School board offers administrative contracts

Following the recent resignation of former Superintendent Stephen Ely, the Ekalaka Elementary #15 and Carter County High School Unified Board of Trustees interviewed three individuals for administrative positions on July 11.

At the board's regular meeting the following day, a split vote with one trustee abstaining as she was not present during the interviews left the matter of hiring a school administrator unresolved. The board decided to then conduct second interviews with two of the applicants, Charles Cook and Brian Purnell.

One week later the board decided, by unanimous vote, to offer a contract to Brian Purnell as a full-time principal and Charles Cook as a part-time superintendent.

Purnell's contract includes a base salary of $85,000 for a 200 day contract, district paid utilities including electricity, water and propane, $3,500 in moving expenses, 75 percent reimbursement for classes required to become a superintendent, and 16 personal days for the first year of the contract.

Purnell was scheduled to begin his employment at Ekalaka Public Schools on August 8th.

The contract offered to Cook for part-time superintendent is 94 days with a $36,000 base salary and dental/vision insurance.

Both candidates were offered two-year contracts.

As of Wednesday morning, the only vacancy still posted on the Montana Office of Public Instruction website for Ekalaka Public Schools was a Business Education teacher for the high school.

The board also voted to implement YAM into the high school at their July 12 meeting. The Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) program is a classroom mental health promotion program that aims to raise mental health awareness about risk and protective factors associated with suicide, including knowledge about depression and anxiety, and to enhance the skills and emotional resiliency needed to deal with stress and crisis.

The program will be delivered to local students in five one-hour sessions by certified YAM instructor Sabre Moore, Executive Director of Carter County Museum. Moore originally presented information to the board about the program during the June 28 board meeting. It is free of charge to the district through a grant.

YAM has been taught to over 10,500 kids in Montana since 2016, and grown from 3 to over 30 schools in the last 5 years.