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SD2 board selects national firm for superintendent search

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SD2 board selects national firm for superintendent search


Billings College District 2 is one step nearer to discovering its subsequent superintendent. With present Superintendent Greg Upham’s saying his retirement this fall, district administration reacted rapidly to start the seek for his successor.

Throughout their common board assembly Dec. 19, the SD2 board of trustees voted to pick out GR Recruiting as their official hiring agency to help within the course of of choosing their subsequent superintendent.

Based mostly out of Fountain Hills, Arizona, the state, regional and nationwide search agency focuses on hiring Okay-12 academic leaders and have beforehand performed searches in Billings and Missoula. 

The district obtained 4 bids altogether that included Hazard, Younger, Attea and Associates, McPherson and Jacobsen and Ray and Associates. District Board Clerk Craig Van Good informed the board he and the district’s human assets and enterprise workplaces reviewed the bids and performed interviews with all 4 corporations which have been then graded on a cumulative scale.

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Individuals are additionally studying…

They finally advisable that the board approve GR Recruiting to carry out the search based mostly on attaining the very best general rating. GR Recruiting ranked third in value, however first in expertise, scope of providers offered, and contractual assure respectively.

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Van Good added that that it was through the interview course of the place they set themselves other than the opposite bidding corporations.

“We thought they did an excellent job of partaking in that interview,” he stated. “They did an excellent job of asking us questions that have been related to a few of the points and different circumstances we’re going through on this district.”

A tentative timeline for the superintendent search connected to the bid projected a closing candidate to be narrowed down and supplied a contract by the center of April.

With the general pricing choices involved, Van Good would go on to element the district’s potential choices with base charges for his or her work starting from $18,000 to $24,500 and an all-in possibility that features extra bills starting from $28,100 to $37,600.

With GR Recruiting edging out its closest competitor by only some factors, Trustee Russell Corridor requested concerning the justification in spending upwards of $7,400 for a barely higher suitor. Van Good reiterated the spectacular interview from their representatives whereas including that their record of ensures have been extra favorable than different bidders.

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Corridor recalled the method for choosing former Superintendent Keith Beeman in 2010 that resulted in a short-lived and controversial tenure and expressed a want for the board to not repeat that whereas having to pay for a 3rd occasion.

Van Good confirmed that this is able to not be the case with GR Recruiting’s present proposal. It particularly notes that if a state of affairs like Beeman’s removing have been to happen inside two years of employment, they might additionally conduct a brand new superintendent search.

“So, we’re saying that if we employed a superintendent and so they have been let go inside two years, then the search can be at no cost aside from bills,” Corridor reiterated.

Trustee John Von Langen then requested if any of the trustees have been concerned with or invited to any of the interviews. Van Good replied that they weren’t.

The board finally voted 6-1 to approve GR because the agency with Von Langen being the one one to vote in opposition to it.

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Jana Pennington speaks throughout a College District 2 particular session.


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Montana

Court Halts Massive Illegal Old Growth Logging Project in Montana's Little Belt Mountains

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Court Halts Massive Illegal Old Growth Logging Project in Montana's Little Belt Mountains


Male American (Northern) Goshawk. Public domain.

On June 27, 2024, a federal court halted an illegal logging project on federal public lands in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed their lawsuit to stop the Horsefly project in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in April 2021. The project called for cutting and burning trees on 10,343 acres, which is more than 16 square miles. To enable the logging, the agency planned on bulldozing a stunning 40.7 miles of new logging roads in the Little Belt Mountains north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana.

The scope of the massive Horsefly landscape-altering proposal is alarming and because the project violated federal law, it had to be enjoined.

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The Forest Service used a number of euphemisms in a transparent attempt to disguise what used to be more honestly called logging. For instance, the agency called 3,278 acres of commercial logging ‘intermediate treatment,’ 1,049 acres of clearcutting ‘regeneration harvest,’ 409 acres of clearcutting and possible burning ‘meadow restoration,’ and 465 acres of non-commercial logging ‘rearrangement of fuels’. They’re ‘rearranging’ them alright: from forest ecosystems to stump fields.

This is an ecosystem, not a private tree farm, and so we have to maintain the habitat for sensitive wildlife species.  One of those species is the northern goshawk, which has been declining in population, and which the forest plan lists as an old-growth forest management indicator species. Due to the importance of this species, the law requires 100% of goshawk nets to be monitored annually.

In 2018, the entire Forest was surveyed for goshawks and the Forest Service found an alarming 47% decline in active goshawk nests, which the agency failed to disclose to the public in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act. The agency also ignored its own Forest Plan requirement to issue an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10%.”

The Court’s ruling was very straightforward on the failure of the Forest Service to follow the law. As the Order reads: “The Court agrees with Alliance that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose and evaluate the decline in active goshawk nesting territories violated both NFMA and NEPA. . . . Federal Defendants all but concede that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose the decrease in active goshawk nesting territories to the public in the EA and failure to comply with the Forest Plan requirement to conduct an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10% amounts to a violation of NFMA.” Yet the Forest Service continues to log the last remaining mature and old growth forests and goshawks are in trouble.

The Court’s order remanded the project authorization to the agency, and enjoined the project pending compliance with federal law.  We follow the law every day, and the Forest Service must also follow the law.  When a government agency violates the law, it must be held accountable in court. It’s not easy to fight the federal government, which has far more resources than we do, but nonetheless we are committed to making the government follow its own laws to protect our native wildlife and public land ecosystems. Despite attacks by politicians, intimidation tactics, and misinformation campaigns, we won’t be stopped.  We are determined to continue with this critical work.

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Please consider helping us continue to fight to protect old growth forests and make the Forest Service follow the law.



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Search underway for a missing boater in Flathead Lake

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Search underway for a missing boater in Flathead Lake


MISSOULA — The search for a boater in trouble on Flathead Lake continues.

Lake County Sheriff Don Bell has identified the missing person as 34-year-old Chad Hansen from Missoula.

He was last seen in the area north of Little Bull Island and south of Safety Bay.

Hansen became separated from his boat and witnesses who tried to help him weren’t able to.

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Based on the accounts gathered from witnesses it is believed that he has died of drowning, a news release states.

Teams from Lake County, Flathead County, Missoula County, and Kootenai County, Idaho, are searching Flathead Lake in an effort to find Hansen.







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Real Madrid's Coach Visits Montana

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Real Madrid's Coach Visits Montana


Montana — After another successful season for Los Blancos, Carlo Ancelotti is spending some time in The Treasure State.

Over the past few days, Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti has shared some photos from a vacation with his spouse, Mariann Barrena McClay, in Montana. They have spent some time horseback riding and checking out the Sawmill Saloon in Darby.

This vacation follows a trophy-filled season at Real Madrid, during which they won La Liga, the Champions League, and the Spanish Super Cup. They probably feel alright about their chances next season, considering that Mbappe is joining the squad.

The small town of Darby, situated on Montana Highway 93, recorded a population of 783 in the 2020 census. The town is home to logging and rodeo events, along with a farmer’s market. In July, they host a Bluegrass and Strawberry Festivals. The closest ski area to Darby is Lost Trail Powder Mountain, which is in Idaho and Montana.

Image Credits: Carlo Ancelotti, Visit Darby (Image above)

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