Glasgow School District Awarded Golden Gavel Award

The Glasgow Schools Board of Trustees, comprised of Blaine White, Stan Ozark, Chrissa Nelson, Derek Beadle (incoming May ‘24), Ryan Fast (outgoing May ‘24) and Chair Angie Page (outgoing Oct. ‘24) was awarded the 2024 Golden Gavel Award by the Montana School Boards Association (MTSBA) during the Montana Conference of Education Leadership (MCEL) Oct. 16 - 17. This award recognizes a school district every year for either committing to at least 12 hours of training in the past year or working together on a strategic plan. This year’s award was provided to the Glasgow School District specific for the trustees’ work on the district’s strategic plan.

“We actually had an individual come to Glasgow from the (MTSBA) to specifically work with our district administration and board on the structure of that strategic plan and helping us build that,” explained Glasgow School superintendent Brenner Flaten. “We are not completely finished with our strategic plan because it’s always something you re-address every year. We were happy with where we were at last year, which is what we’re being honored for.” According to Flaten, the trustees will be meeting in an upcoming work session where they will again discuss and refine the strategic plan.

Developing a strategic plan, as well as the training on how to create the strategic plan for a school district, is not a requirement of a board of trustees volunteer position. The creation of this plan for the Glasgow School District is an example of how the board of trustees go above and beyond of what is required of them in their role. To have received this honor from the MTSBA, provides a recognization to the trustees for putting in additional hours for the benefit of their community and the district.

“It’s nice to have a strategic plan in place and it’s nice to have a board that sees it’s value,” stated Flaten. “We’ve got a great board here. A board of five individuals that care deeply and greatly for all the students that attend our school system as well as the staff and we’re all working together as one. So it’s definitely a great honor.”

This is the first time the Glasgow School District has received the award since the 2016-2017 school year when they were recognized for having every trustee complete the academy training, which provides board members various trainings to become more efficient and learn how a school board operates. This year’s award is the school’s ninth award since 1997-98.

The ceremony for the Golden Gavel Award was held during the Montana Conference of Education Leadership (MCEL) Oct. 16 and 17 in Helena. This conference is the largest annual conference for education leaders in the state, drawing over 500 people focused on the role of leadership in Montana’s Public schools and providing unique opportunities for networking and collaborating with elected trustees, school administrators, school business officials and others. As no trustee was able to attend the ceremony, the Golden Gavel award will be mailed to the District Office and will be placed on display in the Gary F. Martin boardroom.

“We have a strong board and it’s a very important position. There’s a lot of behind the scenes work, there’s a lot of work sessions, special board meetings, regular board meetings and stuff like that. They put in the time and they’re really good at what they do. They’re a great representation of our community, our schools and our staff,” stressed Flaten. “One thing that we are doing differently this year with our board is getting a feel of all of our schools. The board has decided to do regular monthly meetings in the Gary F. Martin boardroom and will actually go into the schools themselves.”

According to Flaten, one or two board members at a time will work with building administrators to set up a good time to take a walk around the schools, sit in on classes and see the operations of each of the three schools in the district. By having first hand experience of the day-to-day operations of the school, they are able to see in action different things that are discussed at the regular board meetings.

The Glasgow School’s strategic plan, as well as agendas for school board meetings, school board meeting recordings, and other school board information can be found on the Glasgow Schools website, http://www.glasgow.k12.mt.us/page/school-board. The Glasgow School Board’s next regular scheduled meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 12, 6 p.m., in the Gary F. Martin Boardroom, 229 7th St. N., Glasgow.