School board holds planning meeting

A strategic meeting Tuesday night indicates Havre Public Schools district leaders will schedule community listening sessions regarding school safety protocols and class reconfiguration, as well as votes on whether to approve upgrading school bathrooms and three athletic venues.

District Superintendent Andy Carlson told school board members during the evening’s meeting in the Robins Administration Building that he’d had more than one conversation about school safety protocols recently.

Board members agreed a community listening session would be a good idea, not only to hear parental concerns about school safety, but also as an opportunity to tell parents about the protocols already in place to protect students and staff.

“We do have a plan. We are being proactive,” said Aileen Couch, board chair. “It’s concerning that parents are not aware of that.”

A date for the listening session had not been set.

Another listening session, one on the possibility of reconfiguration, will happen sometime within the next few months. For about a year, board members and other district leaders have discussed the possibility of reconfiguring classes, a change that would be prompted by a decrease in enrollment.

The biggest parental concern he has heard regarding reconfiguration, Carlson said, is about putting fifth graders in middle school. Board members indicated they will continue to research other school districts that have done similar things, as well as other solutions.

Athletics Director Dennis Murphy told board members three athletic venues are due for repairs or upgrades.

Every 10 years, Murphy said, the track at the high school needs to be re-striped, as a result of wear and tear.

“Our track is used a great deal,” Murphy said. “We’re probably a year overdue.”

Repairs, Murphy said, cost anywhere between $27,000 to $70,000. In the case of re-striping, the cost would be more near the $27,000 mark, Murphy said.

Upgrading the tennis courts is another need, Murphy said. The four courts, owned by the city, are crumbling.

“We’d like to build six tennis courts on campus by the soccer fields, south of the school,” Murphy said.

If the school had those courts, it could probably host divisional tournaments, as well as accommodate more students. As it is now, the tennis coach has to hold two practice sessions because of the amount of tennis players, Murphy said.

The tennis courts can cost anywhere between $260,000 and $350,000, Murphy said.

Crowning the football stadium is another task that will have to be done at some point, Murphy said. Over the years, the field, which sees most action in the middle, develops holes and inconsistencies. Crowning would take care of that. An estimated cost for crowning would be about $85,000, Murphy said.

All three venues generate money, Murphy said. Each project already has a fund with money. The available track funds are about $40,000; the tennis courts fund — the corporate sponsorship fund — has about $280,000; and the stadium fund has about $80,000.

A vote had not been put on the agenda.

However, board members will vote next meeting — March 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the middle school auditorium — on whether to approve using $350,000 in multi-district funds to renovate the high school bathrooms.

The project would include renovating the sinks and toilets and bringing everything up to handicap code. The project, should it be approved, would be done in the summer, when school is out.

“The need for this project isn’t going to lessen, and the cost for this isn’t going to lessen,” Carlson said.

Other items discussed included budget — the district may have to run a levy in the next one or two years — and an update on the trauma sensitive program that was implemented this school year. Those spearheading the program said they are in the educating aspect of the program’s implementation, aimed toward staff and community.