Three Vie For Two Seats on Malta's School Board

Three members of the Malta community have entered the political arena after committing to run for the two seats on the Malta School Board.

Incumbent Justin Lamb has signed up to run for one of the two positions and he will be challenged by new-comers to the arena. Angelica DeVries and Katey Marquis signed submitted their petitions and names for voter consideration. Incumbent Kevin Koss has decided to retire this year.

Perspective candidates were provided a questionnaire several weeks ago, with a deadline. With voters wanting to be informed, to get to know the candidates and be able to cast their vote, a decision had to be made to run the interview responses this week, with the returned responses of two candidates, DeVries and Marquis.

The school board election will be held through a mail-in ballot, which is due back by no later than 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2nd to be counted for the vote. Ballots can be mailed back to the Phillips County Clerk and Recorder's Office in time to be delivered and counted by May 2nd. Mail-in ballots DO NOT get dropped off at the school, they can be hand-delivered to the Clerk and Recorder's Office; if you do not receive a ballot or are on the inactive list and need to re-register, stop over at the Court House and go to the third floor to the office before 8 p.m. Remember to take your ID with you; should you have any questions, call the Clerk's office and speak to the staff.

Should you have any questions that are not on the format, feel free to call the individuals; they are listed in the phone book.

1. What are your interests in running for School Board?

AD: I want to see a flourishing school system. I want to see strong communication. I want to see aligned goals and vision for our district. I want to see a little more accountability matched with grave. We are all humans doing the best we can. Let's strive to be better but give space for grace and understanding where necessary.

KM: Well, I've always tried to be involved in my kids' education, doing what I can to know what they are learning and how they are taught. This in turn, led me to attending many school board meetings at my kids' previous schools. So when we moved here, I attempted to do the same and gather information about the school from past board minutes, the Malta School website and Malta School app. I was surprised how hard that task turned out to be, and how inconsistent the information was at times. I was frustrated but rather than just complain about it, I decided to attempt to offer my services to make it better by offering my services by running for the school board.

2. Who is your family, do you have children?

AD: I have three children, Tessa is currently a first-grade student at Malta Elementary. Orrin is 4 years old (nearly 5) and will enter kindergarten in the fall of 2024 and Nash is two years old (nearly 3) and will enter kindergarten in the fall of 2026. My husband, Aaron, is third generation cattle rancher. Aaron also serves on the coaching staff for high school football.

KM: I currently have 2 kids in the school system, a 13 year-old 7th grade son and a 15 year-old daughter.

3. What can you bring to the table as far as experience, education, knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of a trustee?

AD: I have been a certified public accountant (CPA) since

2014. I spent four years as a professional accounting firm (Galusha, Higgins and Galusha) here in Malta from 2011-2015. During my time in that role, I experienced all the sides of the accounting profession from bookkeeping to tax preparation, to auditing and everything in between. Toward the end of my time there, I began specializing in federal fund compliance auditing. I've been on the audit team for nearly a dozen school districts, including Malta Public Schools for a few years.

Currently, in my professional career, I am the executive Director of the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, a rancher-led 501(c)3 nonprofit here in Malta. In my role at RSA, I'm responsible for grant management, fiscal responsibility, employee well-being, partnership development, community development, team communication, and strategic direction.

With this professional experience I will bring added value to the table of the school district. In my time as a school auditor, I was required to understand the duties and responsibility of a school board trustee. I have knowledge and understanding of the regulations that guide school board trustees and school districts from the Montana Code Annotated to the guidelines from Montana Public Office of Public Instruction.

KM: For the past nine years I have gained a wide variety of skills working for a crop insurance software drive company called MyCrop Technologies. In those nine years I have had a lot of experience in detail orientated, face paced customer service work- doing everything from answering phones, resetting passwords, and working with our system users across the country to resolve their issues, to testing our software and working with developers, business analysts and project managers across the country and overseas to deliver a high quality product that is not only easy to use but is always above and beyond industry standards. The crop insurance industry is always changing, as is technology, so I have to learn to adapt, and ask questions and learn on the fly- all of which are skills I feel would be a huge asset on the school board.

