Superintendent Susie Hedalen Leading To Win Opi Position
Author: MT43 News Staff Reporter
Townsend School Superintendent Susie Hedalen,40, is the apparent winner for the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) Superintendent position. The Montana Secretary of State’s office showed Republican Hedalen ahead of her opponent, Missoula legislator and Democrat Shannon O’Brien,55, by 18%Tuesday night.
The two veteran public school educators forged a race based on who had more experience in running the office which serves more than 400 public schools and 148,500 students across Montana.
This was Hedalen’s first bid for public office. She built her campaign on her 20-year career working as a teacher or administrator in many of Montana’s rural schools. She had worked as Deputy Superintendent for OPI and currently sits on the Montana Board of Public Education. Her challenge will be to rein in the poor choices made during Superintendent Elsi Arntzen’s administration without further disrupting the current staff. She will deal with current low salaries for new teachers, which hurts schools trying to attract good educators and the vagaries of the 4-day school week in Montana schools. With her experience in working in the office, she feels she can make a difference quickly. “I know the work. I know the job and I can hit the ground running,” she said.
O’Brien who had little experience teaching in Montana schools, touted her experience working across the aisles in the State Legislature to obtain funding for education through her work on the education and finance committees. She is very familiar with the work to overhaul the complicated calculation of the Average Number of Pupils Belonging, which determines funding based on attendance and enrollment. This issue is particularly interesting to Broadwater County taxpayers since many county students attend schools in East Helena and Three Forks districts.
O’Brien who is in her second legislative session as representative from Missoula’s Senate District 46, said in a Montana Free Press interview she had planned to obtain funds for higher wages for teachers and for their retirement. Her plan was to emphasize early childhood education and to return the office to be a “respected agency that is responsive to school administrators, teachers and parents.”
Montana Free Press Source
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Image 1 Caption: Superintendent Susie Hedalen
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Image 2 Caption: Missoula Legislator Shannon O'Brien
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