School board election: Russell Silas

Russell Silas (challenger)

Background: Silas, 86, grew up in Kalispell. He said his mother was 4-feet 2 inches and weighed 95 pounds when he was born. Silas weighed 13 pounds, 5 ounces as a baby.

“I had to walk home,” after he was delivered, he joked. He graduated from Montana State with a degree in mechanical engineering and retired as a computer programmer back when the latest operating system was Windows 3, he said. He also worked in construction and had an RV park at one time. He has four grown children and currently lives in rural Columbia Falls.

The $84.4 million high school remodel bond was rejected by voters, but the school still needs upgrades. What improvements would you like to see and what do you think is an appropriate budget that will pass muster with voters?

 “I don’t know enough about it to give you an answer,” he said in an-in person interview.

Having said that, he said that the estimated cost of $75.9 million was probably a reasonable cost for a remodel.

“Can we afford it?” he asked. “Who knows.”

High school enrollment is down this year and kindergarten enrollment has been down the past couple of years. What can the district do to encourage families to send their children to school and what can be done to encourage those that are here to stay?

“Education is teaching to the SAT instead of teaching responsibility, morality and accountability,” he said. He said just recently he saw a couple of kids on TV news back east who were in the back of a police car smiling after they were wanted for plotting to kill  fellow students.

He said schools should be teaching responsibility and accountability, though he also conceded parents need to be involved as well.

He recalled when he was a teen he wanted to join 4-H. His farther ran a sawmill at the time and said he should raise chickens. They built a facility the size of a basketball court, he said and raised thousands of birds. It was Silas’s responsibility to raise 3,300 chicks to adulthood and then slaughter them as well for sale at local grocery stores.

Talk a little bit about your educational philosophy and what you see are the top needs of the students and staff in the coming years.

“We need to teach respect and self-worth,” he said. He also said they needed to teach about the hazards of drugs, becoming self-sufficient and being proud of who they are. He also wanted to know how Columbia Falls students stack up in standardized tests like the SAT compared to other districts. He also wanted to know if they start the school day with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance.

He also said being taught about how to participate in local, state and federal governments was important for students.

Silas is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.