Updated 11:45 a.m. April 12
Social media posts from a school board candidate prompted Great Falls Public Schools to address community concerns during their April 8 meeting.
Superintendent Tom Moore said he wanted to address what he called inaccurate information in Tony Rosales’ posts.
Rosales is running for the one open seat on the board this year.
The seat is currently held my Marlee Sunchild, who has filed for reelection.
Rodney Meyers has also filed for the seat.
Rosales told The Electric that he did not attend the April 8 meeting due to work travel.
Moore referenced a chart that Rosales posted March 20, stating that the district had increased staffing by 20 percent from 2008 to 2023 while reducing services and enrollment was steady.
Moore said that district staff pulled numbers from their own records and determined the numbers presented by Rosales were incorrect.
Rosales posted that the district had 1,613 employees in 2008 and 1,920 in 2023.
He cited those numbers from the district’s current budget book and 2019 post on E-City Beat by Rick Tryon, who cited the city’s budget book, which cited numbers published by the Great Falls Tribune.
The current GFPS budget book uses a top employer chart on page 16 that shows the district has 1,920 employees.
But on page 14, in a chart breaking down district staff, it shows 1,336.9 full-time employees.
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During the April 8 board meeting, Moore said staff pulled employee counts for 2008, 2018 and 2023 on Oct. 1, which is the same day of the fall student enrollment count.
In 2008, the district had 2,109 total employees. Of those, 1,356 were full time employees and 778 teachers, both full and part time.
In 2018, the district had 1,890 total employees. Of those 1,279 were full time and 731 were teachers.
More said that was a decrease of 219 total employees over the decade.
In 2023, the district had 1,753 total employees. Of those 1,314 were full time and 720 were teachers.
Moore said that was a decrease of 356 total employees from 2008.
Moore said that in that time, “we have made cuts dramatically. We have reduced employes, we have reduced budgets, we have taken services away from students.”
Voters approved levies for 2010, 2014 and 2020 and a $98.8 million bond for facility improvements in 2017.
Moore said the district didn’t make cuts in 2018, 2019 or 2020 and with federal COVID funds, the district has been hiring or attempting to hire more staff to address learning losses and adverse effects of the pandemic.
But it’s been difficult to recruit and hire supplemental teachers, Moore said, and COVID “has had an affect on student achievement, there’s no doubt about it.”
Staffing and enrollment numbers can fluctuate throughout the year, Moore said.
In 2008, enrollment was 10,410.
On Oct. 1, 2023, the enrollment number was 9,968, according to GFPS.
Moore said the numbers in the district’s data center are used for budgets and are reported to the state.
After Rosales sent an email on April 12 further criticizing inconsistencies in the district’s numbers, Moore told The Electric he was scheduling a meeting with Rosales and other district staff to explain in detail how the numbers are tracked and to ensure everyone was using the same number to draw comparisons.
Mark Finnicum, board member, said that they see inaccuracies online about the district, but go to staff to get correct information.
Moore said that during his time with the district, if citizens called or something posted on social that’s brought to the administration’s attention as being inaccurate, or if there were questions, district staff would reach out ot the person and invited them to meet with staff.
He said they attempt to be transparent and that the annual budget book is part of that effort.
Moore also addressed the allegations Rosales made against Lance Boyd, an assistant superintendent, and the district over conflicts of interest.
Moore said that he reached out to Rosales to discuss his concerns and that Rosales met with Boyd on April 4.
Boyd served on the board for Peace Place, a local nonprofit that provides respite care and other services for local families and children with disabilities.
Rosales posted that it was a conflict of interest for Boyd to serve on the board as the district refers students to Peace Place and pays for those services.
Rosales told The Electric that he was attending an autism task force meeting organization by Lola Galloway, a state lawmaker.
Boyd and the Peace Place operations director were at the meeting and said that there were many GFPS students on the waitlist to Peace Place.
