Columbia Falls superintendent shares insight

It’s been a good first year so far for Columbia Falls School Superintendent Steve Bradshaw, who has taken the time to familiarize himself with the goals of the district and expectations of the community.

He joined the district from Sitka, Alaska, where he served as superintendent of schools, but he has 19 years of experience living in Montana.

“This is a great community; it’s a good district,” Bradshaw said. “I’m really happy with the transition.”

Bradshaw said his style is not to come in and make major changes, though there are areas he wanted to explore.

“There are things I see and have questions about, absolutely,” he said.

“We need more flexibility in schedules, especially at the high school level. I’m not necessarily referring to the number of minutes in class. I’m referring to the opportunities for kids,” Bradshaw said, noting online or vocational classes.

He said the new triad building trades program that incorporates English, math and building is a great start.

“That’s the type of thing I think excites kids,” Bradshaw said.

“We don’t want to close the door to, in my mind, different types of intelligence that would lead us to other directions besides college. One of the big mistakes in public education is to assume everyone wants to go off to college,” Bradshaw said. He wants to see students equipped with an education they enjoy; he wants them to achieve success and become employable.

Bradshaw also emphasized keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in students, something that can’t be assessed in standardized tests.

“Some research I’ve looked at [show that] what we really need to think about as a nation is our creativity is going down and that’s a frightening thought to me because that’s what made us who we are as a country,” Bradshaw said. “I understand people’s concern for wanting some evidence that the kids are progressing. At the same time, when we get into this, what I call regurgitation of information, that’s what is turning kids off a lot. When a teacher feels they can’t do the creative things in the classroom because they have to focus on the test because it could mean their job — it has all kinds of consequences in this country,” he said.

Bradshaw said he is surprised by the push-back the Common Core standards have gotten.

“I don’t think people fully understand it,” Bradshaw said. “They look at it as government intrusion into local school districts. I don’t see Common Core as anything else other than what kids should be learning in public schools.”

After sustaining several years of shrinking enrollment, the Columbia Falls School District enrollment decreased by a negligible number of students this year, resulting in no percentage increase or decrease this year, according to the 2014 Statistical Report of Schools compiled by the Flathead County Superintendent of Schools.

Bradshaw believes this may mean enrollment is stabilizing. Over the past 10 years, enrollment has decreased by 20 percent (174 students) at the high school level and 12 percent (196 students) at the elementary level.

“I marvel at the fact they have what they still have,” he commented. “I mean the school board, and the former superintendent, and teachers and employees of this district have done a wonderful job keeping the doors open on as many things as they have because they have financially struggled in this district.

“When you look at our budget, had they not passed the high school mill levy last year our high school budget would be in serious trouble,” he said.

Bradshaw said he looks forward to helping improve the work that has been done in the Columbia Falls School District.

“It intrigues me to try to find avenues, to make shifts that people buy into and believe in,” Bradshaw said. “It can’t be a top-down mandate that doesn’t work.”

His leadership philosophy is about getting people to see their own leadership potential.

“I look at good leaders as leaders who are able to bring out the best in the people around them and get that buy-in you need to make changes,” Bradshaw said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.