Swan River School holds trustee election
Swan River School District has two trustee positions open with three-year terms.
Candidates are Marcus Burleson, Linda Stewart, Josh Turner and Curtis Wisman.
The election is May 7.
The district office is located at 1205 Swan Highway, Bigfork. Call 837-4528 for more information.
The biographical information included was provided by candidates and edited for spelling, punctuation and format.
Marcus Burleson
Occupation: Assistant Director for an electrical curriculum organization.
Family: Wife Krystle, sons Leavan, 11, and Ridge, 7, and daughter Willa, 8.
Education: High school diploma, five-year trade school degree for construction electrician, five years of adult education with CET/Application-based training focus and now I teach technical courses in the summer at the University of Michigan to electrical instructors from all over the country at the National Training Institute.
Background: I have nine years as a full-time apprenticeship instructor for construction electrician, limited-energy and residential electrician. After that, I was hired as the training director for the local apprenticeship program. I ran that program until I became an assistant director for the national curriculum development company, where over 60,000 apprentices nationwide utilize our curriculum. I have been in this position for four years and I travel all over the country, training trainers to teach our curriculum. When I am not traveling training instructors, I am authoring curriculum and currently rewriting 46 of our most utilized courses. We are converting our curricula to a computer-mediated learning format, so I am taking the content and adding the “instructor” knowledge and information to the coursework. This push is to try and create more time in the classroom for hands-on, application-based training.
During my entire career, from instructor to training director to assistant director at the national level, I have worked for and been a part of committees governing apprenticeship/education. This is very similar to school boards. I have a lot of experience creating budgets for technical schools, being on the other end, and approving budgets as a fiduciary trustee of the board. Other services I have performed that will aid my ability as a member of the school board are three years serving on a homeowner association board where we had a total of 188 homes and a 250-acre development that we managed. I was a director on this board for two years and then shared the recording secretary position and the treasurer position on my way onto the board and when we left the homeowner association. I was also on the board of directors for the local apartment owner's association for a period of three years and recently resigned. This board was much like the other boards I served on and/or worked for in that we developed policies and budgets and educated our members. I was also a member of many technology school boards during my time as an instructor and training director of the apprenticeship program.
Why do you want to serve as a trustee? I believe with my background, I could be an asset to the school board. I have a lot of experience in this type of committee work and how non-profits operate. I ran a 501(c)(6) and also went through the process of converting the (c)(6) to a (c)(3), so that we became a full educational nonprofit company. With my background in education, I believe I could bring a lot of resources and ideas to the board and school, particularly in the technology and science areas. I have a fair amount of experience with grants, also. If that is an avenue the board would like to go, I could provide assistance with that, too. I am an outgoing individual with three kids at Swan River and would like to help out however I can.
What is one of the top issues facing the school district you want to serve and how would you work to address it? This is not necessarily an issue, but I do have a few years of grant writing and implementation experience that can always be an asset to the students and taxpayers. I currently have a grant team I work with, and we partner with a company to help us pursue grants for our nonprofit educational company. I could leverage these resources, and hopefully help get our school a number of grants for anything from maintenance needs to classroom resources.
Linda Stewart
Occupation: Retired.
Family: Bill Stewart, spouse.
Background: Previously served on Swan River School Board from 2020 to 2022. Currently serves on Swan River Community Hall board. Organization leader for Swan River 4-H for 42 years. Member of the Bigfork Piecemakers Quilt Guild.
Why do you want to serve as a trustee? My children all attended school here. I also worked in the kitchen at this school for 28 years. I feel it's important as a community member to be involved with the school. This school is a special school to me and I would be honored to serve once again on the board
What is one of the top issues facing the school district and how would you work to address it? I am not aware of any pressing issues and would like to help keep the good school communications between students, staff, parents and community.
Josh Turner
Occupation: General contractor at Tradewerks Construction.
Family: Wife Ashley and three kids, Porter, Stevie and Broden.
Education: Some college.
Background: I have some experience in missions work. I went to Cambodia with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) building latrines, teaching English and loving on the kids in the village we stayed in. I own a general construction company and love problem-solving and working with clients, employees and subcontractors, to come up with solutions that will drive a project to the end result that we’ve all been working towards.
Why do you want to serve as a trustee? I have two of my kids in Swan River (kindergarten and second grade), and eventually, my youngest will join in the fun. I see this as a way to safeguard what we have at Swan River. To help teach kids how to think, not what to think. To ensure that we have a school that focuses on teaching children the essentials and become passionate learners. To leave the political topics and chaos out of the classroom, so these children can focus on friendship and how to read and write, math skills and critical thinking. With our beautiful mountain and cow field backdrop, I want to be a part of keeping the kids safe.
What is one of the top issues facing the school district and how would you work to address it? If elected, I will first focus on getting to know the other trustees and everything that is currently in place. I want to make sure I have a good grasp on where things are at so that I can be a positive influence.
Curtis Wisman
Occupation: Retired fire department battalion chief.
Family: Wife Amy, daughter Emily and son Matthew.
Education: Attended community college for Fire Science, Paramedical Education, Chief Officer and leadership-related course studies.
Background: In my 30-plus-year career in the fire service (the latter portion being a battalion chief), I was responsible for the leadership and daily operation of six fire stations. Additionally, I was required to make decisions affecting monthly, quarterly and annual budgets as well as completing performance reviews. During my time in the fire service, I had many opportunities to be a member of various committees. I currently volunteer as a coach for youth sports, as well as assist in training for the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department. I believe the above experience will help me in my duties as a school board trustee.
Why do you want to serve as a trustee? As a school board trustee, I aspire to contribute to my community and serve in a way that can help parents, students and staff. Being an effective communicator and good listener will help me provide a voice for making educational and administrative decisions. I see myself as a conduit for the concerns and interests of all. I have a personal interest in being part of the school board, as my son is currently a student at Swan River School. My goal is to preserve and improve the quality of education within the school district.
What is one of the top issues facing the school district and how would you work to address it? I feel that the top issue facing the school district is the overall budget. The funding currently being provided by federal, state and county agencies is not keeping up with the cost to operate our school district. The lack of funding is affecting the needed facility upgrades and teacher wages. Overcoming these obstacles will be difficult but essential in creating an environment where students and teachers will thrive. A possible way of overcoming these funding shortfalls would be to apply for grants. Grants are a great way to increase funding without having to raise taxes or impose levies on the community. The state Legislature has recently passed House Bill 203 which may increase school district funding, by allowing state funds to follow a student to the school of their choice. A high number of Swan River students live out of the Swan River School district boundary. This future funding may ease our financial burden. My goal is to ensure fiscal responsibility while making sound policy decisions.
Josh Turner
Curtis Wisman