“undermined the role and responsibilities” ….

“undermined the role and responsibilities” of locally elected school officials.

“Your conduct destabilizes the credibility of our local schools, the same ones you are elected to represent and help and on whose behalf you are supposed to advocate,” the superintendents wrote.

The statements in the letter put a tighter focus on several broad concerns expressed in public comment to the Board of Education last month on behalf of the Montana Public Education Center, a coalition of six major education associations in the state. Dennis Parman, executive director of the Montana Rural Education Association, testified to the board that local school employees across the state have experienced increasing difficulty getting adequate and timely assistance from OPI due to turnover at the agency. Kirk Miller, executive director of the School Administrators of Montana, spoke to the negative impacts that political polarization is having on local school officials, adding that “some political leaders are contributing to this trend.” Miller and Parman later repeated their statements during public comment at a separate meeting of the State Board of Education.

The letter sent to Arntzen Tuesday concluded by stating that Upham and the other superintendents “do not place blame for these problems at the feet of the dedicated staff at OPI,” but rather on Arntzen. They closed with a request that Arntzen “put your efforts towards restoring OPI instead of throwing rocks at local school districts.”

Speaking with MTFP by phone, Upham explained that the reason for listing the concerns of the superintendents in such detail was to provide Arntzen with a specific set of actions she could take in response. Asked if the letter was related to Miller and Parman’s recent public statements, Upham said he was aware the issues are similar, but that the letter was fueled entirely by what he and other superintendents have experienced firsthand.

“We’re living these concerns,” he said.