Principal's Office

In over nearly 35 years as an educator, Malta’s Scott King has earned many accolades and achieved things that even he didn’t dream of. That said, Principal King knows that success is bigger than one person.

“This is about our community and doing the things that are right,” Principal King said. “This is about all the wonderful organizations we have at Malta Schools and all the people who are involved making it a great place to learn and go to school.”

In mid-January of this year, King, Malta High School’s Principal and Activities Director, was presented with the Montana High School Association Service Citation in recognition of “significant contributions” made to MHSA programs.

“He has willingly given his time to serve our Association,” the MHSA member said at the annual MHSA Meeting in Helena. “He has served as a tournament manager for a variety if events. He has served on a number of committees, including the Class B Football Scheduling Committee and every year he volunteers as a table worker at the State All-Class Wrestling Tournament and has scored hundreds of matches over the years.”

Malta School’s Superintendent Kris Kuehn, who has worked with Principal King going on 12 years, couldn’t agree with the above sentiment more.

"There is nobody more deserving of a Montana High School Association Service Citation Award than Mr. King,” Superintendent Kuehn said. “For thirty-five years he has worked diligently to provide the best experience possible for students as a Coach, Activities Director and Manager of post-season events too numerous to count."

During a very busy day of organizing the first day of the 2016 District 3C Basketball Tournament in Malta last week, Principal King sat with the Phillips County News for an interview. He said he is grateful to receive the Service Citation.

“I’m very appreciative to be recognized by the High School Association for the contributions that we’ve made,” Principal King said. “I am mostly just humbled by the process. I have seen other people receive the award and knew what they had contributed. I am pleased to be able to be recognized like that.”

Principal King started his career as an educator 35 years ago, his first job was at Harlem Schools where he taught and coached wrestling. It was during those four years at Harlem that he was able to witness, first hand, the type of education Malta Schools offers and he decided that Phillips County was where he wanted to raise a family.

“I felt that Malta would be a great place for professional advancement,” Principal King said. “It was good for me. In the end of it all, it was an awesome move for our family. My daughters are products of the Malta Public Schools, they both graduated from here, and they had tremendous opportunities as students and student athletes in our school. Kathy, my wife, has enjoyed her time working with Judge McKeon and we have really kind of had the best of both worlds.”

Principal King was raised in Fargo, N.D. and graduated from the city’s South High School. His father, Burton, was a carpenter and his mother, Jan, was an educator. It was somewhere at an early age that Principal King decided to follow his mother’s example and become a teacher. He received his B.A. in Education from Valley City State University in Valley City, N.D. – later receiving his Graduate Degree from the University of Montana – before heading west to start his life-long career as an educator.

Principal King said Malta Schools, firstly, is a place for Malta’s children to receive an education. On the other side of that, Malta Schools is a place for students to have a tremendous opportunity to be a part of extracurricular activities – whether in athletics, music, drama and the vast assortment of clubs and organizations available.

“Speaking as the Activities Director, our athletic programs, I think, are what most people recognize because they are the most visible and publicized within our school, both at the local level and at the state level,” Principal King said. “But, if you look deep into our activities program, our music program is absolutely second to none across the state …our Speech and Drama teams have been consistent throughout the years … our students in our clubs, whether it’s Key Club, FCCLA, FFA, you name it, are all active at the state level. We really offer a well-rounded experience for our students and, the best thing is, a student can be involved in all areas, they don’t have to be specialized.”

Principal King said the aforementioned accomplishments at Malta Schools could be attributed to two groups, educators and community members.

“Our system has been blessed with good and devoted educators,” Principal King said. “Our system has been blessed with community support that I don’t know if it can be paralleled in other communities. We are so fortunate. Sometimes I think people take what happens in our school system for granted and really, it’s a process where a lot of people have a lot invested for our children and it is across the board in many areas.”