HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Several weeks into the transition to four days a week of in-person learning, Havre Public Schools Interim Superintendent Craig Mueller says things have been running smoothly.
“I think things are going very well. I think our teachers have found a groove, and I think our students are getting used to being back in that face to face setting,” Mueller told New Media Broadcasters by phone on Thursday morning. “What is really nice is that in our middle school and high school, we’ve been able to continue to address the needs of our remote learners on Fridays, bringing in students, really across the District, who are in desperate need of some assistance and making that available to our students on Fridays. Those Fridays have allowed some flexibility in order to fill some of those gaps that were created by the pandemic and dating back to the beginning of the school year. So it’s been a really nice blend and allows our teachers to address needs on a variety of different levels.”
Mueller says the addition of a remote teaching liaison at the middle and high school has allowed for remote learners to remain on track.
“The difficulty that our teachers were facing is that when you have now full classrooms, in several areas those student populations well above 25, to be able to bring students in remotely to have them either through google meet or zoom, becomes that much more difficult. So the concept behind the remote teaching liaison was to make sure the remote learners are still being contacted, to make sure they have what they need to continue to be successful.”
Staff Receiving Vaccinations
HPS staff that received the first dose of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine four weeks ago are being administered the second dose this week. Some were inoculated on Wednesday, while others are receiving the second dose today.
“People realize that the end result, the big picture, is just so beneficial for protecting themselves from the virus, but also as educators, they understand how important it is to lead by example.”
Mueller adds that staff that did not receive the first dose were given another opportunity to have it administered this week.
Face Covering Requirement
Although Governor Greg Gianforte allowed the statewide mask mandate to expire today, Mueller says they will continue to require face coverings on District property, regardless of whether Hill County decides to issue their own order.
“We are fully intending, as we proposed as part of our reopening readjustments when we went to schedule 3A, to require face coverings for staff and students. I think that is important for the safety of both involved. We have that many more students in our buildings. (It’s about) safety for our staff. Students need to realize that it’s because of mask usage and our best efforts to keep students socially and physically distanced that six feet whenever possible, that we’ve been able to stop the spread of the virus.”
Next Recommendations
The next step in the reopening plan calls for moving to schedule 3B, which would mean five days a week of in-person learning.
Mueller could issue that recommendation at the next Board meeting on February 23rd, but he says he wants to ensure the District remains measured and cautious in its decision making.
“That’s something that we are going to take a closer look at. We did have a little bit of a scare in our District, as I mentioned at our Board meeting (on Tuesday). We had one entire class that was quarantined, we had a couple of staff members that tested positive. So we’re dealing with how that shakes out and how we handle that scenario and how we address the needs of those students now. Generally, we had a sense that that could happen. With it happening relatively soon after we went back to school it really caused us to take a deep breath here and really look at what we’re doing. Because nobody at this point wants to transition back to fully remote, and so I’m more inclined now to (stay in 3A). Let’s take a little bit of a pause here and make sure that everybody is able to maintain safety and health protocols that we’ve had in place that ensure we’re providing a safe environment for our staff and students.”
