Arlee School Board gets earful from community

By Amelia Adams

ARLEE -- If school teachers do something wrong, they should be disciplined appropriately -- especially if the judgment error involves alcohol here on the Flathead Reservation, where so many youth have been tragically lost to underage drinking.

That was the main message delivered to the Arlee School Board by concerned parents and other community members during a recent Tuesday evening meeting.

During the Sept. 12 session, the school board allowed three minutes of public comment from each audience member, primarily about the Aug. 28 "confidential" disciplinary action taken against two Arlee teachers who are accused of providing alcohol to underage school students on an annual field trip late last spring.

School board chair Greg Willoughby began the meeting by making it clear to those in attendance that the disciplinary action taken against teachers Jeff Padgett and Shawn Orr was resolved and that no new evidence was brought before them, so any motion to reintroduce the matter would be out of order.

Trustees present at the meeting were Willoughby, Ron Ritter, Lisa DuMontier, Mike Rogers, and Gary Wining.

A list was passed around the high school bleachers, for anyone who wished to comment. Among the people who spoke at the meeting were some top officials from the reservation -- Tribal Chairman James Steele Jr., Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron, and House District Representatives Joey Jayne and Jeanne Windham.

Chairman Steele, a 1986 Arlee High School graduate, said, "As a council member I am not here to harangue the board." He reminded the school board that "the Flathead Reservation has been struggling with alcoholism for many years, and it does not help our cause when teachers are doing things that are basically against the law. I think I'd like to say every year we have an election for school board members and I challenge community members to vote."

Sheriff Barron also commented on the reservation's alcohol problem, noting that as a coroner he puts too many kids in caskets.

He was disappointed, he said, in the school board's form of "confidential" disciplinary action taken against the teachers.

Barron feels that, "the public's right to know is far more important than the two teachers' right to privacy."

Representative Jayne made comments about ethics and noted that "educators should be responsible for their actions."

Representative Windham said she's noticed that in the legislature there is always a line of sad parents telling stories about how their children have died alcohol-related deaths.

"This incident should be taken very seriously," Windham said, "and the actions taken against the teachers should have not been confidential."

Two parents of the underage students who were on the field trip also gave their opinion about the controversial disciplinary actions. Joanne Baker was the first to speak, in words that were very emotional and strong enough to bring her to tears. Joanne told the board that her children are the most precious things to her in the world.

"In the future I hope... there should be zero tolerance to these types of situations," she told the board.

"These teachers betrayed our trust," an obviously dissatisfied Randy Meidinger said. "I will try to seek any remedy that goes with the law against these teachers."

The Meidingers are among a group of Arlee parents who have filed formal grievances in the incident. Randy told the board that the teachers involved should be held accountable in no uncertain terms, for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and for child endangerment.

"As a community, we have to pull together and know that this decision was a bad decision," he said. "If the board doesn't reconsider its vote, then we diligently do a recall vote, and send a message to our children."

Soon after that, Arlee community member Stacey Morris said she would gladly donate money to the Meidingers, for a lawyer to sue the Arlee School District.

Trustee Mike Rogers could be considered the "Lone Ranger" for voting against the board's controversial action against Padgett and Orr.

Rogers wanted harsher penalties to be taken against the two teachers.

During Tuesday's meeting many community members thanked Rogers for taking a stand and voting the way he did. Also, many of the same community members asked for the rest of the trustees to resign.

After the two-hour-long public comment session, Meidinger walked up to Rogers and shook his hand.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 10 at Arlee High School.