School board election profile: Nick Polumbus

Nick Polumbus wants to make sure curriculum in the schools is the best it can be and that it will prepare students for the future. It’s one of the main reasons he is running for a spot on the Whitefish School Board.

“There’s a lot of curriculum changes happening and I’m excited about those changes,” he said. “Not just Whitefish, but generally speaking our society needs to see that happen. I’m interested in curriculum and doing what I can, as a parent and board trustee, to push those changes forward.”

He said teaching should to be about focusing on the broad spectrum of students who learn in different ways and are at varied skill levels.

Polumbus and his family moved to Whitefish in the spring of 2007 when he began working for Whitefish Mountain Resort as Director of Marketing and Sales. He previously worked at a ski resort in Vermont and grew up in Denver.

Polumbus said he was prompted to run for the school board because of his interest in education and being involved in his own children’s learning. He has two boys in Muldown Elementary and a third that will be a kindergartner at the school next year.

“One regret I have in life is that I didn’t become a teacher,” he said. “Education is an interesting topic to me. I feel like I’ve got the energy and passion to help.”

He pointed to the changes in curriculum as important.

To prepare for the changes, the district has sent a number of teachers to training conferences and some have been working together in professional development groups inside the schools. Polumbus commends the work the district has already done to train teachers.

“I feel like the district is at a tipping point,” he said. “I’m pleased with the number of teachers that have been to training and the buy-in from the administration. We haven’t really taken the big first step yet — a lot of work has been done on it — but I get the sense that we’re getting ready to take that first step toward full implementation.”

However, Polumbus is wary of the Common Core Standards. By 2014-15, the state expects districts to fully implement the standards that set the learning goals for students.

He said he’s not a fan of standardized testing and by extension standardized curriculm, which he says runs counter of the idea that students should be encouraged to think critically. Standardization, he said, can discourage a teacher from really challenging students based on individual needs.

“I do understand the importance of having some measurable way to compare students across the country, and of course I agree with ideas in place to improve our students’ academic performance,” he said. “It’s just that I think our teachers, in the right environment, are in the best position to make those decisions on a regular basis.”

The high school is in the beginning stages of a $19 million project to remodel the school building. Polumbus said the project needs to proceed carefully because there is only one shot to construct the building and the budget is tight.

“The community is watching that project,” he said. “We can’t afford to screw it up, whether it’s in the design or financially. Everything has to be looked at carefully.”

A downturn in enrollment numbers needs to be part of a larger community conversation, he said. The city needs to be involved in figuring out ways to ensure there are jobs in Whitefish.

“We could be losing some students to Glacier High, but are there other factors at play?” he asked. “Are families leaving Whitefish because of jobs and affordability? If kids aren’t leaving because of the school building, we need to know why we’re losing students and what we can do to fix that. We need to make sure we have well-paying, meaningful jobs.”

On managing the school district budget, Polumbus points to his professional career in the ski industry as giving him the background to deal with the budget. He said Whitefish Mountain Resort is different from other ski resorts in that it works to make sure spending is done carefully.

“There’s a culture of smart spending,” he said. “It’s a philosophy of not spending unless we need it. I think I can bring a mindset that if we don’t need it then we’re not going to spend it.”

Polumbus said decisions need to be based on what is the best for education.

“Our teachers are a strength of our district. I just want to see those high-achieving teachers perform in a system better designed for preparing our kids for the communication age, instead of the industrial one.”