by Pat Earnest, Stevensville
You have until next Tuesday, May 2nd to submit your ballot. At this point, I would suggest delivering it if you can and not trusting the mail. It’s hard to know who you will vote for in a non-partisan race. The first thing that I look for is why are they running and are they qualified
I would like to share about my choice, Sean Lenahan. I go to church with Sean and his family, enjoy weekly small groups with him and his wife, Erin, and feel that he is the best candidate for re-election. Sean Lenahan is a current Stevensville School District Trustee (5th year), 19-year Montana resident (17 years in Stevensville), Marine Corps veteran, law enforcement veteran, small business entrepreneur, Youth Athletics Coach/Mentor, husband to Erin Lenahan and father to four beautiful kiddos in Stevensville School District, and a Christian and unabashed critical thinker.
Sean’s mission as a Stevensville School Board Trustee is to faithfully represent the families of our amazing community with objectivity, clarity, and wisdom to ensure our children have the greatest opportunities to flourish and grow. He firmly believes that now, more than ever, our kids need stability, consistency, and accountability modeled to them in their daily lives.
After listening to the candidates speak and spending one on one time with some of them, my conclusion is that Ben Meyers thinks highly of himself. Dan Mullan has no idea what our children are up against and said that he sees no problems in the schools. He is arrogant and disruptive. His answer to parents’ concern was there is already a policy in place for that. What good is a policy if not followed? Sound familiar, like how the current administration ignores our US Constitution. Mr. Mullan’s time at the school ended when he was asked to leave before his contract ended, not by his choice.
Stacy Kampka may be inexperienced as a board member, but she is the first one to be honest and admit it and has a strong desire to learn. She went to Stevi schools and has been very invested in her children who also attend. She is the mama bear that won’t back down when it negatively affects our children. Without her, we would not know about the Youth Risk Behavior Survey put out by the CDC that was given to the students by the Stevensville administration without notifying the parents, which is a very serious violation. The government is collecting data on your children about unintentional injury and violence, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behavior, dietary behaviors, and physical activity from under 8 years to over 17 years. They make it sound like they care but what business is it of theirs to know about violence and abuse, was it sexual or dating violence, questions on suicide, have they ever carried a gun, 13 questions on sexual practices, if, at what age, how they do it, how many times with how many partners, prescription drug use, what they eat and drink, questions about what they do all day, etc. For more detail, go to https://leg.mt.gov/content/Committees/Interim/2021-2022/Children-Families/Studies/HJR-35/nov2021-yrbs-mental-health-results.pdf. My point is that parents were not notified of this or given a choice in what the government is collecting on their children. This was designed by and the results go to the federal government. Stevensville can do a lot better!
Navigating COVID-related restrictions and their effects on our kids’ daily lives, the historic and existential changes in how our students learn, and the cultural and moral decay that has infiltrated every aspect of our children’s formative experience has presented all our families with challenges uncommon to previous generations.
Please understand how important a school board trustee is to our children and choose those who align with your values and vote.
Helen Sabin says
any administration that puts out surveys like this should be FIRED! These surveys are SOLD to gamers and others who use the information to target students with games, books, etc. This is unconscionable. I hope that the board and Tony Hudson who is on it will have a strong talk with that administration and even fire them.
Bitterrooter says
Helen,
I would suggest you do a little research on this survey that has been being conducted for decades. There are no personal identifiers collected with the responses. There is no way to connect a student’s response to their name or other identifier.
Please cite your source that gamers are purchasing the data. Anyone can go on the CDC site and download the data (or request it). However, without personal identifying information there is no way to “target students” from the data.
I am leery of excessive data gathering myself. However, if someone is worried about businesses (or others) collecting information on their children, this is the wrong place to start. First make sure your kids don’t have cell phones, don’t use social media, and only browse with the use of a VPN.
The CDC survey gathers important trend information without putting children’s identities at risk. Whenever someone (the letter writer) asks “what business is it of theirs to know about violence and abuse?” my skin starts to crawl.
Finally, the survey is voluntary and anyone can opt out.
Pat Earnest says
You missed the whole point. The survey was approved and given without parental notice or consent. After all that we’ve learned, I don’t trust the CDC and what they do with the knowledge that they get with any survey. Why are they asking children about when, how many times, and how many partners they’ve had sex with, if they’ve ever touched a gun, been abused, had dating abuse and violence? Parents have a right to know what their children are being asked. The law is very clear on this. It is a widely known fact that our school children are being groomed for trafficking. The government has no right to submit them to this line of questioning. It’s irrelevant if they put their name on their answers. You’re missing the point!