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Glasgow School Board to Discuss Reopening Plans

“...but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” That liberally used partial quote from poet John Lydgate has applied to countless situations over the centuries and may be in the backs of the minds of the Glasgow School Board members and administration as they work towards a reopening plan for the Glasgow Schools.

The Board’s Policy Committee members met on July 31 in the school administration building to discuss updating and adapting the Emergency Policy Series 1900. Approved as the state was in a stay-at-home directive issued by Governor Steve Bullock and schools transitioned to remote learning, the committee members reviewed the policies last week in light of the ongoing and ever-changing situation regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The proposals made by the committee will go before the full board at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6 in the school administration building for review and approval or rejection. The school board meeting on Thursday will cover Consideration of Declaration of Unforeseen Emergency; Consideration of Updating/Adopting Emergency Policies and Consideration and Action on the District’s Reopening Plan for 2020-21. Policy committee members Glasgow Superintendent Wade Sundby and board member Angie Page, along with board chair Mona Amundson attended the working meeting on emergency policies. Committee member Ryan Fast was not present.

Two of the most significant proposed changes to the emergency policy series, according to Sundby, will be the ability of families to opt out of in-class instruction and to not allow visitors on school property throughout the school day.

Sundby noted that the Montana School Board Association has been working diligently to provide guidance and assist school boards across the state as they face myriad issues and concerns surrounding reopening schools and doing their due diligence to ensure the highest levels of safety are adhered to to protect students, staff and their families. In that work, the MTSBA has offered up new policies, procedures and forms for school boards to review and adapt as appropriate for their situations.

The opt-out provision will allow families that do not wish to homeschool but have reason to keep their children out of the classroom the ability to receive educational services in the form of remote learning. At press time, the school board and administration were continuing to discuss the technical details and plans for implementing such a plan. Plans for remote learning may depend heavily on staff availability and accessibility.

On Friday, the day after the committee’s working meeting, Governor Bullock issued a directive to allow school districts more flexibility in providing remote learning in order to protect the public from COVID-19. The directive allows students from outside the district who attend the school to access remote learning. Previously, remote learning was denied students who attended from another school district, i.e., if a student living in the Nashua school district were attending school in Glasgow, they would not have been allowed to opt-out of in-class instruction. With the new directive, offsite delivery of educational services will not be denied any student attending the school providing the distance learning.

The other significant change proposed is to not allow any visitors onto school grounds throughout the school day. Parents or guardians who need to pick up a child during the day would be required to wait outside the building. School staff will provide plans on ensuring the safety of students moving between the school and vehicles. Again, any plans are dependent on staff availability. In that vein, options regarding substitute teachers are also being discussed further prior to final decisions on implementation of new policies.

“Masks will be a topic at the board meeting,” Sundby told the Courier on one of the most divisive issues surrounding slowing the spread of COVID-19. With a nod to the concerns surrounding masks, Sundby said he sees two options: either wear a mask and have kids in school or don’t wear masks and implement the Schedule A/Schedule B option of alternating school days that was briefly floated by the school board. “It is all about the safety of staff and students in our community,” he stressed.

“In order for this to happen (in-class learning for students) we need the support of the parents, students and the community to allow for the safest reopening and so we can provide the in-class education of our students. But we need to work together to make that happen,” Sundby added, “and I think we will.”

He noted the difficulty of planning and preparing in the midst of the ever-changing challenges presented by adhering to the health and safety guidelines of local, state and federal officials, and noted that his most fervent desire would be to have schools reopen in a regular format, while acknowledging the reality that that will not happen this school year. Sundby stressed to the Courier that the masks will help prevent another stay-at-home order. “This is one way we can accomplish that mission, and to be as socially active at this time as we can be.”

A Glasgow School poll, sent out at the end of the 2019-20 school year, showed that 37 percent of parents are willing to send their child to school in the traditional setting if schools are open in the fall and 33.8 percent said they were will only if they believed all reasonable precautions would be taken to ensure a safe and healthy environment. Nearly 20 percent, 18.2, said they would only allow their children to return to a traditional setting if they believed all health guidelines would be strictly enforced and 11 percent of parents were unsure of their intentions.

The same poll to staff showed that 56.2 percent of staff are willing to teach in a traditional setting if schools are open in the fall. Nearly a quarter, 24.7 percent, said they would only teach if they believed all reasonable precautions would be taken to ensure a safe and healthy environment while 11 percent said their return was dependent on all health guidelines being strictly enforced. Only 8.2 percent of staff were uncertain of their intentions or abilities to return to an in-class setting.

In addition, the school district established a task force in June composed of board members, administration, and teachers. At the initial meeting it was decided to involve parents. Further, students, teachers from each school, representatives from the health department and members of the Glasgow Police Department were involved in the discussions regarding the reopening of the Glasgow school district.

 

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