The changing of the guard at the School District 6 superintendent’s office was well in evidence recently as Steve Bradshaw introduced himself to local business people at the Columbia Falls Area Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting.

“I’m passionate about education, and I’ll take anyone on in support of education,” the new superintendent said in his straight-shooting, off-the-cuff speech, punctuated by occasional apologies.

Bradshaw’s talk followed introductions of new teachers and staff in Columbia Falls schools, including Kathi Yanamura, Glacier Gateway Elementary School’s new principal, who also came to Columbia Falls from Sitka, Alaska.

“The school board in Sitka didn’t mind so much when I said I was leaving for Montana,” Bradshaw said. “But when they found out Kathi was also leaving, well, that was a different matter.”

Bradshaw’s outspoken views on education and community developed through his 38-year career in education. 

He started out in Hardin, a “tough place” surrounded by the Crow Reservation, where he coached boys basketball. His next job was in Metlakatla, Alaska, another Native American community, located on Annette Island on the U.S.-Canada border, where he coached girls basketball.

Bradshaw moved his family to Red Lodge so his children could be near their grandparents, before heading back north to Sitka, where he served 16 years as principal and superintendent.

“Sitka’s a lot like Columbia Falls — without the sunshine,” he said.

Bradshaw said he loved Sitka and admired the school board there for supporting education and making the right decisions on tough issues.

“I decided to come here because the school board here reminded me of Sitka’s, and because of the same strong community,” he said.

Columbia Falls was fortunate to have Michael Nicosia serve as school superintendent for 19 years, Bradshaw said, a point he really came to appreciate while going through the school budget process this year.

“I’m amazed at Michael Nicosia’s ability to keep balancing the budgets each year,” Bradshaw said. “I’ve seen tight budgets, but what he did was magical.”

About half the new teachers introduced at the Chamber luncheon are products of the Columbia Falls school system, as are many throughout the school district, Bradshaw noted.

“That says something about the school system here,” he said.

With nearly four decades in education behind him, Bradshaw said public schools are now entering “scary times.”

“There are lots of opinions, and lots of people want to change things around,” he said. “The most important thing in education is the relationship between teachers and students — it’s more important than buildings and equipment.”

Schools should be controlled by local school boards, he said, and while he was OK with charter schools under local control using taxpayer dollars, he was adamantly opposed to using tax money for private schools with outside control.

Looking ahead, Bradshaw said Nicosia and the school board had done a good job in protecting Columbia Falls schools, balancing budgets while making quality hires. He said he expects to see more budget difficulties ahead, but the district is in a strong enough position to weather small cuts while making improvements.

“We still have to compete with Flathead and Glacier high schools,” he said, “and parents and students can always vote with their feet.”

Calling the No Child Left Behind act one of the “greatest mistakes ever made in public education,” Bradshaw called for less emphasis on “regurgitation of facts” and more focus on teaching students how to define a problem and then solve it.

In the big picture, Bradshaw said he was worried about a society where 1 percent of the people own 99 percent of the wealth.

“Something needs to change,” he said, noting that democracy depends on public education and respect between people.

“Fifty percent of the people in Sitka were white, the rest were minorities,” Bradshaw said, looking around the room. “I see here we’re mostly white, but that’s going to change in the future. We’ll all need to get along with each other.”