by John Dowd, Editor
Valley schools are gearing up for another year, and several school superintendents spoke to the Bitterroot Star about the upcoming year. They talked about their excitement and some things the public, and students, should be aware of and look forward to in the coming year.
Florence
Todd Fiske is the superintendent for Florence-Carlton Public Schools and wanted to talk about the biggest update for them in 2025. Florence-Carlton Schools has moved to a four-day school week this year. This means the school day runs from 8 a.m. to 3:47 p.m., Monday through Thursday. This is a big change for the district, and has caused some concern.
According to Fiske, the district’s main reasoning was to blend work/family balance, not just for staff but for the youth. Their plan will guarantee the school still meets academic standards, and their hope is to give the family unit an extra day each week. Fiske said this change will essentially add “40 instructional minutes” to each day.
Fiske added that this change will also put a larger importance on each day, being that they are each 25% of the week, said Fiske. For the district, Fiske wants to “ask everyone to give more intention, because every day really matters.”
However, the change is an experiment. “It’s unknown and it’s a big change,” said Fiske, so it will need time to see what it will do for staff and students. He said they will look at attendance, behavior, athletics, staff workload and performance over the next couple of years to see if it improves things for everyone. “Those are some of the pieces we are going to focus on to see good data,” said Fiske.
However, not many schools that adopt the shorter week go back to the standard five days. The Florence-Carlton district also heard concern that it might hurt students academically, but Fiske posited that they are planning to use this change to distill down student education, and cut away extra, while maintaining the core education students need to succeed. He said everyone will probably be “pleasantly surprised” with how it may help student performance, though, it is too early to tell.
Other school systems have adopted a four-day school week and have seen increased academic performance. One school in the valley, notably Victor, adopted a shorter week a number of years ago and has yet to go back. Fiske added that this is not just a change out of the blue and has been something the Florence-Carlton school system has been debating for the last 15 years.
According to Fiske, some would say they save 20%, but it isn’t even close to that considering all the factors. Fiske wanted to stress that that was not the intention. He said each day is extended, and they will continue various operations on Fridays, so the savings will be minor, if anything. On Fridays, they will also have staff training and “Friday School,” so extra academic time doesn’t need to eat into family weekends.
Additional notes from Florence include that this will be the second year of their ‘no cell phone’ policy. High schoolers can have their phones before regular school operating hours, but during the day no phones are allowed. “We want them put away and gone,” said Fiske.
Fiske also recommends parents and others interested in following school operations look into downloading the Florence-Carlton schools app. This gives users immediate access to games, schedules, school events and even what the school will serve each day for lunch.
Stevensville
In Stevensville, there are some more big changes. Jon Konen is the new Stevensville Superintendent, and his predecessor, Dave Thennis, moved down-valley to Hamilton’s school district.
Konen was previously the assistant principal for Stevensville elementary and the K-12 curriculum director. He was also a previous superintendent for Corvallis Schools. As an administrator for the last year, he worked with the staff and said, “We all really jelled together,” and they liked the initiatives the former superintendent put into place. Happy with the way things were going, Konen said they wanted to maintain that momentum.
According to Konen, their goals this year are to focus on “teaching clarity and working as a collaborative team across the school system.” They are adding a new curriculum for English and Language Arts for K-12. The school had a committee last year researching the best practices and came up with a company that fit the school district’s needs. According to Konen, this new curriculum will build grade level to grade level on lessons from previous grade levels, and will focus in the earlier levels on creating a strong phonics background.
Another big change for Stevensville will be following in Florence-Carlton School District’s footsteps, with an update this year to their cell phone policy. The policy will apply to all electronic communication devices, including phones, watches and more. In the Stevensville policy, phones will not be allowed during school hours, except for lunch period for grades 9-12.
When asked about his thoughts on the coming year, Konen said he is “excited to partner with teachers, the community, and especially the parents.” He also said, “I’m just happy to have kids back on campus.”
Hamilton
In the Hamilton School District, Dave Thennis has taken the reins as Superintendent, He moved to Hamilton from being superintendent of the Stevensville School District.
Thennis felt it was an opportunity to advance and take on new challenges. Hamilton is a bigger district and has some new things going on. Thennis cited his strength as a superintendent as “establishing a positive culture,” however, he noted that, “Hamilton already has a strong team that I want to be part of.”
He is excited to help and be a part of the charter school program. He sees it as another way to engage students in different pathways through work and training opportunities, and he is looking forward to strengthening that.
Thennis also added that school was a bit delayed due to a “bat problem” in the middle school. Some bats had moved in there over the summer, but the problem has been rectified and school has commenced.
Looking at the next year, Thennis said that being new to the district, right now it is going to be about “building relationships and getting to know people.”
Darby
In Darby, Superintendent Tony Biesiot spoke about the excitement his district has for the year.
Darby Schools received a Montana Literacy Grant in the spring for more than $1 million. They are looking forward to implementing that over the next few years. That funding is designed for additional services to help increase literacy over four years, and will help further the Darby School District’s mission to bring great opportunities to their area.
As Biesiot stated, “We have a great district; we produce world-class education opportunities in a small town environment.”
Biesiot also added that they will be bringing back their STEAM program and classes. Last year they could not run those classes because they did not have a full-time teacher to lead them. Now, they have one, and are excited to bring those opportunities back.
Darby also has a new playground for the elementary students that was put in over the summer. To build that, the school partnered with local organizations and businesses to make that happen. For Biesiot, that will be one of the highlights for the elementary students, for sure.
All in all, Besiot said he is “excited to be welcoming back the staff and students. It’s a great day to be a Tiger.”