HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees held a Special Board meeting on Tuesday afternoon and canceled in-person learning for the remainder of the academic year.
After Superintendent Andy Carlson described the numerous hurdles needed to clear for in-person school to return this semester, the board voted to continue Remote Learning through the end of the school year by extending their Declaration of Emergency Closure due to Unforeseen Emergency.
“With the restrictions in place, we don’t have the staff or the resources to even consider opening up our doors (this academic year),” Carlson told New Media Broadcasters following the meeting.
All current services, such as grab-and-go meals, will continue through the academic year.
“I just need to thank our food service folks,” Carlson said. “They have not received enough credit for what they’ve done during this time. From day one, they’ve been at the high school prepping and serving meals to students. It’s such an invaluable thing.”
Other items approved unanimously at the meeting:
- Numerous personnel actions, including accepting the resignation of Athletic Director Dennis Murphy, effective on June 4th, 2020.
- Allowing Davey School District to cross boundaries into the Havre School District in order to pick up their students
- An update to Havre High School’s music curriculum to better accommodate students
- Havre Middle School English Language Literature Elective Classes
- Policy 1310 was suspended, which requires two readings of policies (one per board meeting) before they are adopted. This is exclusive to Policies 1900-1912
- Policy 1902 was adopted, which addressed student and staff grading concerns due to the COVID-19 Remote Learning Plan. It initiates Pass/Fail grading for all High School students for this semester. These grades do not impact GPA. Students may still request letter grades
Policies 1900 (COVID-19 Emergency Measures) and 1901 (Use of Transportation Funds During Periods of School Closure) were tabled for a future meeting. Carlson said the board needs more time to consider these measures before making decisions.
Dr. Kevin Harada of Northern Montana Hospital joined the meeting to discuss Hill County’s COVID-19 testing capabilities and what would happen if a student of a Havre Public School were to test positive.
Dr. Harada added that although the County has improved testing capacity, mass testing is not possible at this time.
“Right now the testing and tracing, it would create such an issue for our area,” Carlson said. “But I think that there’s a few items that we can do and I think that’s where our focus has to be. What do we look like in the fall? As good as our teachers have done and as hard as our students have worked, we are not able to replicate what we do when our doors are open.”
This story has been updated to include quotes from Superintendent Andy Carlson