4. What are your budget priorities?

AD: First and foremost, long-term financial sustainability will always be my priority in any area of my life. But particularly in groups and organizations that our community needs to thrive. We need to make sounds, thoughtful, business decisions for the school that will benefit both the district and keep us accountable to the taxpayers.

My understanding is that there are significant repairs and improvements that need to be made to the elementary school – I'd like to dig into all the facts and information to know what the district's options are.

KM: Budgets can be a complicated beast, that requires research and background homework in order to slay. Although I do not bring a strong finance background to the table, I am ept at research and asking questions in order to make the best informed decision I can. Having ranched most of my childhood and adult life, paying attention to budgets and spending habits are very important for even basic survival from year to year, so I do have a tendency to lean on the conservative side of spending.

5. Are there any changes you might see as possibilities for growth or change for the board?

AD: I think there are some opportunities for growth and change in some areas of the school district. From the board of trustees to administration, to the staff, and to the parents. There needs to be a mindset of teamwork if we want the school district to excel.

KM: I think change can be a good thing, but sometimes there are reasons things have been done the way they have. I am not soft spoken person, so if I find specific areas that I feel change would be better for the whole of school, I will do my best to work to make those happen.

6. How do you feel about how things are going in the school today?

AD: I understand there are many parents frustrated with communication on all levels, and understandably so. I also feel the same way as a parent. However, it is far too easy to see the situation from one side, some things need grace and understanding when we bring things grievances forward to try and understand the perspective of all the players and develop positive solutions for the problem at hand.

KM: Since my kids are older I don't know a lot about the Elementary school, but I would say as a whole the school seems to be doing pretty well. Of course there are areas that I feel need improvement, but coming here with a fresh perspective, I can say that I feel there are more good things than bad.

7. Are there any areas you feel the school is strong in?

AD: Of course! I have always been passionate about our school system, it's a core part of our small communities. I've been really impressed by the parents workshops that have been presented as opportunities for our community. These sorts of events are what help align the school staff and parents and get us all on the same page. The school offers endless activities and groups for school staff and students to be involved. We have dedicated teachers and staff. We have great parent groups from PIE to the Athletic Club to the Mustang Foundation, and any other group that offers help to our district. These are all people working to support our school system, in a time when it's so easy to focus on the negative, it's truly a lot to be thankful for, too.

KM: We have found Malta middle and high school to be strong in school spirit, academic standards and my son in particular LOVES the lunches here.

8. Do you feel the school board communicates with the parent? Have you ever attended a school board meeting as a parent?

AD: This question is too simplified. It is not the sole job of the school board to communicate with parents. Communication goes both ways and comes from many sources. Administration needs to communicate with staff and parents and school board. It you laid out the ideal communication chart on a piece of paper it would look like a web, not a linear path. What is important here is that the web is consistent and aligned. As parents and community members we get frustrated when we hear differing stories from different sources. So, the question needs to be, 'how can we all get along on the same page?'

KM: Communication between the school board and the public is one area in particular that I feel definitely could be improved upon. By the time this is published I will have attended meetings as a parent, but it wasn't as easy as it should have been that's for sure.

9. Share strong points that the voters might want to consider about you at the time of casting their vote?

AD: I am dedicated to finding positive solutions even in the hardest of situations. I make decisions through thoughtful information gathering and I strive to seek the issue at hand from many perspectives.

KM: I would say some of my strongest attributes are that I am not afraid to speak my opinion, I am brutally honest, I feel strongly about the welfare of our kids, I am very detail oriented when needed, I am not afraid to ask questions and have learned how to work well with all sorts of personalities.

10. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

KM: I appreciate the community for considering me and the current school board for the time they have served. At the end of day I think everyone has to keep in mind that we all have the same goal, to do what's best for the kids.