By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Havre Public School Board held an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon and decided to continue operating in their current hybrid learning model and not change the upcoming schedule for extracurricular events.
The decisions were made in two separate votes, both by a count of 5-3. Tim Scheele, Brian Williams and Curtis Smeby cast the dissenting votes both times.
The first vote was to move to remote learning for next week. It was denied by a count of 5-3 and no other motions were made on the matter, meaning the school will remain in hybrid learning for now.
The second vote was to continue with extracurriculars as scheduled for now, with no new fan restrictions. It was approved 5-3.
The dissenting voters expressed concern about the District’s ability to maintain adequate staffing in the midst of rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts in the area.
This means that this coming Monday will serve as an A day, Tuesday will serve as a B day, and Wednesday will serve as a virtual learning day. As previously scheduled, there will be no school on Thursday and Friday because of educator conferences.
More than 250 devices were logged into the meeting on Zoom.
The District is holding their next regular board meeting on Tuesday, when they will reconsider both decisions. There will be a zoom option for the meeting, and it is yet to be decided if the Board will convene in-person.
As of Friday, 144 students and 25 staff across the District are either positive COVID-19 cases in isolation or close contacts in quarantine. This does not include families who have decided to quarantine on their own either as a preventative measure or because of a close contact identified outside of the District.
Some of the students and staff are expected to finish up their quarantine or isolation periods by the middle of next week.
The attendance rate at all schools in the District over the past week is down significantly from last year. Highland Park Elementary, which has 50 students and three staff either in isolation or quarantine, has an absent rate of 22.1 percent over the past week, compared to a rate of 5.75 percent the same week last year.
The school impacted the least has been Havre Middle School, which has eight students and no staff in isolation or quarantine. Their absent rate this past week was 7.91 percent compared to 6.52 percent a year ago.
The increasing presence of COVID-19 on the area has had an impact on other aspects of the District as well. Currently 20 percent of bus routes are being driven by relief drivers and they are only running 12 routes this year compared to 16 last year.
“The number of students we are transporting is significantly less than in years past.” Superintendent Craig Mueller said. “We now run the risk if there is an outbreak in our bus garage of not being able to extend local bussing to our students and their families.”
Food service is holding steady thanks to social distancing protocols and seating charts, but it is still not in an ideal situation.
“We are stretched thin in our custodial staff with a couple of individuals in quarantine, and we are covering those positions by custodians who work the majority of their day in the other locations,” Mueller said. “This arrangement is not ideal. In the case we’re in at Sunnyside, not only is the custodial staff, but also our paraprofessional staff, are being taken from one building and going in and having to ask those employees to work across the District in several different buildings, potentially exposing them and our students to a combination of different individuals.”
The District is suffering from a substitute teacher shortage. Over the past two hybrid learning days, the District had fill rates of 41 percent on Wednesday (19 absences, 7 filled) and 30 percent on Thursday (15 absences, 4 filled).
“For Monday and Tuesday we’ll have to engage in a plan to get those classrooms covered if we are short teachers,” Mueller said after the votes were cast Friday.
Several staff positions are scheduled to be filled next week via board approval, including five paraprofessional spots, a maintenance utility position, a part-time school nurse, a bus driver, two substitute teachers and a substitute administrator.
Two members of the football team are currently impacted by COVID-19, but the last contact either had with the team was on October 2nd. The volleyball team has no cases or quarantined players.
This story has been updated
