I was sincerely disheartened when I read your July 27 on-line I-O article. I do not usually write rebuttals to the I-O but felt compelled to clarify a few points after reading your article.

1. I finished my 25 years of education, in Montana, on June 20. The magic number for educational retirement in Montana, with full benefits, is 25 years.

2. I kept Chairman Mark Gage apprised of my career options this spring and the positions I applied for in Washington. He also knew that the last position I applied for, in early June, was the last I would be applying for prior to the 2006-07 school term beginning this fall. By the way, Gage is one of the finest and most honest trustees I have worked with over the many years of my career. I hope the community will maintain their support of him and encourage him to continue serving the children of Conrad. I have also worked with many other truly great trustees in Conrad and am thankful for that.

3. I interviewed for a Washington superintendent position on July 10 and arrived back in Conrad 1 a.m. the following morning. I informed the trustees of the interview at the regular July 11 evening board meeting and the “possible” ramifications of my leaving. I also made a recommendation of possible staffing patterns if I were to leave. I was then interviewed, by phone, on July 12 for the same position and was offered the job in the afternoon. I emailed the trustees on July 13 that I accepted the position in Washington. I also mailed them a resignation letter on that same day. And finally, I called Gage with the news on July 12 since he was leaving on vacation the next day.

4. I had been preparing for a potential departure since mid-June and had all the necessary work that I could complete organized and prepared for a possible new superintendent. I worked at nights in preparation of a possible departure.

5. I left uncompleted projects in an organized manner with notes of what was needed to finish them. Those uncompleted items could not be finished since components of information or data was not available yet. I went over all this information with Principal Orlen Zempel and Lynn Utterback on July 17. The orientation involved projects to complete, where files were located, how to use the computer in my office and where computer files were located on the system. I left my computer files in place so the next superintendent would not have to start from scratch. Please check with Lynn Utterback and ask him if I left him in good standing or not.

By the way, I truly believe that Lynn Utterback will not do a good job as the new superintendent - I think he will do a great job. I also strongly endorse Jim Carroll for the high school principal position, Dan Brown for the high school Industrial Arts position and Janie McFarland for the school Activity Director’s position. All three are quality topnotch staff members and are ready, in my opinion, for other challenges.

6. Sandy Shirley has been working less hours for the past year since she is involved in college course work and is looking to advance in a different career of her own. She is scheduled to begin to work even less hours this fall. None of this is a surprise or unexpected as the article seems to allege. We have been preparing for her eventual departure due to her personal career aspirations.

7. Afton Lamoreaux fell off a horse as you indicated and was injured. Thank goodness she is on the mend and doing well. However, her accident occurred on July 14 or 15. I accepted the Washington position on July 12. I kept Afton apprised of what I was doing concerning my career options well before June. I called her on July 13, while she was on vacation near Billings, and informed her that I had accepted the position.

8. Conrad has a great current group of trustees and have had over the years. I have been fortunate to be able to work with so many quality people. However, I sincerely question the derogatory remark you said a trustee made about me. Anonymous comments are as reliable as anonymous letters. I sincerely do not believe a trustee made that comment based on the fact that the trustees are such a quality group of people.

9. The pay out on my contract, as you mentioned in the article, is outlined in state law and is not a negotiable item. I will receive compensation for unused sick and vacation leave as well as mandatory Teacher Retirement System contributions. This is a standard operating procedure for any superintendent that leaves a Montana district and is not something I negotiated on my own.

10. The majority of the “returned” tax money you mentioned in the article went to the local taxpayers and not the state. It was done to keep property taxes from rising higher that they already are. This was all explained to you when you dropped by for a visit.

11. The past practice of the Conrad school district was to reappropriate tax dollars to the local taxpayers as well as to return a portion of the unspent year-end balances to the taxpayers. I maintained this procedure that previous superintendents had done prior to my arrival in Conrad.

The trustees, at the regular May school board meeting, decided to tweak this past practice for 2006-07. They will be using year-end balance funds and returning less dollars to the taxpayers. I understood their directive, and furthermore, I accomplished what they asked a year in advance. The 2005-06 budget year-end balances were spent down to the range requested, by the trustees, a year in advance.

12. The vast majority of Conrad’s staff is very professional and hard working. I will miss many of them.

13, The trustees have traditionally released teachers, during the summer months, if a career move was available to them. I think one teacher was released in early August a few years ago. Staff leaving in the summer months is not a new phenomena.

14. Buck, I will not respond to the rebuttal I have submitted above. The old saying that you do not take on someone that buys their ink by the barrel is very good advice. However, I was sincerely disappointed in what you wrote. I was in Conrad for 10 years and decided to make a major career move. I put many long, long hours into my job and my own family suffered because I was never home. And this is the article I get to read when I leave after dedicating my life to this district? Pretty sad commentary.

I truly believe that you and I had a great working relationship but the article does not support that belief. One of my first tasks when I arrived in Conrad was to have the monthly agendas posted in the I-O which I did faithfully every month. I also wrote the “bullet” articles concerning each and every regular school board meeting, following each evening meeting, and usually completing it at 3 a.m. I do not believe I ever missed a month in 10 years of faxing this to you in the early hours following the meeting.

I periodically sent you education articles that I thought you would find interesting and would possibly put in a future I-O. I never denied meeting with you on the spur of the moment for questions you may have  had and I was always up front and honest with you. I, and particularly the staff, sent you numerous articles and pictures for the I-O concerning events at school that we thought would be nice for the newspaper to share with the public. These are just a few of tasks I did for you to make your job easier as well as the fact that is was the right thing to do.

Kurt H. Hilyard