COVID changes everything about local schooling

The year 2020 brought many changes to Montanans in almost every aspect of their lives. The Havre Public School District has seen many changes as well in an attempt to protect the safety of students, teachers and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The beginning of the calendar year started out normally with the Little Pony Cheer camp, the addition of an Anime Club to Havre High School, Havre speech and debate team sending 15 students to state tournaments and Havre Middle School’s spelling bee. 

High school sports continued their season, with swimming and wrestling completing their state tournaments and basketball continuing through February.

The first coronavirus case in the U.S. was reported Jan. 22. 

Montana saw its first reported cases March 13.

Gov. Steve Bullock had declared a state emergency the day before.

The Havre girls basketball team was at the state tournament that weekend, trying for a three-peat as state champions. It lost in semifinals to Billings Central HIgh School, but had a chance to win third place in a playoff game — but lost that chance when the rest of tournament was canceled due to COVID-19

Monday, March 16, Havre Public Schools closed to students and began working on a plan to teach students remotely. All extracurricular activities were cancelled as well.

Havre’s parochial Catholic school, St. Jude Thaddeus School, also closed its classrooms March 16.

The Boys & Girls club of the Hi-Line saw closure along with the school system, however it still continued its food program. 

The Montana High School Association’s decision to cancel the remainder of the State AA, A, B and C boys basketball tournaments came Friday, March 13, before Havre school closures.

“Right now, all activities, including sports are suspended,” Havre High Activities Director Dennis Murphy said at the time. “And all of our athletic facilities are closed. The health and safety of our students, staff and community is our primary concern at this point.”

Havre NorthStar’s American Legion closed “the dugout,” it’s indoor training facility as well.

March 17, an emergency Havre school board meeting was held to declare an unforeseen emergency because the school system was about to run against its aggregated hours and as a result the district could have lost funding.

By March 20, Havre Public Schools’ teachers were handing out schoolwork to students, but the schools would not go officially virtual until March 30 — and would remain that way through the end of the school year.

St. Jude Thaddeus School was teaching sixth through eighth grade students online through Google classroom and K-5 students were receiving work packets and phone conferences from their teachers. 

The breakfast and lunch programs were modified so the district could still get meals to students while following social distancing guidelines. Parents were able to pick up the meals for students during the weekdays. 

March 27, Havre Public Schools submitted a remote learning plan to be approved by the state Office of Public Instruction.

March 30 saw lots of changes for students at Havre Public Schools.

“For each of our buildings it’s kind of we are trying to get our feet wet, the parents are getting their feet wet, so we are kind of learning as we go,” then-Superintendent Andy Carlson said.

Highland Park Early Primary school did offer the online learning portion but also used packets to supplement learning to make up for the technology and internet gap for those families that didn’t have it available. 

Havre Middle School students used Google Classroom to connect and communicate with their teachers. Each day students received a check in from their teachers on the multiple classes they had.

Special education classes were also moved to remote learning. Speech services, physical therapy and occupational therapy were all offered through teletherapy for the students that needed it.

Havre High School’s remote learning was established through online courses, video chat, phone calls, online textbooks and packets that had to be turned in.

Each school gave out Chromebooks to help keep students connected and able to participate in distance learning.

Tuesday, April 14, the Board of Trustees passed a new district policy, Pupil Online Personal Information Protection, unanimously. The policy was to protect people’s online personal information throughout the district.

Wednesday, April 22, Bullock announced the state would allow some loosening of restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Exactly what was done was up to local jurisdictions. 

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously to keep the distanced learning program in place rather than returning to in-classroom teaching, April 28. Carlson said the school district would continue to serve the students through online remote learning through June 30.

During the meeting, the board also unanimously approved alternate grading for the classes being held remotely due to the classrooms closing to reduce exposure to novel coronavirus 2019.

“It initiates a pass/fail for our high school students,” then-Superintendent Andy Carlson said. “One of the things that we wanted to make sure of was we wanted to be certain … our students wouldn’t be impacted by our university system or through other universities, and in fact our universities have adopted it. They are not counting GPA and so our students will not be held in any harm.”

