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Two New Members Join Glasgow School Board

Graduation Plans Approved

The Glasgow School Board met on May 13 for their regular meeting after spending time the previous two evenings presenting proposals and negotiating wages for teachers, classified staff and classified supervisors. This meeting allowed the ability for the school board to canvass and approve the school election results, swear in new board members, Angie Page and Blaine White, while also addressing new business as plans are being made for the 2020-2021 school year.

The evening started with the annual organizational meeting, where School Board members reviewed and certified the results of the May 5 School Board election, which showed 1,072 votes for and 846 votes against the general fund levy. Also up to voters was filling the seats of departing board members Suzanne Billingsley and John Daggett, of which Page and White received the most number of votes. Before signing off the meeting and finalizing their term, Board Chair Mona Amundson provided thanks for the time Billingsley and Daggett put in serving on the board.

“John and Suzanne, I want to thank you for your service over the last few years. We’ve had a great board and you both have done phenomenal with participation and helped through a lot of issues we have had over the years. We really do appreciate your service,” Amundson stressed.

Due to the new additions to the board, the Board is required to organize as a governing body and appoint a Clerk of the District. Due to nominations by fellow board members, Amundson will stay on as chair and Ryan Fast will stay on as vice-chair. Kelly Doornek was also re-appointed as the clerk of the Glasgow School District. As chair, Amundson also appointed members to serve on the policy committee and the professional instruction related (PIR)/calendar committee while stating the entire board will serve on the negotiation committees.

After the organizational aspects were finalized, the regular school board meeting started with each principal of Glasgow Schools presenting a recommendation to hire a new staff member for the upcoming school year. At the high school level, Mr. Huntsman recommended the hire of Lukas Johnson to fill a math teacher position. Johnson, who is a Hinsdale native, has been teaching in Sidney and in addition to teaching math at GHS is also interested in assisting Mr. Paul Yoakam in coaching basketball next season. Middle school principal Mr. Zoanni recommended the hire of Nicole Boos as the sixth through eighth grade counselor and Irle school principal Rachel Erickson recommended the hire of Julie Graham-Tallmadge as a special education teacher. The board agreed to hire the recommended new hires as well as approved the re-hire of classified staff, including secretaries, para-professionals, bus drivers, kitchen staff, as well as athletic/activities positions.

Other topics of discussion included approving a request from a Wolf Point student to attend school in Glasgow, approving the property and liability insurance package with Montana Schools Group Authority, approving the disposal of obsolete property/equipment via a sale resolution, passing a resolution requesting Valley County conduct the 2021 school election, the purchase of a replacement activity bus and approving the request to renew the football cooperative agreement for Glasgow, Hinsdale, and Nashua as well as renew the softball and wrestling cooperative agreement for Glasgow and Nashua for the next three school years.

As students are wrapping up their distant learning for the year, the principals provided an update on how the end of the school year will look for turning in equipment and school materials. Principal Erickson reported that a drive-by parade is being planned for the last day of the school year and as a result of the yearly Child Find event being canceled, registration for incoming kindergartners are being worked on. “We will have a little bit slightly above-average kindergarten class...I am looking at about 68 children for kindergarten this year, which will be a nice little bump in our enrollment,” Principal Erickson stated.

Another big topic of conversation was how graduation will look for the graduating seniors this year. Principal Huntsman stated he has “spent hours and hours on graduation,” and submitted a proposal on May 13 to the county health department. “Hopefully it’s a go. If it is I’ll probably cry because these seniors need it,” explained Huntsman at the meeting. According to Superintendent Wade Sundby, plans were lined up to have a graduation on the football field, however there are some logistic aspects that might not allow the graduation on the field. As a result, discussions were had regarding the option of having graduation in the gym.

“Mr. Huntsman has done a great job, the custodians have done a great job to kind of map that out, what it would look like inside the school on the gym floor. We’d have all 64 kids on the gym floor. They’re specified seating in the grandstands, six feet apart, social distancing,” explained Sundby. This plan was submitted for approval to the Valley County Health Department and recieved approval late on last week.

“You know these kids have gotten a lot of things taken from them in this spring time and so if we can do this for them I think it’s just gonna be the best. We had a discussion today and I said, ‘Let’s just be thankful that we’re having a graduation for these kids because there could be a situation we wouldn’t,’” Sundby stated.

Since the school board meeting, the plan has been approved to have graduation in the GHS gym with limited attendance. See Page 4A for further information on how graduation will look to ensure social distancing and the safety of all those in attendance.

 

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