About the Gallatin Gateway School Board of Trustees
The Gallatin Gateway School District Board has a five-member board of trustees*, each with one vote. The superintendent serves as the board's chief adviser on educational matters and as the district's educational leader. The superintendent does not have voting rights. The Gallatin Gateway School board represents the people of the district as the legal body that establishes educational policies and sets goals and objectives for the district. These policies and goals are carried out by the superintendent and staff under the board’s direction.
Gallatin Gateway School Board member terms of office are three years and overlap to ensure continuity of board leadership. School board members donate their time, receiving no pay for their public service. They are accountable to you, the Gallatin Gateway School community, and to the state and federal governments.
Gallatin Gateway School Board member terms of office are three years and overlap to ensure continuity of board leadership. School board members donate their time, receiving no pay for their public service. They are accountable to you, the Gallatin Gateway School community, and to the state and federal governments.
*As a class 3 district, Gallatin Gateway School is required to have a three member Board of Trustees. At the school election on May 2003, the District chose to increase the Board to five members.
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School Board MembersTop of Page
DISCLOSURE: Please be advised that when you email individual trustees or the Board as a whole, such email communications are treated as public records, are required to be maintained by the District as an official public record, and are subject to further disclosure to members of the public. The only exception to public disclosure is when the contents of your email communication infringes on an individual’s right of privacy that clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.
Julie Fleury - Board Chair
Elected May 2017
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2023
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Elected May 2017
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2023
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Carissa Paulson - Board Vice Chair
Re-Elected by Acclamation May 2021
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2024
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Re-Elected by Acclamation May 2021
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2024
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Aaron Schwieterman - Trustee
Re-Elected by Acclamation May 2021
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2024
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Re-Elected by Acclamation May 2021
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2024
school-board@gallatingatewayschool.com
Mary Thurber - Trustee
Appointed July 2019
Three Year Term - Term ends May 2023
Tim Melton - Trustee
Elected by Acclamation - May 2022
Three-Year Term - Term ends May 2025
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The Role of the Board of Trustees:Top of Page
Citizen oversight of local government is the cornerstone of democracy in the United States. The role of the trustees who sit on locally elected school boards is to ensure that school districts are responsive to the values, beliefs and priorities of their communities. Boards fulfill this role by performing five major responsibilities. These are:
- Setting direction
- Establishing an effective and efficient structure
- Providing support
- Ensuring accountability
- Providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools
These five responsibilities represent core functions that are so fundamental to a school system’s accountability to the public that they can only be performed by an elected governing body. Authority is granted to the board as a whole, not each member individually. Therefore, board members fulfill these responsibilities by working together as a governance team with the superintendent to make decisions that will best serve all the students in the community.
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AS A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES, EACH MEMBER WILL STRIVE TO IMPROVE PUBLIC EDUCATION, AND TO THAT END EACH MEMBER WILL:Top of Page
- Attend all regularly scheduled Board meetings insofar as possible and become informed concerning the issues to be considered at those meetings;
- Recognize that he/she should endeavor to make policy decisions only after full discussion at public Board meetings;
- Make all decisions based on available facts and her/her independent judgment and refuse to surrender that judgment to individuals or special interest groups;
- Encourage the free expression of opinion by all Board members and seek systematic communications between the Board and students, staff, and all elements of the community;
- Work with other Board members to establish effective Board policies and to delegate authority for administration to the Superintendent;
- Recognize and respect the responsibilities that properly are delegated to the Superintendent;
- Communicate to the Superintendent expression of public reaction to Board policies, school programs, or staff;
- Inform his/herself about current educational issues, by individual study and through participation in programs providing needed information, such as those sponsored by the Montana and National School Boards Associations;
- Support the employment of those persons best qualified to serve as school staff and insist on regular and impartial evaluation of staff;
- Avoid being placed in a position of conflict of interest and refrain from using his/her Board position for personal or partisan gain;
- Avoid compromising the Board or administration by inappropriate individual action or comments and respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged under applicable law;
- Remember always that his/her first and greatest concern must be the educational welfare of students attending Gallatin Gateway School.