ALBERTON — The Alberton School Board voted Tuesday night not to renew the contracts for two teachers who teach music and STEM.
“I really feel, I feel terrible that the students here will have a, a disadvantage compared to their competitors in larger districts,” said STEM teacher McKenna Akane whose contract was one of the ones that were not renewed.
Michael Wolfe, who teaches music, also did not have his contract renewed.
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The board was brought to this vote due to a shortcoming in the upcoming budget. The school faced an upcoming shortfall in the coming year of $145,000 and had to look for ways of meeting this budget gap.
The school had previously funded the two teaching positions through state emergency relief grants (ESSER) grants, which were then put into the general budget. But those grants have now run out.
“We refer to them as one-time onlys in a situation like that. Then you have to replace them somewhere, somehow, because the last year to use the ESSER 3 was this year. And so there are no longer any other grant funds available,” said Alberton School District Superintendent Greg Upham.
Eliminating the two teaching positions is expected to save the school district around $110,000, and along with further consolidation of other positions, the school district is expecting to save $180,000.
According to the school district, the excess will be put towards unexpected expenditures. Still, parents at the meeting expressed their opposition to the school board before their vote, stating that it would only further drive students out of the district.
“[N]ow it's gonna be an even harder sell if you look at cutting those programs. For students who are coming and looking at transferring from Missoula schools to Alberton. So I'm gonna have a really hard time trying to convince her mom that this is a good place if we lose those programs,” said one parent who spoke about her friend who was looking to move her student to Alberton School District.
Rural school districts have also historically had a hard time retaining teachers.
Watch previous coverage: Alberton teacher being nationally recognized for innovative approach to STEM
Akane says that while she may have lost her position in Alberton, she will be moving on.
“I'll be looking for schools who would like to implement project lead the way stem. Which is a nationally recognized organization of which I've received an outstanding educator of the year for the 2024, 2025 school year, and see if they would be willing to let me come in and replicate what I've done here at Alberton at their school with the exact same intensity and passion that I always have had,” Akane told MTN.
