School Board Roundup school boards met for January

Alder board welcomes new teacher, talks safety.

The Alder Board of
Trustees held their
January meeting on
Thursday, January
13th. The following items were
discussed:
• Pam Birkeland and trustee
Duke Gilman gave an update
on the required lead testing
process. All the paperwork has
been submitted to DEQ. The
water sampling has not yet been
completed due to a mix-up with
the lab in shipping the sampling
bottles. The sampling should be

complete this next week.
• Birkeland presented the board
with MT-PEC's annual report on
public schools in Montana. This
group represented by several key

education organizations, sur-
veys the public regarding their

satisfaction with public schools.
The report showed Montanans
hold their public schools in high
regard.

• The board held second read-
ings on three policies that have

been revised because of HB102.

Each policy addressed the pro-
hibition of firearms on school

property. One policy addressed

this for students, one for staff,
and the other for community. All
three policies were adopted on
second reading since they were
just being revised with additional
language.
• Pam and lead teacher, Teresa
Murdoch, shared that Skiela

Mager-Eggers had been hired us-
ing the federal funding required

to address learning loss. Mrs.
Mager-Eggers student taught
at Alder in the fall. She will be

responsible for providing remedi-
ation to any student in need of

this help. She will also meet with
each student once a week to learn

about something that they want
to learn about, accelerating their
learning. She will be responsible
for teaching and supervising
structured recess activities.
• The board was presented a

safety compliance report provid-
ed by the state. The two findings

were that the school needs to
post a poster in both buildings
about workforce safety and that
the school needs to have a safety
training for staff. Both will be
completed in the next few weeks.
• The board’s next meeting will
be on Feb. 10 at 5 p.m.

Sheridan trustees talk communication, choir trip

The Sheridan School
Board met on Jan. 11.
Here’s a recap of what
was covered.

• To take a “step towards nor-
malcy,” Superintendent Mike

Weatherbee proposed the ter-
mination of Zoom school board

meetings. The board voted the
proposal down, stating that the

Zoom option facilitates transpar-
ency and allows those who can-
not make the meeting in person a

chance to do so virtually.
• The board considered and
approved Mr. Johnson’s proposed
choir trip set for May 11-16. The
successful choir crew will visit

Jackson Hole, Pocatello and Boi-
se, performing at schools along

the way. “They’re really, really
good, and we want to show them
off a little bit,” said Weatherbee.
• Following a superintendent
evaluation, the board voted to

renew Weatherbee’s contract for
the upcoming school year.
• In his report, Weatherbee
highlighted the improvement
in students’ attitudes and
grades, noting that a period of
heightened disciplinary action,
especially in the middle school,
has had major improvement
as of recent with the ‘F List’
numbers and discipline referrals
down. Weatherbee attributes the
improvement to students finally
becoming comfortable with

policies put in place in response
to the pandemic.
• Speaking of the pandemic,
Sheridan School District has had
positive cases in the elementary
school recently and none in the
high school. Weatherbee said
staffing has not been a problem
so far.
• The board’s next meeting is set
for Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.