School board OK's raise for Carlson; sends choir to Seattle

Correction: The print version of this story incorrectly identified the person behind the anti-bully program at Sunnyside Elementary.

The Havre Public School Board met Tuesday to give Superintendent Andy Carlson a pay raise, allow two more buses to be added to the district’s fleet and allow students to travel to Seattle.

Six choir students will go to Seattle for the American Choral Director’s Association All-Northwest Choral Convention after the board voted in favor of the trip. The trip will be paid for by the students themselves through their fundraisers. The six students were specifically selected to attend the convention. Last year, only three students were selected.

Director of Grounds and Transportation Jim Donovan was allowed by the board to seeks bids for two new buses for the upcoming 2014-15 school year.

Carlson was given a raise in his new three-year contract the board voted to approve.

Carlson received no change in salary in his previous three-year contract. In this contract, he will receive a pay raise of 2 percent the first year and then a 1 percent raise in each of the final two years.

The director of Pine Cove Consulting, the business that works with the school district on technology, update the board on computer matters.

The director said the Havre district was one of the biggest networks in the state and that special attention needs to be given to its servers because of this. He spoke some of the problems the district might face with lack of bandwidth and the amount of wireless Internet needed to sustain the 1,000 or so iPads the school system uses.

Josh Preiss, principal of Sunnyside Intermediate School, said in his report that the anti-bullying program has seen success among the student with raising awareness and pushing for the “Stop, Walk and Talk” technique to become implemented in the way students handle bullying situations.

The person behind the anti-bullying program is Kelsey Ward, a fourth-grade teacher at Sunnyside.

The “Stop, Walk and Talk” technique entails a three-tier solution to bullying. The child must first ask the bully to stop, walk away if he or she does not and then talk to an adult if the bullying continues.