Hobbs, one of 15 parents who turned to the judicial system in an effort to halt reconfiguration of Polson's two grade schools, replaces Kim Maloney, who resigned after her husband accepted a job in Washington state.
Hobbs was a vocal opponent last June - not necessarily of reconfiguration, he said at the time, but of the way the board went about implementing it - at one point saying, “The board has lost my trust.”
Then, after a lengthy meeting that attracted 200 people and public comment that by Hobbs' estimation ran 8-to-1 against the change, the board voted unanimously to reconfigure the schools.
The parents received a temporary injunction halting the reconfiguration, but later dropped the suit.
It's the second time Hobbs has applied to fill a vacancy on the board since reconfiguration became a hot-button issue, and he said he wasn't surprised at the appointment, given how his first interview went.
At that time, the board named Joe Hovenkotter to replace Tracy Bauer, who had resigned, but Hobbs said he detected no ill will toward him on the part of board members during the interview process.
“They received me very professionally and gracefully,” he said Friday. “I thought that interview went well, the conversation was positive, and they were gracious and understanding. Even after they appointed Joe and explained their reasons to me, I could tell they were open-minded to me being on the board.”
Both Hovenkotter and Hobbs will have to run for their seats next May if they want to finish out the terms of the people they are replacing.
The reconfiguration went ahead this fall, when Cherry Valley became home to the district's pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade classes, and Linderman took in the second- through fourth-graders. Both had housed identical grade levels since 1993.
Hobbs' beef with the board at the time, he said, was that he and other parents felt blindsided by the board's action, and weren't given enough information to even form an opinion on the change.
Hobbs, director of engineering at Jore Corp., has three children, ages 8, 6 and 4. He said he hadn't followed the school board much until the reconfiguration issue arose, but told board members at his first interview, “If you are going to give criticism and advice, you'd better be ready to chip in and help.”
“I'm just trying to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can,” he said, “so I can contribute.”
Oddly enough, one of the board's first orders of business with Hobbs as a member will be to fill yet another vacant seat. Trustee Mark Russell, a prosecuting attorney in the Lake County Attorney's Office, has resigned both his job and his seat on the board because he has accepted a job with the Missoula law firm that represents the Polson School District.
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.
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