school board, and five candidates vying for election.
Scott Harrison
Age: 41
Occupation: bricklayer
Why he’s running: Harrison has three kids in the district and wants to volunteer. “I think it’s a good way to get involved and be part of the community,” he said.
On budget concerns: “The most important thing is having a pretty open line of communication between everybody involved, so everyone is aware of what the problems are and move forward from there.”
Lori Moran, incumbent
Age: 39
Occupation: consumer loan department operations supervisor at Glacier Bank
School board or school-related experience: three years on the Somers-Lakeside board
Why she’s running: “I enjoyed it the first time around and there are still a lot of things of interest, things to do and be accomplished.”
On budget concerns: “We’re just trying to figure out how we can cut some costs without passing anything on to the taxpayers and hopefully keep jobs and positions and not take away things from the kids. ... The general consensus is to try to spend money wisely.”
Tim Murphy
Age: 46
Occupation: works for Orphans Lifeline International
Why he’s running: “I have two children at Lakeside, and I want to be an involved parent. I always wanted to make sure they’ve had a good education.”
On budget concerns: “You’ve got to be proactive and work on this ahead of time instead of letting it creep up on us and then reacting. ... If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it is, you’ve got to fix it pretty soon.”
Tim Rogge
Age: 44
Occupation: building contractor
School board or school-related experience: volunteers regularly with kids’ classes
Why he’s running: “I am running for the school board to hopefully maintain the quality of education that our kids have and possibly improve it. There is a position that needs to be filled, and I think I can provide some help in that arena.”
On budget concerns: “It obviously needs to be looked at, and whatever budget we have, we need to give kids the best opportunities we can.”
Courtney Shaeffer
Age: 34
Occupation: stay-at-home mom; substitute teacher in Somers-Lakeside schools
School board or school-related experience: substitute teaching; volunteer in school library and classrooms
Why she’s running: “I hope I would benefit our community by making good decisions and helping the school board. ... I believe this school is a vital part of the community.”
On budget concerns: “I would want to try to meet as many needs as possible and to stay within our budget and not ... have items that may not be needed in our budget.”
Shaeffer also said she thinks the board should start preparing now for future building needs. “I know the middle school will have a building issue soon. It’s something we should all be aware of and build into the plans ... without too many other sacrifices.”
West Valley
There are three candidates for two open three-year seats on the West Valley school board.
Diane Etter
Age: 62
School board or school-related experience: years of PTA work, including serving as president of the Anchorage (Alaska) Council of PTAs and as an officer in the Alaska state PTA; nearly 20 years on history and English curriculum committees in Anchorage
Why she’s running: “I became concerned. I don’t think they’re involving the community as well as they could be in decision-making ... especially in the bond.”
On budget concerns: “I don’t think they’ve proven that there’s a real need at this point, so a bond request is premature,” Etter said, adding that she also didn’t think the board has explored alternate plans, such as changing the district’s boundaries or sending its upper grades to another district.
Etter is also concerned about the taxpayers’ burden. Already the taxpayers’ contributions to the school’s budget has increased 37 percent over five years, although individual taxpayers might not have seen increases that high. The bond will add extra mills to taxpayers’ burden, she said.
“I think the public needs to feel like there is truly a need before they’re going to vote for a bond in this current economic climate,” she said.
Gary Krueger, incumbent
Age: 51
Occupation: owns a farm and construction company
School board or school-related experience: 20 years on the West Valley board
Why he’s running: “I really like being on the school board. I like the people there. The administrators, I’ve had good luck with. I also am a taxpayer; I don’t have an agenda and I’m able to look at all facets of the school.”
Krueger said he also wants to help see the building project through at West Valley.
On budget concerns: Growth in the district has created space issues that led to the need for the bond, Krueger said. Putting more kids in classrooms, particularly at the lower grades, might buy the school some space but could violate state accreditation standards and make some parents unhappy, he said.
“My only choice is to say we need a bond issue to educate students in this district,” he said.
Stephanie Nadasi
Age: 36
Occupation: stay-at-home mom; handles billing and scheduling for her husband’s psychology practice
School board or school-related experience: nine years teaching experience in Nebraska and Montana
Why she’s running: “My son’s a kindergartner this year; my daughter’s going to be going to school there ... we’re going to be out here a full nine years, and I wanted to get involved with the school.”
Nadasi also said she hoped to be a liaison between the school and the community.
On budget concerns: “Obviously schools always need support. You know it’s always hard because everybody’s finances are always different for every family. ... I think it’s part of the challenge, and that’s part of the challenge I want to be part of — how everybody can feel like their needs are being met.”
Whitefish
Two three-year seats are on the ballot in the Whitefish School District.
Charlie Abell
Abell, 70, was out of town and could not be reached for comment. He retired as president and chief executive officer of Whitefish Credit Union in 2009 and is a former Whitefish school board member.
Peter Elespuru
Age: 66
Occupation: CPA; founding owner of Windermere of Whitefish; owns a property management business
School board or school-related experience: served on the board of Children’s House Montessori, a past president of the Montessori school; elementary school coach for a variety of sports
Why he’s running: “In the past year I was curious more than anything else about the direction of the school system,” he said, adding that he talked to several people, including teachers and administrators, about that direction. “I at least know enough to maybe be of help. It’s a good time to do some good for the school system.”
On budget concerns: Elespuru brought up the high school; the school board has been pursuing options to expand, remodel or build a new school. But even more important than bricks and mortar, he said, is the atmosphere.
“I think you can probably educate kids in any kind of building if you have the right attitude, the right desire to get them to be educated,” he said. “My whole thing is it’s more about the experience that the kids have. ... Let’s improve that experience. I think that’s what I see as lacking.”
Ruth Harrison, incumbent
Age: 62
School board or school-related experience: four years on Whitefish board; taught in private schools and worked as an aide and substitute teacher
Why she’s running: “There are so many projects I want to see through,” she said, listing the school’s Virtual High School, freshman academy and edible classroom programs as examples. “I think Whitefish is headed in a really positive direction. I want to be part of it.”
On budget concerns: “In the current funding structure that the state has set up, there isn’t a lot of wiggle room. There isn’t a lot we can do different. It brings me always back to talking about maintaining a standard of excellence to keep our community supportive of the Whitefish School District.”
Harrison also brought up the high school. The board, she said, hasn’t necessarily been pursuing a new building, but rather a slew of options that might help improve the facility. That could mean remodeling or could mean a new building, whichever is best for students, she said.
Jack Silliker
Age: 66
Occupation: retired locomotive engineer
School board or school-related experience: former Little Dribblers and Pee Wee baseball coach
Why he’s running: “I have strong feelings about the students we’re losing here that are transferring to Kalispell ... and then I have strong feelings about the idea we might need a new school here. With economic conditions the way they are here right now, I’m strongly against that.”
On budget concerns: “That’s the biggest problem all the schools are having now. People are so stressed with income, it’s hard to get a levy passed. It’s like beating your head against the wall. There has to be some other alternative way to approach this and get the job done.”
Silliker also discussed possibly adding on to the high school rather than tearing down the existing building. “If we need larger rooms, we can build them,” he said.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.