Rediscovering home: Superior school board

Excuse the pride that surged through my chest as Superintendent Logan Labbe led me through the entry to Superior High School gymnasium. The sign above us read: Lee B. Moats Memorial Gymnasium.

My father was among those who worked hard so that I and my graduating class of 1974,  and all those classes after me, could enjoy a vastly superior (forgive the pun) gym. Dad, who repaired and sharpened the huge saws at the mill, served on the board for 25 straight years, and then served two or three more to fill an unexpired term.

A massive heart attack struck him down while gathering firewood in his beloved mountains in late summer of 1974.  He was 51. 

After I attended the May meeting of the school board, Labbe showed me all the improvements to the old high school as well as the additions surrounding the gym. I had never attended a Superior board meeting despite my dad’s long tenure.  As a reporter attending  many board meetings, I wondered what kind of member my dad was. He never discussed board business with us kids to my knowledge.

I concluded he was low key, humble, but insistent.  The current board certainly fits that description.  The district has a history of folks coming back and serving, which gives it continuity. Board member Alex Conroy Peterson is the daughter of Clark Conrow, one of my teachers and coaches. Labbe’s dad was a superintendent in the district. Scott Kinney, who retired last year, is the son of Bob, who taught me in sixth grade. There are many examples.

The board heard high praise for instructor Jeff Schultz’s welding students. The students had recently taken certification examinations at Flathead Valley Community College.  

“In the ten years I have worked for (the college), I’ve never experienced what me and my staff did yesterday,” Blake W. Thompson, FVCC Director of Trades & Industrial Arts, wrote May 8.  “To my knowledge, we have never had any group of running start students come to Kalispell and complete their welder testing with a 100 percent successful pass rate.” 

Thompson noted that the tests are “very challenging, even to a seasoned welder.” 

The students earned “nationally recognized professional welding credentials.”

The industrial arts facilities are a different world from the “shop” of my dad, a small basement room where one could barely make an ugly bird that his mom failed to appreciate as a birthday present.  R.W. Wasley, who also taught my dad, was our shop teacher.

Only incumbent Jamie Talbot filed for the lone seat up for election, negating the need to hold the election.  The board re-elected Talbot as chair.

Bobcat athletics continue with the roller coaster ride between Class B and C.  Superior moves back to Class C after next school year.  Classifications are on a two-year cycle. Superior was Class C when all of my seven older brothers and myself played.  It was during the athletic career of my youngest brother, Rex, in the later 1970s that the ride began.  

Labbe reported Superior’s enrollment has hovered right around the cutoff.  A large sophomore class was to blame for pushing the school over the cutoff this time. 

Elementary enrollment is up 15-20 students, totaling approximately 190 students. Most of that growth is in the lower three grades. Younger families are finally moving into the area. Labbe said a number of parents work in Missoula. Living is somewhat cheaper here, and the commute is much better than traveling U.S. 93 up the Bitterroot.  

The teams will not be able to use the gym this summer as improvements are made to the HVAC system. The impressive weight room will be open. My teammates started lifting with a couple of cracked cement weights in the old gym stage.  The group included Val Balison, who became a world-class lifter.

The secured entrance to the high school contrasted with the way people moved in and out of the building in my day.  Labbe accurately called it a “sad reality.”  

The district has a new program that creates a 3-D map of the schools.  In the case of a lockdown, teachers can click on green if their classrooms are locked and safe.  The program will be shared with law enforcement.

The board may be low key, but it did not stop a pointed discussion regarding the district’s response to an unfortunate incident involving a peanut allergy. The student is apparently OK, and Labbe said, in the rare occasion where peanuts are used, the dish will be labeled on the service line for all to see.

The annual audit found the financials in good shape. The district has good reserves and avoided the financial cliff that other districts are experiencing with funding sources drying up.  

The district has been able to retain teachers, with only two openings for next year. Labbe credits the district’s mentorship program and cooperative decision-making with the staff, which Labbe described as: “You create, we support.”

Jessica Nagy, current elementary school principal, will return to the classroom next year. Byron Quinlan, a counselor, has been selected to fill the new position of dean of students. He and others will share the duties performed by Nagy.

Indulge one more memory. Granite County High (Phillipsburg) beat us by 50 points at their place. The Prospectors took second at state in 1974 with their vaunted full-court press. But, in our new gym, I dribbled around and under (I’m 5-5 on a good day) the pressing Prospectors until they threw up the white flag after one quarter.  Thank you, dad.