Dave Thennis is excited to be in his new position as superintendent of Stevensville Schools. He was hired to fill the spot vacated by Dr. Bob Moore. The timing could hardly have been better.
The district has just completed a major addition and renovation which Moore had committed to seeing through to its finish.
“The biggest project is pretty much done,” said Thennis, “due to the work of Dr. Moore and the community support. I feel very lucky. It’s pretty remarkable to come into a situation like this.”
Thennis was born and raised in Helena and had been working as a middle school principal there. During the Covid-19 pandemic he said he became motivated to continue his education and he got his superintendent endorsement at the University of Montana. He applied for the position at Stevensville and was selected from four finalists.
“I really believe strongly in public education,” said Thennis. “I love being a part of the teaching and learning process. I like helping kids to grow.”
He said that this is the first year in several that there hasn’t been a major upheaval in the daily routine of the school because of the renovation as well as Covid, which for much of the past two years forced students to attend classes from home or in temporary locations around the campus. “We want to make sure that the kids feel really good to be back at school,” said Thennis.
When asked about the recent drop in math and reading proficiency in the state, Thennis said, “We plan to recover.” He said a lot of people refer to it as “learning loss” due to covid. But he wanted to point out that at the same time, kids have learned other things, like technology skills and independence, so it wasn’t all bad. “The kids still grew, but not in the areas we are used to measuring,” he said.
Thennis said that his goal is “to have kids start [at Stevensville] and stay with us, and then have access beyond high school. Whether it’s additional school or a job, we want them to have access.”
He also mentioned that he’s aware that the Coding for Kids program, which teaches practical applications using computer technology, has been very successful at the K-8 level. He said it’s a bit more challenging in the high school and so they have hired some additional staff to expand the technology classes in the high school to complement the Coding for Kids program.
Total enrollment across all grades is about 1000 students, said Thennis, with about 350 in the high school. He said that just as with other schools, Stevensville has not been able to fill some staff positions, including special education teachers and paraeducators.
“The teachers we do have are having to absorb that extra workload,” said Thennis. “That impacts everybody.”
He said there is a shortage of teachers because kids are not choosing education as a profession. “Education is a very rewarding profession,” said Thennis, but [low] pay is an influencer. “Budgets are tough.”
Thennis said that Stevensville is still in good shape in regards to accreditation – “we’re meeting the standards but still the workload is tough for some of our teachers.”
Thennis and his wife have two children in college. Their youngest child is an 8th grader at Lolo where they live. His wife is assistant principal at Sentinel High School in Missoula.