By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Havre Public School Board held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday night and voted to move to four days a week of in-person learning if certain conditions are met.
On the Superintendent’s recommendation, the Board voted 4-3 to move to schedule 3A next month, which means students would attend in person four days a week, with remote learning on Fridays.
K-5 learners would move to schedule 3A on January 11th, while the Middle and High School would move to 3A on January 25th for the start of the second semester.
The conditions that must be met are:
- Community cases/day below the 50 per 100,000 people threshold that the Hill County Health Department uses from December 28th-January 8th (the case rate from November 30th-December 6th was 77.13 per 100,000 per day)
- Community positivity rate at or below 10% (currently at 16.44% over a 7-day period ending December 4th)
- Able to deliver instruction face-to-face with certified staff at each building (currently 0 staff with active COVID cases and 1 staff member in quarantine after being identified as a close contact)
- Parents and students understand that face coverings must be worn at all times when social/physical distancing of 6 feet cannot be maintained
If the District does move to phase 3A, students will be given the opportunity to opt-out.
If the positivity and case rate thresholds are not met, the District will remain in the current 2B phase of hybrid learning, and Trustees can reassess at the January 12th or February 9th meeting.
Superintendent Craig Mueller also provided the results of a recent poll of Havre High School and Middle School students. The results are below:
- Question 1: With groups A and B returning to school, class sizes will increase. Will you plan to be in school 4-5 days per week or will you opt-out of face-to-face instruction for second semester?
- 58.1% attend face-to-face (357 students)
- 23.3% unsure (143)
- 18.6% opt-out (114)
- Question 2: Are you comfortable returning to school with significantly larger class sizes?
- 61.5% yes (379)
- 38.5% no (235)
- Question 3: It will be required to wear a face covering at all times when social distancing cannot be maintained. Do you feel comfortable wearing a face covering at school at all times so that you can receive face-to-face instruction 4-5 days per week?
- 62.9% yes (386)
- 37.1% no (228)
Five members of the public provided public comment prior to the vote. Two were in favor of the motion, three were against. One of the comments against came from Hill County Health Board Member Erica McKeon-Hanson, who said she would like to see face coverings required at all times. The other two comments against wanted to move to phase 3A as soon as next week. Staff members at the meeting said this would be difficult to pull off on such short notice.
Other actions taken at the meeting:
- Several policy replacements or revisions due to recent federal changes to Title IX were passed unanimously on second reading
- Board Performance Assessment and Meeting Evaluation Tool Review was approved unanimously. These will be distributed at the January meeting and discussed at the January Board Planning workshop
- Approval of the fiscal year 2022 dues revenue estimate for the Montana School Boards Association
- Revised return-to-play guidelines for athletics were approved by the Board
- The addition of girls wrestling as a sport was approved unanimously. Girls will remain able to compete against boys in duals, but there will be a separate state tournament for girls.
- A stipend for essential workers for their hardship was approved unanimously. Around 230 employees are eligible for a $500 stipend (regularly work at least 20 hours a week), while 10 employees would be eligible for a $250 stipend (regularly work under 20 hours a week). The estimated cost of the stipends would be covered by COVID-relief funds that have not been used. These funds would have had to be given back to the state if not used by the end of the year. Employees must have been working at the District since September 8th, 2020, and must be employed on the date the stipend is paid (December 18th).
