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About The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana) 1964-current | View This Issue
The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana), 30 Sept. 1982, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheHellgateLance/1982-09-30/ed-1/seq-16/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
-: Thursday, Septe1J1ber 30, 1982 - ~ (:-i-6_n_e_w_s ____ i._d_rt_C __ E_ . ....,} Kra,t's philosophy: \Every decision ought to be made in terms of students\ By Andy Gary Managing Editor Opening da y at Hellgate a t emporar y cashier was on dut y in one of the lunch lines . The cashier a lso happened to be Mis - soula County High School ' s new superintendent , Dr . Dennis Kraft. Kraft ' s appearance at the school is part of what he said is his philosophy concerning his new job . \ The biggest goal, I think, is I want to be visible to the stu- dents . I want to have them feel c omfortable to tell' me some of - their problems .\ The 44-year-old Kraft . in an in- terview with the Lance , said , \ what I hope to be able to do is to talk and get a sense of the di- rection that people want to go .\ Kraft replaces 12-year veteran George Zellick who retired as MCHS ' s superintendent June 30 . Kraft said he sees himself as said Kraft. \ The job I guess I see myself doing . is acting like more of a catalyst , promoting ideas, maybe helping people place priorities . He said his job is to advise the MCHS Board of Trustees based on his \ experience , research and background \ and that they are the ones who make final deci- sions for MCHS . Dakota , which is also his home- town . For the past nine years , Kraft has been superintendent of public schools in Aberdeen . Kraft said he left Aberdeen and accepted the MCHS superin- tendent job because it is some- thing new for him and is a chal- lenge . and 14 are included at the voca- tional - technical center ) as well as school District 1 ( public grade schools which feed to MCHS ) and 12 other district feeders. \ That presents a challenge to me . Can we , not necessarily unify them , but is there a way that all these people can gel for a good program for the stu- dents ,\ he said . \ It ' s a unique program and it has some real possibilities .\ \I got lost going between the Edgewater and Big Sky High . · the other day . \ Dennis Kraft \ I was in a district for nine years and things were going very well in that particular district and frankly , I was getting a bit bored .\ He said he did not leave Aber- deen out of \ dissatisfaction \ with the community or people and stressed that he \ didn ' t get fired .\ \Students always come first \ is Kraft's philosophy . He de - scribes it as a \ non-contestable , non-negotiable , non-everything \ policy . more of a catalyst \rather than a promoter of ideas . It isn ' t so im - portant what I personally think , but how can you gel people into a program to make it go .\ But he added , \ Obviously , I'm going to hav e some input in there too .\ \ Mo s t people see the superin- tendent a s a dictator who walks around a nd say s ' this is what we ' re d oi ng tomcrrow ' and ev - er y bod y go e s in that direction ,·· \ I don ' t make policy . Your teachers don ' t make policy . We give imput. The board makes the policy and I carry it out. \ The new superintendent has a doctorate in educational admin- istration from the University of Wyoming and has had 22 years of experience in education . He has taught in seven different fields of education and was pro- fessor of education at Northern State College in Aberdeen , South \ It was getting a little bit old for me and change has always been a major part of my life. \ Kraft said. \ The MCHS system is different. I've been the K-12 ( kindergarten through 12th grade ) unified district route be- fore . Just a change of location was not sufficient. \ He said the MCHS system con - sists of grades 9-14 ( grades 13 \ Every decision ought to be made in terms of students ,\ he said, \ that does not mean , how- ever , that we go out and have a democratic vote on what the stu - dents want to do next week. ( What if they s ay they don ' t want school ?) That's not in the best interest of the students .\ The superintendent said that although it ma y s eem different to students and faculty to eat Get Your Clothes for Homecoming Lori Canham and Lorri Walden are all dressed for the fall in sleek leather . jackets. Both are decked out in classy cords, while Lorri dares to be different with a skirt. r Mon.-Fri. 1 0-9; Sat. 1 0-6; Sun. 12-5 Southgate Mall · lunch with him or have him at - tend some classes , it is not un - common on his part . \ It is not be unusual for me to walk in the back of a classroom , sit down , wave at the instructor to let them know I'm in the room and sit and watch . That ' s what I do .\ Kraft and his family have been in Missoula a little less than three months . \ I'm still very new to the area ,\ he said , \ and I got lost going between the Edge- water and Big Sky High the other day .\ He said he is still \ observing \ the schools to learn more about them . \ You don ' t bring the new kid in town in and and say ' what do we need?' What the new kid should do is go out and sa y ' what do you need? \' Kraft said he has met with school administrators , faculty a nd students and is optomistic about his job and the school year . \ It really isn ' t important what I've done ,\ he s aid , \ it's what I do next. \
