The Big Sandy Public Schools K-12 School District #2 has two open Big Sandy Trustee positions. The deadline for filing is March 28, 2024. There will be two seats open for the position of district Trustee; both Kelly Rutledge’s and Anna Bold’s seats are up for election. At the time of printing, the Mountaineer did not know if they would be running again. The Big Sandy School encourages community members to run. All interested community members over 18 years of age, registered voters, and district residents are eligible to run for the Board of Trustees member position. Please pick up a Declaration of Intent and Oath of Candidacy For Trustee Candidates Form from the business office at the high school. The filing deadline to be included on the ballot is Thursday, March 28, 2024, at 4:00 pm. Any questions may be directed to District Clerk Mary Merrill via email at business@bigsandy.k12.mt.us or 406-378-2502. Business office hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 am -4:30 pm.

The following wording about trustees is from the Montana Code Annotated 2023 Title 20 Education Chapter 3. Elected Officials Part 3 School Districts Trustees.

“District Policy And Record Of Acts

20-3-323. District policy and record of acts. (1) The trustees of each district shall prescribe and enforce policies for the government of the district. In order to provide a comprehensive system of governing the district, the trustees shall:

(a) adopt the policies required by this title;

(b) adopt policies to implement or administer the requirements of the general law, this title, the policies of the board of public education, and the rules of the superintendent of public instruction; and

(c) adopt a grievance policy that provides for informal and formal resolutions of a complaint, informs a grievant about the grievance policy, provides a printed version of the grievance policy on request, and accepts for filing a formal complaint submitted within 30 days of the completion of an informal resolution.

(2) The trustees shall keep a full and permanent record of all adopted policies and all other acts of the trustees. Minutes of each regular and special board meeting shall include wording of motions, voting records of each trustee present, and all other pertinent information, including a detailed statement of all expenditures of money with the name of any person or business to whom payment is made and showing the service rendered or goods furnished. A written copy of the minutes shall be made available within 5 working days following the approval of the minutes by the board at a cost of no more than 15 cents a page to be paid by those who request such a copy. One free copy of the minutes shall be provided to the local press within 5 working days following the approval of the minutes by the board. The board shall approve the minutes of each special and regular meeting no later than 1 month following the meeting if it meets on a regular monthly basis. If a board does not regularly meet on a monthly basis, it shall approve the minutes of each special and regular meeting at the next regular or special meeting. The approval of the minutes of a prior meeting shall not occur more than 40 days after the meeting, except that no board shall be required to meet to approve the minutes of a meeting at which no substantive business was conducted.”