Manning Approved As New School Board Trustee
Robert Manning was approved as the Wolf Point School Board’s new trustee during a meeting held on Monday, Nov. 11.
Manning replaces Keith Higgins in District 1. Higgins resigned after moving outside of District 1. The appointment of Manning is until the next school board election in May.
During the interview process at the meeting, Manning said that his experience includes being a former chairman of the JOM group, serving as a coach and being a parent of six graduates of Wolf Point High School.
When asked about key issues facing the school district, Manning mentioned several topics including suicide prevention, discipline and losing students to other school districts in the middle of the school year. He said the school board needs to follow its policies. He said it’s important to make sure that students are enrolled in a school somewhere.
Manning said he has considered being a school board trustee before and this is the right time for him to join the board.
When asked if he has the time to serve on the board, Manning said he is available for meetings anytime except for when he leads a sobriety group on Wednesday nights.
Manning said it would be an honor to serve on the school board. He realizes how important meetings are and for the meetings to be well attended.
During the monthly meeting the Wolf Point School Board approved several agreements, The agreements included with RDT Services for required DOT random drug testing services, a multi-district participation agreement in the Montana Schools Unemployment Insurance Program, and a field placement affiliation agreement between Grand Canyon University and Wolf Point School District, Trustees also approved the adoption of several Montana School Board Association recommended or required policies.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Title VI chair Imogene Lilley expressed concern that the job opening to have a home school coordinator at the high school/junior high hasn’t ran in the local newspaper during the past couple of weeks.
Lilley said she was contacted by someone who was interested in the position.
“This was something that the parents wanted,” Lilley said of the position.
She added that she hopes Title VI is involved in the interview process because it is funding the job.
School officials said the ad needs to run every week.
“I think we all feel we need a home school coordinator,” board chair Roxanne Gourneau said.
During principal reports, Southside Principal Tara Thomas said there are about 35 at-risk students at the school. She hopes school representatives can stress to families the importance of attending school.
Northside Principal Georgie Gourneau said teachers have been administering the MAST assessment and that will be completed by Nov. 21. She said the first round of teachers’ evaluations have been started and that the teachers are doing well.
Junior high principal Amanda Prongua and high school principal Kim Hanks each reported that parent/ teacher conferences had good turnouts.
Activities director Eric Peterson said he is looking for female chaperones for wrestling trips involving female wrestlers.
Roxanne Gourneau said she’s heard complaints about some students’ attire being “short, short” when they go on athletic trips. “They are definitely the ambassadors for our school,” Gourneau said.
During his facilities director’s report, Shane Reed said a maintenance truck was stolen from the school. After the vehicle was determined to be totaled, the school district purchased the truck back and was able to repair it.
