By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees convened on Tuesday night for their regular monthly meeting.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Shanetrice Allen, a parent of two children in the District, including one at the High School, spoke.
The parent expressed concern about the alleged incident at the High School on the Friday before Halloween, where a student came to school in black paint.
“I am here because (myself and other parents) have called the school, we have tried to talk to administration. Everyone has promised to call us back, everyone has promised to basically act like they hear us or understand what our children are going through, and we have yet to get a response from anyone. And our children have to come to school and feel like they are not being heard as well. And it’s disturbing. And the only response that our children received to that whole matter was a paper shoved at them, asking them did they feel harassed. Nobody ever sat down with them and explained what the paper meant. They just gave them a paper and the guy told my kid, specifically, if you feel like you’re not being harassed, just throw it away and don’t worry about it. What kind of sensitivity is that?”
The parent expressed an interest in holding in-person discussions with administration, and Superintendent Craig Mueller said he would welcome the opportunity.
“We’re working through this. Hearing that you’ve been to the administrative building is concerning to me, because I would be open to meeting with you at any time to discuss what we have done to this point and how we’re going to move forward.”
Sunnyside
Near the end of the meeting, Sunnyside Elementary Principal Pax Haslem provided a report.
Haslem said that this year has been challenging for everyone.
Although he says attendance has been around average, at 91 percent (not including an additional three percent decrease due to COVID), they are having a hard time meeting students’ social and emotional health needs.
“It’s gotten a little worse, I can be honest with you…Our kids, we’re dealing with a lot, and there’s a lot of factors with that. We had 53 kids that were remote, so we’re still dealing with coming back to school, coming to class sizes of 24 rather than class sizes of two. We also had Altacare, who is no longer in the state of Montana. So we had roughly 12 students who were seeking mental health counseling in the school, which is no longer available to our schools.”
Haslem, who previously worked at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch as a Youth Mental Coordinator and as a Behavioral Specialist with Altacare, says he personally sees 2-4 students every day to help counsel them through mental health issues.
“I’ve talked to my staff a lot about what triggers are…So I’m fortunate that I have that background and that expertise, and they are getting used daily. It’s across socio and economic, all (across the) board. I call them three car garage families and single parent families…Physical aggression, fights that are happening out on the playground or even in the halls are something I did not anticipate coming into the school year this year. The amount of foul language and curse words that I’m dealing with all the time, talking with students, it’s just overwhelming sometimes. And it’s sad.”
Haslem said they are working to mitigate these issues, and they are thankful to have a “phenomenal” counselor in the school who is working daily to assist students dealing with issues such as bullying, conflict resolution, and hygiene.
He says that during these tough times, it’s important to show students love and support whenever possible.
“We’ve gotta look at math scores and we’ve gotta look at reading scores, and we’ve gotta look at other things, but I sure am giving a lot of hugs these days. So you need to know that your staff and your administrators are doing a very good job at it. But it’s a job we’re not expertise at and we’re trying the best that we can and we’re giving a lot of hugs. There’s a big, big line between discipline and, basically, I don’t discipline like a principal. I discipline like a father. And that’s what I need to do in my building right now. We’re open to solutions and we’re hoping to do what we can. But it’s a clear problem.”
Haslem also announced that the Sunnyside Annual Grade Trade Fair will be postponed to the spring.
Other topics discussed:
Also at the meeting, the Board approved a series of policy changes on first reading. These will go through a second reading at the regular December meeting, but potentially with some being slightly amended.
The Board also tabled the potential purchase two electric school buses. Much of the purchases could be paid for through grants, but Transportation Director Scott Filius says there are still lots of details to work through.
