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Home  News Latest District 28C tug-of-war reaches stalemate
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District 28C tug-of-war reaches stalemate |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2 By Chary Majerus for the I-O
Trustees at the March 22 District 28C school board meeting chose to take no action at this time on the controversial “five-member at-large trustee district” issue rather than cause further division between Brady and Dutton residents.
“I’m sorry some of you believe this was directed at Brady so that Dutton can gain control,” said Trustee Eric Doheny of Dutton. “I don’t believe it was ever intended to divide the communities.”
The District 28C board is composed of two representatives from the north precinct (Brady), two from the south precinct (Dutton) and one at-large member. All voters in the district are able to vote on both the north and south representatives.
According to business manager Betty Brumwell, this current arrangement is unlike any other in the state, and those involved at the time of consolidation felt this setup would be the most beneficial to everyone in the district.
“It was an experiment – they broke the mold trying this,” stated Brumwell.
Lance Melton, Executive Director of the Montana School Boards Association, verified in a phone interview that Dutton/Brady is unique among districts that have consolidated in the recent past.
However, he also said that, statewide, there are other districts with geographic representation.
“In Billings, no one is elected at-large – all are from specific geographic subsets within the district,” said Melton, explaining there had been a concern that people were being elected from the same area of Billings.
District 28C school board members have been evaluating whether or not to change representation to all members being elected on an at-large basis in order to address internal problems that have developed within the board.
“What started out as a feud between two people has escalated and blown completely out of proportion,” said Board Chairman Reid Michel, who also explained that there are misconceptions as to why the proposed change to a five-member at-large board was introduced. While some think it is a move to gain control based on geographic lines, in reality, the change was suggested as a way to deal with conflicts resulting from the feud.
“It came from a board member acting against an administrator,” said Michel, adding that board members are frustrated because they have no recourse against a board member who acts on his own.
Chairman Michel went on to say that, as board members, “We can’t act individually. We can’t investigate individually. We are to act as a group.”
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