Public Comment Highlights Parents' Concerns Glasgow School Board Meeting

The Glasgow School Board met on April 13 and the agenda included personnel action report, M.U.S.T. Health Insurance renewal, a request to close the activity account for the Middle School Science Club as well as a request to transfer the activity funds checking account. Also on the agenda were reports by the various committees, student representative, GEA, principal and superintendent.

The meeting started off with the public comment period in which Chair Angie Page read from the policy handbook regarding public comments while stressing those who wished to provide a public comment would not be allowed to make comments about any student, staff or member of the general public in order to avoid violations of individual rights and privacy. “We are not, by law, allowed to take any action on any item brought before us during the public comment portion of the meeting. We will likely not engage in dialogue regarding the public comment. We will listen and if required direct you to the appropriate person or part of the district to address your concern,” stated Page.

Jennifer Jackson, who has two kids enrolled at Irle Elementary, provided the first public comment of the evening, talking about concerns in the curriculum she has noticed as her children have moved up in grades. She specifically talked about a report a fourth-grade class was doing on an individual for Black History Month. She stated upon further research, there were topics attributed to the individual being researched that she felt were not appropriate for this age group.

“I come to you guys today to hopefully start a conversation and open some eyes to what’s actually out there, what our kids can see and what can be given to them, without really, maybe teachers, not even really knowing it’s out there…..A teacher should be teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, not the world of stuff that’s out there that they [the students] don’t need to boggle their minds with at this point,” Jackson said. ”For us, as being a small community in northeast Montana, we should be able to teach our kids proper learnings in school.”

In accordance to policy, the board did not engage after Jackson shared her comments and Chair Page thanked her for her time.

The second public comment of the evening was from Candy Lagerquist, who addressed the school board regarding what, she said, is a lack of communication regarding an incident that occurred at Glasgow High School. As she started explaining the situation that occurred, Chair Page stopped her stating she felt the situation needed to be dealt with administratively first and she wasn’t sure if all of the proper channels had been gone through. “We’re involving a lot of people who are identifiable by the information you’re giving…..We’re hearing this third hand by you and I don’t think that’s the correct procedure for us to follow for an incident like this,” stated Page. Though they expressed appreciation for Lagerquist being there and speaking up, they stated they did not feel it was the correct forum to address her concerns. “We need to maintain an independent judgement and we also need to be able to hear from everyone involved because we can’t do anything with a one-sided story,” explained Page. Information was provided on how to locate the school district’s complaint procedure and Lagerquist was advised to follow the process outlined.

After no further public comment, the school board followed the agenda, with the personnel action report and approving the student attendance agreement for a student moving from Opheim to Glasgow. The school board also approved the M.U.S.T. Health Insurance Policy for the 2022-23 school year, which will have a zero percent premium increase for the third year in a row. Also, it was mentioned the retiree rate will not affect the employee rate, so a retiree will pay the same as an employee, as opposed to previously when the retiree had to pay double the employee rate.

The Board also approved the closure of the Middle School Science Club funds due to the club being obsolete, and the funds are to be transferred to the Glasgow Middle School improvement account. Christina Hunter also recently discovered the district’s activity funds checking account at Wells Fargo was being charged an outrageous amount of fees, approximately $300 to $500 per month. In contacting Wells Fargo, they did waive the fees for the months they were charged for however after doing some research, Hunter found a no-fee account can be opened at the Bank of Glasgow. Glasgow High School principal Brett Huntsman applauded Hunter’s diligence in researching these fees. “Kudos to Christina….for her to take the initiative to go find it was awesome,” he said. The board approved the change and authorized Hunter to close the Wells Fargo account and open a new account with Bank of Glasgow.

The Board also discussed the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school calendars which were approved by the school board. The teacher work days for 2023-24 will be negotiated next year however in both school years the last day of school will be at the end of May. “It’s a first time in a long time that we actually get out of school in May,” stated Vice Chair Mona Amundson.

After going through the agenda items, Student Representative Dalton Sand provided an update on the various student groups at the high school, each principal provided an update on registration for the incoming classes to their school for the fall as well as upcoming spring programs and Superintendent Sundby provided information on a few conferences he has attended recently as well as looking into the track/football facility to see what can be done to improve the conditions.

The next school board meeting will be held Wednesday, May 11, 6 p.m., in the District Board Room.