Polson School District welcomes new superintendent By Kristi Niemeyer for the Valley Journal
“How do you not fall in love with Polson, Montana?” asks Mike Cutler, the community’s new school superintendent. “To me, it’s one of those jobs, those school districts, those communities – no other can compete.” Cutler was hired in February to replace interim superintendent Tom DiGiallonardo, who returns to his post as curriculum director. Cutler and his wife, Jody, bought a house in Polson in April, and Cutler took the helm July 1. A storied college football player and high school coach, he also has a 21-year career as an administrator, serving 17 years as head of the Philipsburg School District, and the remainder as high school principal in Townsend (he also taught in Denton). Cutler retired from his job in Philipsburg in 2019. “When you’re a small town school superintendent you become everything to everybody, meaning I was the superintendent, principal, athletic director, back-up bus driver and sometimes served lunches,” he said. “I burnt out. I realized I no longer had the attitude that was needed to be an effective leader so I backed out.” He did continue coaching the Flint Creek
KRISTI NIEMEYER PHOTO
Polson School District Superintendent Mike Cutler
Titans, an athletic co-op he helped form between Philipsburg and Drummond, through 2020, when the Titans claimed their third state title for eight-man football. During the interim, while his son, Kade, finished high school, he started a consulting business, and was hired by school districts to conduct Title IV investigations into allegations of sex discrimination, especially in athletic programs. He also mentored young superintendents in rural districts. With Kade enrolled in his freshman year in engineering at Montana State University and his daughter, Sydney, working as a vet tech in Philipsburg, Cutler was ready to return to school administration. “I knew I’d be back,” he said. “I also knew it would not be a small
school where I was everything to everybody.” Polson fits that bill.
“There’re good people here to do things I was responsible for in a smaller district,” he says. “Obviously, the buck stops with me, but I’m one of those people – with my coaching background and all of that – it’s about a team and I’m here to support the team that’s already here.” Although Cutler is adamant that his coaching days are behind him, he sees corollaries between running a school district and a football team. “Any system, school or team is as successful as the leadership at the top,” he says. “I’m the last one to tell you I’m an expert
Valley Journal
at every part of education. But knowing I don’t know everything makes me a good listener and follower when need be.” Cutler steps into his role in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and contentious debate about how best to keep kids and staff safe. “In my mind COVID is never going away,” he said. “With new strains coming up, this is just something that’s going to continue and we have to get some kind of control over it.” His recommendation to the school board is to return to in-person learning and discontinue
remote learning, with options available for students who are quarantined. Teachers worked “triple time” last year, between classroom teaching and trying to educate “remote learners,” kids who weren’t attending school due to the pandemic. “I think our teachers were asked and went above and beyond their job description last year,” he says. “I’m not in favor of doing that again.” Instead, he’s advocating flexibility that allows teachers to help kids who are quarantined via Google Classroom or “the see page 16
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