School District 6 Board Race: Barb Riley

Editor’s note: There are five candidates running for three seats on the School District 6 Board of Trustees this year. Barb Riley and Keri Hill are incumbents. Incumbent Dean Chisholm opted not to run for re-election. The following are their answers to e-mailed questions by the Hungry Horse News. Ballots were mailed out Monday.

Tell us about yourself (occupation/education/background):

I was born in Whitefish, raised in Eureka, graduating from Lincoln County High School. I am a real estate broker with PureWest Real Estate in Columbia Falls. I attended the University of Montana for 2.5 years, focusing on Business Administration-Accounting/Finance. I have been working in the housing/real estate industry for 36 years. I also work with small businesses with accounting/consulting services. My husband, Russ and I have been together for nearly 41 years, and we have two daughters, Keyna and Terin, both graduates from Columbia Falls High School; as well as two grandchildren and several grand puppies. I enjoy puzzles, gardening, golfing, relaxing at the lake, watching wildlife and socializing with friends. I am also active in other community service work with food drives for our food banks, raising funds for disadvantaged families for Christmas, and working with Montana Log Jam to support timber industry families impacted by death or critical accident expenses.

Do you have children attending School District 6?

Our girls are graduates of CFHS, and we currently have an 8-year-old grandson attending Ruder Elementary.

Why are you running for the School District 6 board?

I have a passion to continue to find ways to provide a quality education to kids so that they can hit the ground running after high school, no matter what direction they choose. As a business owner, I know how critical is it to have an employment base to support quality service. Additionally, I have always been conscientious of our local taxpayers’ ability to pay when it comes to balancing household needs versus support of our schools. I want to continue my efforts, on behalf of our community, to keep our schools moving forward.

Are there any changes you’d like to see in the curriculum?

I’m not certain if there are any specific changes to the resources we use, but I would like to see more of an emphasis on civics education throughout the grade levels. I know there is a strand of this in the content standards but feel this is essential in growing our young people to be responsible citizens that participate in a democratic society. I would like to continue the work toward proficiency-based learning, meeting each child where they are when they come to us, and growing their knowledge as far as we can take them.

What are your greatest assets?

My greatest assets are my passion for kids, my knowledge & expertise, and the continual learning that I personally invest in to ensure I am an informed board member that fully participates in discussion and decisions that come before the local school board. There is more to being an effective school board member than showing up at regular meetings each month, or attendance at work sessions. There are

numerous areas of school board governance that each board member should be trained in. I know that what happens in the local board room is impacted by state and federal decisions. It is imperative that board members stay up to date with the issues that face schools...specifically paying attention to the local school district, and potential impacts of the issues. Early in my tenure with District 6, after dealing with significant budget constraints, it became clear that having a voice at the state and federal level was important. I quickly became active in state-wide trustee training, which led to my being elected to the MT School Board Association board of directors in 2005, still serving to date. I served in leadership as president twice. From 2011-2017, I served as a board member of the National School Boards Association. In 2021, as part of Montana’s leadership delegation, we became a founding member of the Consortium of State School Boards Associations, which offers further knowledge & training in K-12 public education work at the federal level. I served as a board member to the MT Schools Unemployment Insurance Group for eight years, including two of those years as president.

With the housing crunch in Columbia Falls, is there anything the district can do to make it easier for teachers to find housing?

Supply & demand have created a very difficult situation with the affordability of rentals or homes. SD 6 was able to negotiate ‘teacher housing’ option in the sale of the old Jr High to Ruis Holdings, but the renovations to transition the building to housing will take years, not months, to complete. New housing options that have been presented through city/county planning have met with significant opposition, mostly based on location, but also based on a local communities’ perspective that they don’t want growth/changes to their small town. Unfortunately, people are moving here, which means what we see today will change. I believe SD 6 needs to be part of the conversations in the planning process to help the public and policy makers understand the needs we are facing. We have fought for flexibility with legislation to help with recruitment and retention of teachers, including possible loan forgiveness efforts. SD 6 has always focused on maintaining a competitive position with compensation and benefits. In the short-term, networks of communications have been working behind the scenes to identify options for new staff that want to come to SD 6.