An emergency school board meeting was held at the TFS Community Hall, Saturday at noon (which coincidentally is the time the Rendezvous Parade in Eureka began). The board acknowledged that they failed to provide adequate (48 hours notice) on the meeting, and cited the requisite MCA code allowing it in the event of an unforseen emergency.
The emergency: there has been a positive test for meth on the school grounds
Allegations of meth use in the teacherage (rental property on school grounds) occurred roughly two months ago. The accused renters have not lived there in over a year. The board decided to have the building tested, spending about 1000 to do so.
The teacherage tested positive with results well above levels considered safe. Results are available via a link from the school’s website.
Drug posession on school grounds is a crime. Will the person/people who did this be charged? Short answer- no. While the circumstantial evidence certainly seemed enough to convict in the court of public opinion, it isn’t enough to bring charges, being only circumstantial.
With the arrival of positive results, someone indicated that the prior school employees had been in the building after hours, and the board decided to close the school. They stated that the impending school closure is out of an “abundance of caution”.
School cannot be held in a building that doesn’t have documentation proving its up to modern building codes (TFS Community Hall is not an option. The board voted to look into the Dickey Lake Bible Camp). The school will have to find an alternate location, hold distance classes, or extend the school year as a result of the impending closure.
The soonest the company can return to test again is Tuesday afternoon. Results can take up to 4 days. People will not be allowed into the school until results have returned. The school will pay $1370 for further testing.
No one seems know what will happen if the school itself tests positive for methamphetamine.
The board was very adamant that they acted as quickly as possible and under legal council. Board member Mark Spehar read aloud a timeline and excerpts from emails. With no copies available to the public and no visuals available, it couldn’t have been better designed to sound official and open without actually conveying useful details. Mr. Spehar came prepared to defend against an inquisition (and began in that manner prior to any questions from the public).
The board generally came across as defensive. The audience was initially fairly polite, but about a half hour into the meeting, things started getting contentious. Attempts to direct focus away from “who to blame” and towards “how to prevent future incidents” had mixed success.
Several members of the public, one former board member, and the lead teacher spoke. The board was predominantly represented by Mark Spehar with some input from Board Chair Kris Glover.
Mrs. Leib, lead teacher, felt that the public deserved some additional information which she then provided. She clarified that the previous renters (a couple) had been school employees (clerk and maintenance) and had a child enrolled in the school. Mrs. Leib’s major point of contention was the belief that many red flags (such as a criminal record) had been ignored, to the point of negligence.
One interesting point by Mrs. Leib was that in the current context, the complaints by the neighbors of lights being on at all hours (received by the board), in combination with concerns about a fight on the property (in front of a child!) and odd patterns in traffic and visitors (received by the county superintendent), create a concerning picture and suggest that this investigation should have begun several years ago. Mrs. Leib did note that the documentation is somewhat limited as the person keeping board minutes at the time is one of the people accused. She further reminded the board of an incident (documented in past minutes) in which the man accused built a gun cabinet with school lumber and had a gun on the property.
In the subsequent debate of who knew what when, “unreliable” was used as one of the more tactful ways I’ve heard someone accused of lying.
The narrative, as given by Clerk Karmen Mckinney: we’re trying to dig out of a hole, and it’s been a bad year. If the school survives this, things can turn around.
Leave a Reply