Doing Super

Aside from the occasional substitution gigs, it looked like Darlene Kolczak’s career in education had come to an end when she retired from Malta Schools at the end of the year in 2014, but when an opportunity arose to get back in the field, Kolczak jumped at it.

“I am the Phillips County Superintendent of Schools,” Kolczak said last Thursday in Malta. “It is something I have always aspired to do. I have kind of always liked this type of work. I was Chairman of the School Board in Landusky when my children went to school there, so I had some background knowledge in this type of work.”

Kolczak replaces longtime Phillips County Superintendent Vivian Taylor who left the position in late September of this school year after 14 years of service. Kolczak said following Taylor’s departure from office, the Phillips County Commissioners put out a call for a replacement and Kolczak turned in her application and earned the position.

“I am filling out her term so I have two full years left in January,” Kolczak said adding that she hopes to run again in two years when her current term is up.

Darlene, and her husband of 30 years, Francis (born and raised in Landusky), run the Meadow Valley Ranch in his hometown where they raise cattle. Between the couple’s two children --Kellie and Steven -- Darlene and Francis are the proud grandparents of one grandchild, Kellie’s son, Jaxson, and Steve is getting married soon so maybe more are on the way.

Darlene was born in Butte, Mont., and graduated from Butte High in 1976 before going on to Montana State University in Bozeman where she earned a BS in Home Economics and an elementary education endorsement. Her first teaching job out of college was at Dodson Schools, starting in 1980 and lasting until 1988 with becoming a stay-at-home mom when her first child (Kellie) was born. In 1998, when the Kolczaks moved to Malta for their children to attend school, Darlene became an aide at Malta Schools before becoming a fulltime teacher in 2002 when she was hired fulltime at the schools. For the next 14 years, Kolczak taught English, math, reading and family consumer science before retiring in the spring of 2014.

The job of superintendent requires Kolczak to complete a lot of paper work and do a lot of research. One gentleman has been coming to her office to do research on the history of Dodson Schools and Kolczak is pleased to help. She loves to pour over the old logs which were submitted to the county superintendent over the years and the room behind her main office at the Phillips County Courthouse has hundreds of files from the many schools to have called this county home in the last 100-plus years (at one point in Phillips County, there were over 400 schools and over 40 school districts).

“It amazes me how many children used to attend schools in this area,” she said.

Kolczak was sworn in on September 23 and has been on the job for the last six weeks. She said she has learned a lot in a short time, but things are looking good, for the most part, in the county schools.

“We have a lot of great teachers, superintendents and school boards here,” Kolczak said.