Plains board selects new principal

The Plains School board last Monday voted in a new principal for the high school with unanimous approval.

Heidii Fettinger of Great Falls was selected to replace Ryon Noland, who resigned in May after serving as high school principal for the last three years. Fettinger was one of four women and one man to apply for the principal position, which serves grades seven through 12. Plains High School teacher Katie Mitchell was the only candidate from Sanders County, said Beau French, the school board chairman. Four were from Montana and one was from Alaska.

French said the public interviews were in May and took three full days to complete. He said all of the candidates were highly qualified and it was a tough decision. "We had some awesome people show up," said French. The board unanimously approved Fettinger for the job, which pays $77,700 annually.

The board also unanimously approved the hiring of second grade teacher Jessica Jones, along with Aine Rosenbaum as a high school English teacher, and Sara Riek as a substitute teacher. The board also approved Curtis Thomas as the summer groundskeeper.

Recently, the board approved the hiring of the 2015 Plains High School graduate Russell Kujala as the new school maintenance supervisor and athletic director, replacing Marie Errecart as AD, and Jesse Jermyn as the maintenance chief. Jermyn had resigned as head of maintenance after three years to work on projects at home, but he plans to continue coaching the school's wrestling and cross country teams. Kujala was a member of the school cross country and track team and was a two time state wrestling champion during his time at Plains, chalking up 148 wins. He graduated from the University of Montana Western in Dillon in 2019. French said the school has only one more opening to fill, that of a music teacher, left vacant after Loren Lauridson decided to take a teaching job in Wyoming after only one year at Plains School.

About a dozen people attended the board meeting, which went for just over 30 minutes. The board tabled the hiring/rehiring of a softball coach, and two new policies - Policy 8132 (Activity Trips) and 8210 (Procurement Policy for School Food Purchases and Use of Federal Funds) - because board members wanted to have another look at both of them. The board approved Bus Driver and Bus Route motions. In addition, a motion to modify the schedule for the 2024-2025 school year was approved. When the schedule was originally made, Memorial Day was overlooked and scheduled as a school day. Board member Steve Spurr made a motion to remove the holiday as a regular school day and they could later determine with the teacher's union which day would be a school day.

The board also unanimously approved the activity gate ticket price increase. This was only the second time ticket prices had been raised in 30 years, said Mike Cole, the high school physical education teacher. The gate price for a student went from $4 to $5 and from $6 to $7 for an adult. A seasonal single went from $45 to $50 and from $70 to $75 for a couple.

Teacher Lori Rehbein addressed the board with a letter of complaint with regard to recent problems with the general upper management and the school board. "You guys were elected, you've dedicated a lot of time and the only reason you would do that is because you believe in this school and you understand its role in this community, but so do we. We're here because we really love what we do and we understand the importance of it," said Rehbein to the board, adding that she was not speaking as a union officer or a person of authority, but as a concerned Plains resident and teacher.

"I feel a little like we're unraveling. We all want the same thing. Please don't question our commitment. We understand you guys are committed, please believe that we are, too. We really are. There is going to be disagreement, but we all want what's best for the school," said Rehbein. She added that she'd like the board to implement a process to better manage issues that could be consistently followed. She said that a chain of command needs to be followed to handle academic and extracurricular problems and that any action should be addressed "as professionally and privately as possible."

"I'm not asking this out of concerns related to potential liability or code of ethics violations or anything like that. I am simply asking in the hope that we can make some corrections and help maintain our community's small town atmosphere, our sense of who we are. We've got to be able to work together," said Rehbein. The Plains School teacher of 27 years said she was prompted to speak up because of the way recent issues were handled by the board and administration. She hoped that things could be worked out better by getting the problem on the record.

Plains resident Erika Lawyer spoke up with her concerns regarding a dual sport policy, which would allow a student to participate in two sports in a season, such as cross country and volleyball in the fall and golf and track in the spring. She said that most of the schools that Plains School competes against have dual sport policies in place. Lawyer said that Thompson Falls High School freshman Ellie Baxter participated in two sports in the fall and spring last year and maintained a 4.0 GPA. She had asked the board about having a policy this last winter, but nothing was done.

She said that not having a policy could impact ANB funds that the school gets from the state and noted that new legislation allows home school students to declare which school district they want to be enrolled in to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.

"I asked at the June board meeting that it be placed on the agenda. It sounds like they were waiting for the new AD to weigh in on it. I don't understand why they don't just take the policy from another district that has been working and tweak it for our use," said Lawyer.

The next Plains School Board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 19 at 7 p.m.