Cayuse Prairie School Primed for New Top Administrator
Christy Bortz, who has worked for the past nine years as an instructional coach in Kalispell’s Hedges Elementary School, hopes to spend her first year at the rural east-side district "listening well in order to lead well"
By Mariah Thomas
Christy Bortz, a veteran educator and current instructional coach at Kalispell Public Schools’ Hedges Elementary School, was tapped earlier this month to take over as Cayuse Prairie School’s next superintendent/principal, as the district’s longtime head administrator Amy Piazzola steps into retirement at the school year’s end.
For Bortz, the new role is a goal she has long worked towards.
“I wanted to move into administration just because I think that I can really make a positive impact on what’s happening at a school-wide level and ensuring that all of our students have good teaching and learning opportunities,” Bortz said. “And that’s what I’m passionate about.”
Bortz began her teaching career as a kindergarten and first grade teacher in Utah before moving to Montana, where she taught kindergarten and third grade at Kalispell’s Peterson Elementary School.
But even when she was a classroom teacher, Bortz said she was asking broader questions about how to support school-wide processes — something administrators noticed. She said they encouraged her to pursue an administrative track. After obtaining a master’s degree, she applied for her role at Hedges Elementary as an instructional coach nine years ago.
Her job in that role, in essence, is teaching teachers how to teach: working with them to implement best instructional practices, on professional development, and helping to interpret test scores. While she enjoyed it, she said she always viewed it as a stepping stone.
So, when Cayuse Prairie’s head administrator role came open, it felt like a natural next step for Bortz.
“That dual superintendent/principal role at Cayuse Prairie allows me to continue to be in the building, and work with the teachers and see students learning and growing,” Bortz said. “And that’s really what drew me to that position — that as the superintendent, I’m not looking in from outside. I’m actually in the building, working with them still.”
The east valley district first opened its doors in 1898. In the 21st century, the rural district has seen growing enrollment, expanding from 240 students a decade ago to more than 300 this year. It was an early adopter of a four-day school week, and this spring, has a levy ask on the ballot to continue funding current programming levels — an ask Piazzola has said she hopes to pass before her successor takes over.
The board approved offering the role to Bortz March 12. Per the final contract, she will hold the job for two years at a rate of $93,500 annually.
Bortz, for her part, said in her first months in the role, her priority will be getting to know the community, teachers and students at the school.
“I think that you need to listen well in order to lead well,” Bortz said. “And so, I’m walking into Cayuse Prairie, and my first priority is to listen. They’ve been running for a long time without me, and it’s my first job to understand what’s going well before I put my fingerprints on anything.”
She’ll spend two weeks this summer onboarding with Piazzola before taking the helm fully on July 1. Bortz will also obtain her superintendent endorsement over the summer. She’ll spend the first year on the job working with a mentor superintendent through the University of Montana.
As she gets to know the school better, and gets more comfortable in her new role, she looks forward to developing more explicit goals with stakeholders’ input.
“In my philosophy, kids always come first,” Bortz said. “It always boils down to what’s good for our students.”