Rosales said that another provider in the room asked why the district didn’t refer those students to him and that Boyd explained that was because that provider didn’t accept federal funds so they wouldn’t be paid for the services through GFPS.
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“At that point this educator said they did not care about the funding and would even do it for free if that’s what it took to help these students. Additionally, this educator also told Lance to at least refer the parents/guardians to their organization so that the adult responsible for the student could make the decision, especially in light of 20+ students who are not getting the proper resources they deserve,” Rosales said.
Asked about that exchange, Boyd said it was referring to Kevin Leatherbarrow of Go and Grow Education Services.
Leatherbarrow ran for the Montana superintendent of public instruction in 2020, the GFPS board in 2021 and is currently running for the Montana House as a libertarian. Rosales is the chair of Cascade County Libertarian Party.
Boyd said that Leatherbarrow had previously indicated he didn’t want federal funds to serve those students but that he was now working with GFPS on developing a similar MOU to that of Peace Place.
Rosales said that his meeting with Boyd addressed his initial concern but that “I also told Lance, if I was a board member and the question came up of him serving on Peace Place, I would have voted no by nature that I think his involvement in Peace Place results in far too many overlapping responsibilities that result in unconscious bias. Unconscious bias is what introduces the risk to GFPS and I have been consistent in telling Tom and Lance about this. I also told Lance that this would not bar him from serving on other non-profits that are substantially less tied to GFPS, nor would this bar him from working closely with Peace Place as director of student services of GFPS.”
Rosales said he didn’t contact GFPS directly regarding his concerns.
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He said that, “my background in research and science has taught me to value written discourse for its clarity and thoroughness, which is why I pair all of my posts with fairly lengthy commentary. I believe this method could benefit public discussions, promoting transparency and detailed examination of issues. Moving forward, I’m open to combining direct and early engagement with my current approach to better serve our community. However, I am skeptical of its benefit given that yesterday’s school board meeting misrepresented a good amount of my content, despite my meetings with the administrators these past weeks. I would prefer GFPS release full statements regarding what they have uncovered.”
Rosales said he wasn’t after anyone personally and didn’t name Boyd or Peace Place in his initial post as he wanted to focus on the school board.
When the GFPS didn’t respond to his Facebook posts, he said he decided to send a press release with the Peace Place tax documents.
He said since Boyd has left the Peace Place board, his concern is the oversight by the school board on staff serving on community boards that have associations with GFPS.
Rosales posted copies of Peace Place’s tax documents and stated that $102,000 or 36 percent, of their funding came from government grants and insinuated that GFPS dollars were included in that.
The Electric asked KC Beall, Peace Place’s director of administration, about Rosales’ concerns and the arrangement they have with the district.
Beall told The Electric that Peace Place has had a memorandum of understanding with GFPS since 2019, before Boyd was on the board.
The MOU “allows for students with significant behavioral struggles to receive services on a short-term basis. It provides these students the ability to still get an education, while at the same time allows them to build positive behavioral and self-regulation skills so they can rejoin school on a more consistent basis, when they are ready to do so,” Beall said.
Those students are referred from GFPS to the mid-day program that provides behavioral support for those who are unable to complete a full day of school due to extreme behaviors, Beall said.
She said they get two to three GFPS students in that program.
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Beall said that the fee for service under the contract with GFPS was $3,350 last year, which was less than one percent of their total income for that fiscal year.
She said it pays for the extra staff needed to care for the students in that program and “the student and their parents are the ones truly benefitting from this service.”
Beall said that representing the GFPS fee as a government grant was “a gross misinterpretation of the truth.”
Boyd served on the Peace Place from 2021-2024 and was recently the chair. He told The Electric that he has since left the board this spring as his term ended and the GFPS cabinet restructure added significantly to his workload. Boyd said that he often couldn’t attend board meetings as they were scheduled the same nights as GFPS board meetings.
Boyd told The Electric that no grant GFPS facilitates allows or requires payments for referrals to a group.
