SLE to consider hosting Farmers Market, continues policy update

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary School Board was given a proposal to assume ownership of the Seeley Lake Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market at its Nov. 20 board meeting. The board is also working on policy changes and was informed that the school’s Park Committee was successful in obtaining a maintenance grant.

Vicki Voegelin presented a proposal for the school to assume ownership of the Farmers Market as a way to raise funds. She said that running the Market is not as convenient for her as it used to be and it is time for her to give it up. She said SLE is her first choice to take it over.

Voegelin feels that she would be giving the school a business that could be an opportunity to raise funding for taking care of the park though she said the school could do whatever it wanted with the funds.

Voegelin has been running the Market for approximately 14 days per summer for the last 10 years across the street from the school on her property. By transferring it to the school ground the market location would still be familiar for both venders and customers. She added it could generate several thousand dollars per summer even after paying an employee or contracted manager so it wouldn’t completely depend on volunteers.

If the school decided to take Voegelin up on her offer, she would turn over all of her contacts, maps, registrations forms and policies she has developed to help it be successful.

Superintendent Chris Stout said Voegelin had previously discussed the idea with him and he thought it would be a good opportunity for the school, provide a little extra income for a person who manages it and continue to provide the community with a place to sell homemade goods.

Board Chairman Todd Johnson said he would like to find the manager before considering taking it on. He doesn’t want it to fall on the school’s staff.

Voegelin agreed that having the right person for a manager was critical and had some ideas of people to ask.

Johnson also wanted a written plan how the Market would run, as he didn’t want the board to have to deal with issues such as accounting issues after the fact.

No decision was made and the board will consider it at a future meeting.

The board is continuing to work through policy updates. At the next meeting the board will be considering adopting changes to policy regarding instructional goals, the bar set for students to pass grades and a variety of other changes.

The Montana School Board Association is providing the wording for the policy changes.

The new policy rewrites nearly all of the “Instructional Goals” section. Currently the policy states that the learning environment for every student should:

• Further the ability to reason critically and creatively.

• Fosters the ability to effectively communicate ideas, knowledge and thoughts.

• Develop a sense of

personal and civic responsibility.

• Develop a strong work ethic, postsecondary readiness and employment skills.

• Encourage a healthy lifestyle.

This would be replaced with the following objectives:

• To foster self-discovery, self-awareness and self-discipline.

• To develop an awareness of and appreciation for cultural diversity.

• To stimulate intellectual curiosity and growth.

• To help the student develop sensitivity to the needs and values of others and respect for individual and group differences.

• To help each student strive for excellence and instill a desire to reach the limit of his or her potential.

• To develop fundamental skills which will provide a basis for lifelong learning.

• To be free of any sexual, cultural, ethnic or religious bias.

The policy for determining when to promote students to the next grade level also has some major changes.

The current policy reads that the decision of a student passing “shall be based on successful completion of the curriculum, attendance, performance based on standardized testing or other testing. A student should not be promoted based upon age or any other social reasons not related to academic performance.”

The proposed policy recognizes that students of the same age are at many intellectual and developmental levels and the differences are a normal part of human development. Teachers and administrators are directed to “make every effort to develop curricula and programs to meet the individual and unique needs of all students and allow them to remain with their age cohorts.”

The proposed policy also states that if parents insist on passing their child to the next grade level against the school’s recommendation, a notice will be placed in the students’ file.

Other changes include additions regarding a suicide awareness and prevention program, parental engagement, use of copyrighted materials, better defining the minimum hours of instruction for various grades and adding a section in “Discipline” that allows for children with disabilities to receive the same suspension as children without disabilities.

The SLE Park Committee obtained a $1,500 grant from Missoula County Parks and Recreation to perform some maintenance on the Seeley Lake Community Park including the tennis courts and playground. Grant funds will be matched with volunteer labor to complete the work next spring or early summer.

The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the SLE technology lab.