As a former educator, I had my interest piqued by the article entitled “Kalispell school board works on district mission statement.”

The current mission statement fopr the district reads as follows: “Kalispell public schools will provide diverse educational opportunities and challenges that engage students, meet the unique needs of all students and prepare students for the future.”

My military experience taught me that missions should be transmitted in a clear, concise manner and must contain the essential elements of who, what, where, when and how. Unless a mission is clearly stated and understood by all, it is impossible for the planning, coordination and execution of the mission to be accomplished. Further on, how on earth could one tell if the mission has been successfully accomplished if it is stated in vague generalities or “gobbledygook” and there are no clear objectives to evaluate?

I can only assume that the board makes a subjective judgment as to whether the mission has been successfully accomplished. I would bet the farm that the board has always found that the mission has been successfully achieved. I for one would like to see the yardstick the board uses to make this determination.

It is my opinion that all school boards have three basic responsibilities. 1) Establish, implement and monitor the academic, physical, behavioral and motivational standards for all students, as well as the professional standards for administrators, teachers and support staff. 2) Ensure that when a student graduates from the 12th grade he or she has the requisite skills to successfully pursue higher education and training, or to immediately enter the work force and be a useful and productive citizen. 3) Safeguard and judiciously use the school’s allotted taxpayer funds and apply them and all other resources where they will benefit the entire student body.

I would like to see the school board adopt a mission statement that contains clear objectives which can easily be evaluated. Once the mission is clearly stated and understood a plan must be prepared, implemented and carried out to ensure mission accomplishment. The plan should begin by identifying and listing what specific skills and behaviors a Flathead County high school graduate must achieve and possess. Then by backward planning the skills and behaviors that must be learned are applied on a year-by-year basis. In short, the plan should be a building block that culminates in a graduate who has the necessary skills to pursue further education or technical training and if he or she elects, to immediately enter the work force.

The plan must also address the physical, motivational, character and citizenship skills training as well. You can have world-class facilities, teachers, and training programs and all will be for naught if you cannot motivate a student to learn and behave. Discipline is an essential ingredient in a successful education program. I for one feel that the title of teacher is a misnomer as successful teachers are really motivators who inspire their students to learn by being caring, creative, and meeting their special needs.

It is essential that a successful education plan include both positive and negative motivators that reward positive behaviors and punish negative behaviors by having in-school suspension facilities, Saturday and summer school for those who fail to perform to the level of their capabilities or who are disciplinary problems that impede the classroom learning of others.

The plan should recognize that not all students are capable of pursuing higher education or training and there are others who wish to immediately enter the work force upon graduation. This requires planning for cross training in a technical and vocational environment such as the community college or trade union apprentice programs.

In short, the school district is doing a great job in educating the highly motivated college-bound students, but is failing to provide all the rest with the requisite skills essential for higher education and training or job skills for those entering the job market.

I believe a good yardstick to measure how well the educational mission is being accomplished is to survey all state institutions of higher learning and local employers as to how well county graduates are performing. Again, I would bet that many graduates are applying for college and technical training that do not have the requisite skills and must be given remedial training in order to qualify. For example, large numbers of college graduates need five years to complete a four-year degree program as they must take a series of non-credit remedial courses to qualify for regular college credit courses.

It is time to realize that not all parents have the best interest of their children in mind, but rather make excuses for their lack of motivation and behavior. Rather than giving in to this highly vocal group of dysfunctional individuals the school board should only consider their primary mission of providing students with a quality education. They can do this by setting and enforcing high standards of academic and behavioral standards. Students will rise and perform to the level of expectations. It is obvious we have set the bar far too low. To make matters worse, we fail to enforce the minimum standards and provide social promotions for those students who are unworthy.

The school board should realize they have a responsibility to our youth to give them the type of education that will prepare them to take their rightful place in society and be useful and productive citizens. The board should not be afraid of parent lawsuits or complaints but rather focus on fulfilling their responsibility to provide a quality education to all students despite the lack of cooperation and support of many of the parents.

Our youth are our future and we owe them a quality education and we should give the taxpayers the assurance that their funding is not being wasted or abused.

Jack Heller is a resident of Lakeside.