All of the grants GFPS uses allow for contracted services on a very small scale for services directly tied to an individual student need or to a larger need.
“GFPS works with a variety of for profit and nonprofits in Great Falls to provide services for students. It is through these models that our district works to try to provide the best services possible for students when allowed,” Boyd said.
Moore told the school board that Peace Place was once housed at Skyline Early Learning Center and “we have worked in partnership with them for years.”
The agency later moved to a church and has since moved into their own facility downtown.
Moore said that Peace Place provides some services in conjunction with a student’s individualized education plan.
He said the law allows GFPS to work with licensed providers to care for student needs.
Moore said he wanted to discuss the social media posts with the board since Rosales alleged that it was inappropriate for cabinet staff to sit on board that have an association with GFPS.
Moore shared a list of all cabinet staff and the local board they serve on.
Those boards include United Way, Great Falls Rescue Mission, City-County Health Board, University of Providence, Great Falls Development Alliance, Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, GFPS Education Foundation, Great Falls Area Community Foundation, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Bethel Lutheran Church, CASA-CAN, Salvation Army After School Program, HANDS, Cascade County DUI Task Force, Cascade County Domestic Violence Task Force, Montana FFA, Benefis Mayfaire and the River’s Edge Trail Foundation.
Moore said he was asking the board if they didn’t want staff to serve on boards that have missions to provide services to local children in the district.
He said the relationships are governed by MOUs, organization board bylaws, working documents and the state and district codes of ethics.
“I want to be clear with the board about your wishes and desires for us,” Moore said since Rosales had posted that the board was remaining silent on his concerns.
Bill Bronson, school board member, said there’s a reasonable expectation that cabinet staff were involved in the community.
He said he’d be “shocked” if the cabinet members weren’t involved in community groups.
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Bronson said GFPS’ professional staff bring knowledge, experience and ideas to community organizations and some boards identify membership in their bylaws or agreements, such as the city-county health board, including the superintendent.
Bronson said that the district’s MOUs and agreements are also audited regularly and if there was anything inappropriate, the auditors would have brought that to the board’s attention.
From a legal perspective, Bronson said he reviewed some case law related to the subject and something that periodically comes up is whether a public employee serving on a board is a conflict.
Bronson said that courts have to find that a public employee was abusing their public position to benefit a private organization.
He said that he believes staff would use their best judgment when asked to serve on boards and act within in the law and codes of ethics.
“If anyone really thinks that there is a true conflict of interest that is in violation of the law, I challenge them to bring it forward in a formal complaint or a lawsuit, and if they can’t do that, then they don’t have a basis to complain.”
Amie Thompson, board member, said that many of the organizations involved are helping serve the most vulnerable students.
“I’d think we’d want to have school officials on these boards to bring these issues to light and to help address these needs and issues.”
Kim Skornogoski is a school board member and United Way of Cascade County employee.
She said that in her experience, GFPS employees are some of the best board members in the community because “they are true servant leaders. Our community truly benefits from these relationships and this public service.”
She said they help connect local organizations to the district and students.
“How are we going to improve the health of our students, if we don’t have those relationships with our schools,” she said, speaking of two GFPS employees on the Get Fit Great Falls board.
Finnicum said in response to Rosales’ statement that the board was silent, that individual board members can’t speak for the entire board.
Paige Turoski, board member, said that GFPS cabinet members bring perspective to local nonprofits of what students and families need. She said she thinks they can better advocate for the district and students.
Board Chair Gordon Johnson said “absolutely we need to be working together,” with the nonprofits and “I think it’s deeply important that our administrators and employees continue to be involved in other organizations as members and as leaders on boards of directors.”
Moore said that Boyd and Brian Patrick, GFPS’ business operations manager, are responsible for ensuring the district complies with all requirements of the federal and state grants and funds they receive.
“The integrity and the level of scrutiny…to make sure there’s not a misstep there has been a point of pride for the district for many years,” Moore said.
