Superior School Trustee candidate questionnaires
Jason McLees
Why are you running for this position?
To be actively involved with in our schools. I enjoy helping out and especially spending time working with kids. Along with my duties as a trustee, I also coach wrestling, soccer, baseball and help out with junior high football. I see the role of a school board member as a caretaker, someone that ensures that our children are afforded opportunities to learn and grow while developing the skills necessary to succeed as adults in the “real” world. Having been born, raised, married and now parenting my own two children here in Superior, I have a vested interest in the success of our school and its children. I have had the privilege of serving on the board for the past seven years and have found it to be interesting and rewarding. I am proud of our schools…and the achievements earned by the hard work our teachers and students each and every year. It has been exciting to be an active part of the process.
What are some of the challenges that you see the district is facing?
The biggest challenges I see are of a fiscal nature, dealing with a tough economy in a time that schools in Montana are losing enrollment. Our board is continually charged with balancing the needs of the District with the economic realities dealt to us by the economy and the legislature. Montana has changed a great deal from when I was growing up as a student here. Our graduates need to develop the skills and abilities necessary to compete not only here in Montana, but on a global scale as well. I believe the most important investment we make to improve our economy in Montana is through the training we give our children now so they can earn wages, pay taxes and become successful adults in the years to come.
How will you work with the community to represent their interests on the board?
By being an active volunteer in the school and community, (on the school board, as a Lion’s Club member and as a kid’s volunteer coach) I am in constant contact with folks that live here. Over the past seven years, I have been afforded lots of opportunities to visit with my neighbors about our schools and their place in our community. I look forward to continuing that discussion to see to it that we produce Superior kids that excel in life.
Richard Milender
Why are you running for the position?
I’ve lived and worked in the area for much of my life. Growing up here, I remember a lot of people helping me and other students in one way or another. So being involved with the board is a way for me to continue that. I have 4 children in school, so I have 4 very good reasons to be involved with how they and all of Superior’s children are educated and socialized to deal with the problems they will face when venturing into the “real” world. I also feel this position ties both the School and Community together on many different levels and I think that’s something we need to continue as well.
What are some of the challenges that you see the district is facing?
Funding and keeping kids in the school district. The economy is down which makes it difficult to live in a small town. Our enrollment drops a little every year because we don’t have many jobs available here. As a school district, we are limited on what we can actually do to raise money for the district. Within the state “formula”, there is a maximum and minimum budget that we can operate on. For instance, this year we are capped at asking our local patrons to contribute $16,000 in an operational levy. In years past we were able to ask for $50,000. This levy keeps our budget the same with no increases to the revenue side. The boards only recourse in covering the budget shortfall is going out to the public for the final say.
How will you work with the community to represent their interests on the board?
Above all, the board needs to be honest and open with the community. I’ve been active in our community from helping with the summer sports programs, Relay for Life, donating time and materials to build a bandstand at the fairgrounds, to donating time to create a website for the Chamber of Commerce. I was the chair for the County Planning Board for several years as well. Needless to say I do get to see many sides of the district and talk to many different people. When it comes to making decisions as a trustee, I have always based my decisions on what is best for the kids. Simply put, if my actions are based on the kids 1st, the patrons of the district will respect that decision because, as a group, that is who we are here for. The 1st lesson I learned as a trustee was that I need to look at what is best for the school as a whole and not what is best for individuals.
Tying all this together is that we still need to look at the future of the town and all of its residences. When people voted down the levy for the community center it did not tell me that they were opposed to progress, just that we needed to find other sources to fund projects like that. The local patrons said, “we can’t afford that” and I respect that. Yet, that has opened other doors to allow us to look at other funding sources outside of our community. Again, we need to look at how it benefits the kids first and then how it benefits the rest of our community and see where we can go.
Sheelia Miller
Why are you running for the position?
I have a broad range of experience in the field of education. I have been an Americorp member, teacher, county superintendent, and school superintendent/principal, even filled in as board member for a short time, all in western Montana, with my home base right here. I have a BA in education and an MA in Administration/Education. I think that some of my knowledge could be put to good use, since I recently retired.
My kids and a couple grandchildren have been/or are in this school system. And I am a property owner.
What are some of the challenges that you see the district is facing?
For as long as I have lived in this county the biggest challenge has been money. I doubt that has changed. Resources are limited due to so much of our county being forest land. Having so little taxable land, so few businesses and/or industries means it comes back to property owners. This has always been a ‘retirement area’ so to speak, which means fixed incomes. I am there too.
How many of us thought someone would actually land on the moon in this lifetime? Who could imagine not having a land line phone with an umbilical cord, going to a gadget that fits in the palm of your hand, which literally gives us access to the world, wherever you have service. And so small, I have to hunt for it multiple times a day? Just look how far this generation has come in such a short time.
For a lot of my life, I thought just because “I couldn’t touch it, it couldn’t happen.” However, I know that you have to set small, short-term goals, to long-term big goals. Some you can and do reach, others you cannot and don’t ever reach.
I believe in expanding our horizons, dreaming and reaching for the impossible. If you don’t try, how will you know? Our young people at least deserve that. More often than not, where there is a will there is a way.
In the more recent years, all I’ve had time for was to be a spectator at the sports, so I have to learn what issues are in the forefront.
How will you work with the community to represent their interest on the board?
The state law has specific guidelines about the duties of the trustees. In most of my former educational positions, I was always available to the public about their concerns, and still will be. However, I recommend community members come to meetings, listen, learn, ask questions, and get involved in your children’s lives. In that way you get your information first hand.