The bishops of the Montana diocese ordered Monday, April 27, that all Catholic parochial schools including St. Jude Thaddeus School in Havre stay in distanced-learning mode and keep their classrooms closed.

Monday, May 18, Havre Public Schools Education Foundation Board of Directors hosted a combination drive in and virtual scholarship awards ceremony outside of Havre High School. The drive-in portion was for award winners and their families only.

Thirty-four scholarships were awarded to seniors at the event.

The week of May 18 also brought scammers to the Hi-Line. Havre Public Schools warned people that businesses in the area were receiving calls from out-of-state vendors and robocalls trying to sell advertisements or sponsorships for posters and football sponsors. 

May also saw teachers retire from the Havre school system, including long-time Havre High industrial arts teacher Chris Comp, Lincoln-McKinley Primary School building secretary Vickie Lowen, Havre Middle School art teacher Stephanie McLain, Havre High School activities office secretary Ginger Chagnon, 20-year Havre High Activities Director Dennis Murphy and Superintendent Andy Carlson.

Tuesday, June 23, the board of trustees accepted Carlson’s notice of retirement and voted to start a local search for an interim hire superintendent for the current school with the intent of completing a full search for a successor for the 2021-2022 school year.

Tuesday, June 30, Craig Mueller was appointed the new interim superintendent for the upcoming school year. Mueller will serve a one-year term.

Schools had to address social distancing in graduation activities as well.

The school board discussed reopening plans throughout July and August.

Students that had an I.E.P. that included an extended school year were the first back in school this year. The students and teachers recorded temperatures everyday upon entering school, used hand sanitizer, socially distanced and wore masks when social distancing wasn’t passible to help prevent the COVID 19 spread.

Tuesday Aug. 11, the school board voted 7-1 to approve a blended plan for re-opening this fall of having half the students attend some days and the other half the other days, with Fridays off for distance learning. Other precautions were also put in place such as no lockers being used, and personal items brought by students will be kept to a minimum.

St. Jude Thaddeus School went back to school in phase two of its returning back to school plan at full capacity with social distancing being maintained in all classrooms and extended care.

Turner Public Schools, Chester-Joplin-Inverness Schools, Chinook Public Schools, Big Sandy Schools and North Star Schools went back to school this fall at full capacity. 

Box Elder Public Schools started with distanced learning, then switched to a hybrid model.

Harlem also started the year with a hybrid model.

Rocky Boy started with distanced learning with the plan to later switch to in-class learning if the situation warranted.

Havre schools fall sports were allowed with limited audiences and COVID precautions as well.

The USDA provided free school meals for the school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the economy.

Sept. 20 the Havre district saw its first COVID-19 case. Sept. 22 Chinook Public Schools announced its first positive case.

By Sept. 28, both Harlem and Box Elder public schools had closed their buildings after cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the districts.

On Oct. 13, the Havre school board voted to go to distance learning due to more than 20 cases in the district. The district remained in distance learning until Nov. 2. Grab-and-go meals were still offered for students during weekdays. Extracurricular activities were continued as well.

At that time, 70 percent of students, faculty and staff had been or was in quarantine due to contraction of or exposure to COVID-19.

The Boys & Girls Club was closed during the time the schools were distance learning as well.

Harlem went back into a hybrid in-class model Nov. 30.

The Havre school board will be discussing entering Phase 3 of the reopening plan Jan. 12. This will include a four day in-person learning days and one remote learning day. 

Mueller’s recommendation is if:

• the community cases per day is fewer than 50 per 100,000, based on the matrix developed and updated by the Hill County Health Department, prior to January 8, and

• the community positivity rate is at or below 10 percent on Jan. 8,

• and the district is able to deliver instruction face-to-face with certified staff at each building, and parents and students understand that face coverings must be worn at all times when social or physical distancing of six feet cannot be maintained,

the district moves to Schdule 3A.

If the matrix standards are met to return, kindergarten through fifth grade learners would start Schedule 3A Monday, January 11.

Grade six through 12 learners would return to school Monday, January 25, for the start of second semester.

If the positivity rate and the community matrix cases is not met, Havre Public Schools would remain in Phase 2, Schedule 2B.