School district 6 election: Kyle Rosas

Kyle Rosas is a pastor at the new Gateway Baptist church in Columbia Falls. He moved here about a year and a half ago from Memphis, Tennessee.

He said he’s running for the School District 6 Board because education is important to the country.

“I believe education is one of the cornerstones of a democratic republic,” he said.

Rosas, 28, came to Columbia falls with his, wife, Marisa, to start the church through a program with East Haven Baptist Church in Kalispell.

He has a bachelor’s of arts in biblical studies from Blue Mountain College in Mississippi and a master’s of divinity in Missiology and Intercultural Studies Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary. He has his wife have an infant daughter.

In addition to the church, he is a member of the North Valley Search and Rescue and volunteers with the Columbia Falls High School wrestling team. While in Memphis, he started an after school program for Balmoral Ridgeway Elementary School to help inner-city kids grow in their education.

On the subject of possible expansion of the elementary schools in Columbia Falls, he said he wanted to do what’s best for the community without over extending the district finances.

“Let’s do what’s best, but be financially responsible,” he said.

He said he’d like to see school policies that encourage free thinking among students.

He said he was a bit worried that a recent student walk out to memorialize the students shot in Florida was done through political motivation of students.

“A lot of kids walked out because they got 15 minutes free from school,” he said.

Though he said students should have the right to have a memorial or to have a gun rally, as some students did.

“They should have the right to do either one,” he said.

Though he said it probably would have been better done after school.

“The kids that really wanted to be there would have been there,” he said.

On arming teachers, he said the Second Amendment was a right, not a privilege, though he didn’t believe in arming every teacher and those that are armed should have to go through extensive training.

“Guns aren’t the problem,” he said. “People are the problem.”

He said measures like securing doors and entrances was a good first step.

As pastor, Rosas said students should be allowed to pray as a freedom of speech. Having said that, it shouldn’t be mandatory.

“Do I want to encourage prayer? Absolutely,” he said. “But I don’t expect people who don’t follow Jesus to pray to Jesus.”