Plains superintendent set to retire

The Plains School superintendent has only weeks until he's free from the responsibility of running three schools, 67 staff and teachers and 445 students, but he's not planning to breeze by in his final days.

June 30 will be the last day for Thom Chisholm, who is retiring from the education field after 30 years, but between now and then he's preparing to close out the books for this year, working on the next fiscal year's schedule, getting building projects finished, assembling important paperwork for the new superintendent, and gathering sentimental personal items from his more than a dozen years at the helm, some of which prompted emotion just by putting them in boxes. One such item was the golden ticket from when he was the conductor of the Polar Express a few years ago for the elementary students' Christmas special. He's always first in line when it comes to donning costumes for special school activities. He's been a dinosaur, mad scientist, clown, and a scarecrow, an ensemble he also used to scare staff members.

"It's been tremendously fun. There have been stressful times, but overall the good outweighs the negative," said Chisholm, who took over as superintendent in 2010. "I'm going to miss the people mostly and the relationships I've built up over the years, even from those that didn't agree with me," said the 54-year-old Chisholm, who plans to concentrate on helping his wife, Brandy, fulfill her dreams. He might travel - he's planning one trip to visit relatives in New Hampshire - but he doesn't presently have a lot of things lined up yet, even though he's had job offers.

"I've already promised the kitchen I'd stop by for a cookie once a month. I have a real sweet tooth," said Chisholm, who has a strong lineage to Plains School. His grandmother, Mary Essie Coe, graduated from the school in 1928. He also has strong ties to the teaching profession. His mother, Janie, was a paraprofessional at Hot Springs School for more than 20 years. She wanted to be a teacher, but her plans had to be put on hold to raise five children. Instead, she worked at the school in various roles for numerous years. His aunt Billie Chubb was a music teacher for over 30 years. She taught for a couple years in Roundup, but the majority of her career was in Thompson Falls. His sister Jennifer has been a teacher at St. Ignatius for 25 years.

Chisholm didn't start college to be a teacher. After graduating from Hot Springs High School in 1987, he went to the University of Montana with the intention of going into the field of law. It didn't take long, however, for him to alter his objective to education. He even served as a student teacher at Thompson Falls. When the war broke out in the Middle East, he considered joining the military. Instead, he went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1992. He received his master's in educational leadership in 2010.

Chisholm taught industrial arts, government and economics at Plains before getting the role that mirrored his master's degree of educational leadership - superintendent - a position that fellow teachers felt would be a good fit for him. "I wanted to be the superintendent because I didn't want to be the grumpy old guy in the classroom and I wanted to create an alternative so that didn't happen," said Chisholm. His friend, Jim Holland, principal at the time, told him the school needed quality leadership and he'd be perfect for the job.

Chisholm said he loved being the superintendent, but missed being a teacher. Yet, even at the top position of the school, he continued to consider himself as a teacher. His only real regret was not serving in the military, as his brother, Bill, and his father, Sonny, did. Still, he's pleased with the accomplishments as superintendent and believes he made positive changes at the school, which included getting a $1.14-million elementary school wing.

With the help of principals Jim Holland and Kevin Meredith, they were able to get a $1.75-million multi-purpose building in 2020. Chisholm actually drew the initial design concept for the 12,000-square-foot building on a yellow legal pad. But he stated that he couldn't have done anything without the support of others at the school. "The staff should get credit for a lot of what I did," said Chisholm. "I've had tremendous support from everybody here," he said. In recent weeks, he's been showing that gratitude by periodically sending a personal note of thanks to different teachers.

"Everything we got here is because of a need, not wants," said Chisholm. "Everybody has wants, but we identified what was best for the students," he said, adding that his achievements include keeping public education as the main focus at the school and in the community. Chisholm said he likes getting with the kids and does it whenever he has time. He regularly visits the playground where he connects with the kids on their level. "Everyday I'm out here they come up and talk with me," said Chisholm, who has a lot of talks with first-grader Roy Hanson, the great, great nephew of the late Roy Hanson, a math teacher and one of Chisholm's favorite teachers. The boy was sad when he found out Chisholm would not be at the school next year. "He made me promise to come back and visit next year," said Chisholm.

He looks back at what he's done as an educator for the last 30 years and believes his proudest moments are the rapport he's had with the kids. "I think my biggest accomplishment was the human relationship that defines education because education is teaching students," he said.

"If my mom was alive today and asked if I did my job, I could say, 'yes and then some,' and I could say that without fibbing."