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I have great respect for the school board members that were on the board when I was hired. I believe that they wished to create meaningful, systemic change in the district. District 5 is in many ways a fine system, however, a great number of programs and the philosophy that implemented them are from education’s past. Very few things, in any profession or craft stay the same. District 5 has programs that haven’t been addressed since the ‘70’s. The first that the board wished to deal with was the preparation of high school students for careers and jobs. Flathead High School would still be considered a comprhensive high school but there is great emphasis on academic education, and especially those experiences provided to students going on to college.
We know today that preparation for work often demands students educated at a higher lever than attending a freshman year at college. The ATLC was an attempt to raise the standards of learning for all students by teaching through interests and career choices. For instance, we would teach physics, chemistry, math, English, and journalism through a career in the automobile industry for young people whose primary interest is mechanics.We would teach the same through medicine for those interested in nursing. I believe that the institution of ability grouping at the high school promotes a differential in student success instead of establishing high standards for everyone. As long as some students are taught differently, with different expectations, we shall never see the day when all of our students are prepared. The learning center was a chance to raise student achievement. While we were not able to sell it, most people in the community liked the concept. It is ironic that it was the people in the system, teachers and administrators that were not in favor of the program. The major problem was that I represented change, systemic change to place the district upon a fiscally responsible, organizational and personal accountability level which would welcome research and change to improve education. Large organizations can be lethargic, they can resist change forcefully. And that is what the last year has been about. Does District #5 embrace the future and search for the chance to teach all children well, or does it wish to remain mired in the past? I have great respect for the administrators that I met in the other districts. Actually, most of them and I were on the same page. We discussed the same things and basically wished to move our organizations in the same direction. Twice before, I have been hired to move districts into the future and succeeded. In Kalispell, I was not able to create the will to look for systemic change in the amount of time I had there. If I had been allowed to stay, we would have succeeded. Most studies of change in education tell you that it takes 5 to 7 years for change to sweep across a system. I believe that the board is going to have to maintain a desire to make change. I think that change needs to happen quickly in terms of financial responsibility, facilities for students, technology for learning, educational and personal accountability and, above all, with the creation of a belief in the people that work in the district that all students can learn. The district must spend much more time and resources on instruction, teaching and student learning. I wish the board well and will do everything that I can to help them. However, I beleive that the force of status quo is so well entrenched that it will not be easy to change. I fear that I may not be the only person sacrificed so that things may stay as they always have been. Buy a copy of the book Working Without a Net, it is by a Kalispell author and read the part about grieving. I think that will explain what happened. I will not comment on anyone individually. Everyone has reasons for the actions they take. And, we all have to accept responsibility and live with those actions.
Good luck. (I love the Flathead and hope to return)
Sincerely, Alan Hafer
P.S. I have always respected the job you and your sponsor do with this paper. It has been a class operation. However, I would not say the same for the objectivity of all other news reporting media in the area.
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