Isbell appoints consolidation board for KG, Blue Sky

The Hill County superintendent of schools has tapped members of the existing school boards in the Blue Sky and Kremlin-Gildford districts to form a new board that will oversee consolidation of the two school districts.

In an order of consolidation issued Thursday, County Superintendent Shirley Isbell listed Mitzi Dees of Kremlin and JoHanna Kapperud of Gildford, both members of the KG board, and Mike Lipp of Hingham and Lyle Peterson of Rudyard, both members of the Blue Sky board, as the representatives of the four communities in the district.

The fifth member will be former state Rep. Merlin Wolery, a former 11-year member of the Blue Sky school board.

The interim board will begin meeting this month to start planning consolidation. It won't be able to set policy until Jan. 1, when the consolidation will actually take place, according to Isbell's order. The new district will begin teaching students in the 2005-2006 school year.

The two districts approved the consolidation in a special election June 22. Blue Sky, which was a K12 district, voted 216-10 in favor of consolidation. KG voted 123-100 to consolidate its high school district and 112-95 to consolidate its elementary district with Blue Sky.

Isbell said this morning that she asked the school boards to nominate members of the interim board.

"I chose to leave as much of the decisions to the communities as possible," she said. "In fact, they did all of it."

She said the four people selected for the interim board unanimously picked Wolery for the fifth position. He was one of seven other people who had expressed interest in being on the board.

Isbell refused to name the other six who had expressed interest, and said she had not made an official list. Some of the people had requested anonymity if they were not selected, she said.

Wolery said he is optimistic the interim board will be able to resolve contentious issues and create a workable district.

"I think it's the right move for the people on the Hi-Line. It's one way they can hold a school together that is their school and not part of a larger district" like Havre, he said this morning. "There will be lots of issues to discuss. I am optimistic that this new board will agree on almost all of the issues after some deep discussion."

Some of the issues of contention are whether the high school will be in Gildford or Rudyard, whether consolidation would discourage Havre students from attending the new district if the high school is moved, and the effects on busing and staffing.

Peterson also said he thinks the board can create a successful district.

"I don't think we have any choice," he said. "I think that's just something that we need to sit down and work out together. We just have to do what's right for the kids."

The other members of the interim board could not be reached for comment.

Isbell said the four members who are on the existing boards have all stated their intention to work to successfully implement the consolidation.

"They've stated emphatically that since consolidation is what the people want, they want to make it work," she said.

The discussion about consolidating the districts started about two years ago. The KG district decided to end its talks with the Blue Sky district in February 2003, but the talks were resumed last winter.

Parents in both districts said they wanted to resume talks, citing concerns about declining enrollments and reduced budgets hurting the quality of education in the districts.

Isbell said she will advise the interim board if it wants her to, but her official authority and responsibility in the consolidation ended with her order of consolidation, with one exception.

State law requires the district to have five members, based on the population of the consolidated district. Also, the outlying elementary districts of Cottonwood and the Gildford Colony qualify for a nonvoting member, although the tax base of the districts does not qualify them for a voting member.

Isbell will appoint a member from the outlying districts by Aug. 15, the order said.

The order sets the consolidation date as Jan. 1. Isbell said the interim board may meet before that to plan the consolidation, but will have no authority to make changes until the first of the year.

She said she will select a July date that all five board members can attend for an organizational meeting.

The order requires the interim board to call for an election to select the board members for the permanent board and set the mill levies for the 2005-06 school year.

The order states that the current boards will continue to set the policies for the two districts through the 2004-05 school year, and that the interim board will "recognize, enforce and honor" policies, procedures and staffing for the two districts.

Those items include bus routes, keeping the superintendents of the districts, enforcing codes of student conduct, keeping the teaching and classified staff members, honoring out-of-district student attendance agreements, and any interdistrict agreements Blue Sky or KG have.

The interim board's responsibilities also will include hiring a district superintendent for the consolidated district, developing board policies for it, developing its budget, hiring teaching and nonteaching personnel as governed by state law, selecting the locations of the schools in the districts, and approving school bus routes.