Whitefish School District Rocks 2023
Last year, the Whitefish Community came together to honor the educators, administrators, and staff at the Whitefish School District who kept our students safe and educated during the COVID pandemic. This event was held at the O’Shaughnessy Center and featured a fantastic performance from The MAC Band.
Through our sponsors’ tremendous generosity, we raised $133,040, with expenses of $19,676, allowing the Whitefish Education Foundation to donate $113,364 to the Whitefish School District.
This money was allocated to staff development, student activities, and enrichment that could not be funded from the school district budget. Here are some examples of what the event supported:
Students
- Montana History Trip for 8th-grade students (Offsetting cost and supplementing meals)
- DECA club travel for WHS
- Speech and Debate team travel for WHS
- Choir/Orchestra/Band travel for WHS
- Day-long ski trips for grades 3-6 to Big Mountain
- The University of Montana Thespian Conference
- Hooked on Fishing 4th-grade field trip
Staff
- Seven staff members attended the Big Sky Literacy Conference in Big Sky, MT, on September 8-11
- Darren Schlepp, an independent consultant, was hired to train our K-6 teachers on The Science of Reading
- Gifted and Talented professional development for interested teachers was provided with the NW Education Coop for the 2022-23 school year
- National School Psychologist Conference in Denver, CO, February 6-9 for three WHS staff
- MT AGATE membership fees and annual conference in Great Falls March 3-4 for two gifted and talented teachers
- Project Based Learning training in Napa Valley, CA, June 26-29 for six WHS staff
- State Indian Ed Conference in Helena March 17-18 for three staff
- National Math, Science, and Literacy Conferences for middle school teachers in the summer of 2023
- High Ropes Challenge Course training for one staff member, Estes Park, CO
In addition to these activities, the event itself was an excellent opportunity for community members, parents and Whitefish School District employees to come together and celebrate the end of another successful school year.
When we help our educators get training and enrich our student’s extracurricular and field trip opportunities, we improve our school district through increased staff retention and the sense of possibility that our students experience.
We are aiming to make Whitefish School Rock an annual appreciation event with two essential and complementary goals – First, a chance for the Whitefish community to say thank you for the hard work of the team at Whitefish Schools, and second, a fundraising opportunity to keep these types of staff and student activities funded into the next school year.
