Capellen stays on association board as past president

Havre school board Vice President Harvey Capellen is stepping down from a top school board association's presidency to serve as the immediate past president.

Capellan passed the gavel to incoming Montana School Board Association President Carole Jones at the MTSBA Annual Membership Meeting, the association said in a press release.

Capellen was first elected to the Havre Board in 2009 and elected vice chair in 2012. He was elected to the MTSBA Board of Directors in 2010.

Capellen is a graduate of Cody High School in Cody, Wyoming. He holds an associate degree in accounting from Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyoming, and earned a Bachelor of Science in professional accountancy (masters) cum laude from Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.

He serves as the controller for CHS Big Sky, a division of CHS, Inc.

Capellen is the fifth of six children and said he believes that having three brothers and two sisters helped him gain a great appreciation for public education.

Capellen's wife, Marianne, has a son who is stationed with his wife and two daughters in Japan. The Capellen's son, Houston, is a 2014 graduate of Havre High School.

The Montana School Boards Association elected its new officers at the Montana Conference of Education Leadership Oct. 21 in Billings. MTSBA Director Carole Jones, Conrad school board trustee and vice chair, will serve as president of MTSBA. Ann Wake, Missoula schools trustee and vice chair, was elected president elect, and Rick Cummings, Cascade schools trustee and board chair, was elected vice president.

MTSBA is a private, non-profit organization governed by a twenty-one member board of directors comprising elected trustees from across Montana representing eleven geographical regions, seven AA Districts, a representative of the Indian School Board Caucus, and National School Board Association representatives.