Basin Elementary school board chair Shannon Phillips plans to step down from the post in May, citing an increasingly full workload.
“A few months ago I accepted a new job position and it has taken more time and effort than I anticipated,” Phillips told The Monitor. “I feel like my not being able to devote my full time and attention to the school re-opening is a disservice to them.”
The longest-serving trustee, Phillips has been on the school board since 2020, following her military service, and board chair since 2021. Since Basin Elementary entered non-operational status in June, she has worked to keep the board and community volunteers focused on returning to operational status.
Phillips announced her decision at the school board’s March 10 meeting. “My one word response was, ‘Wow,’” said fellow board member Scott Brock. “I didn’t expect that.”
Phillips decided last May to run for another term as chair and won by acclamation, starting her new term in January. After her final meeting in early May, the board will begin its search for a new trustee to serve out her term, which runs through the end of 2028.
Once DeDe Rhodes replaces trustee Terry Heaton in May, Brock, who joined the board in 2024, will be the sole board member with more than a few weeks’ experience. With school clerk Britton Mann leaving last September and Superintendent Sarah Eyer departing at the end of the year, four of the school’s five top posts are set to change over a 16-month period.
If the board fails to quickly find and name a replacement for Phillips, it could carry on for a time with only two members. “It’s operated that way in the past for a while. You just need a quorum present” to hold a meeting and take votes, Brock said. “It’s not ideal, but it can be done.”
Continuing its efforts to reopen in September, the school board has prepared a list of questions and hopes to interview by next week two teacher candidates, one who lives in Butte and another in Jackson, MT. The next school board meeting is set for April 7.
The next month, Heaton will step down, new trustee Rhodes will be sworn-in, and Phillips will chair her final board meeting.
“I am grateful to have had the privilege of being a part of the Basin School Board for the past six years,” Phillips said in an email, adding that she felt encouraged about what was ahead. “Many people have worked tirelessly towards the goal of Basin School being operational.”
Last week, the school board submitted the required paperwork to reopen the school to the state Office of Public Instruction for preliminary review. “We’re doing it early to let them look it over and let us know everything’s correct and in order,” said Brock. “We’ve still got time.”
Basin Elementary’s deadline to submit its full application for reopening to OPI is June 1.
