Forum on proposed Havre four-day school week set for tonight

Havre Public Schools will be holding a community forum tonight at 5:30 p.m. where leadership from area schools with a four-day-week will answer a series of drafted questions regarding their schools' schedule, how it works, and process of implementing said schedule.

The HPS Calendar Committee has been discussing a proposal for HPS to move to a four-day week, which it aims to present to the HPS Board of Trustees in time for a decision to be made for the 2022-2023 school year.

The committee has been meeting regularly to discuss details for the past few months and HPS Assistant Superintendent Brad Moore, a member of the committee, said they are on track to deliver a report to the board at its February meeting.

Moore said tonight's panel will include administrators, teachers, employees and trustees from multiple schools, which he hopes will make for a well-rounded group with many perspectives.

"It's a chance for our community to hear what other schools have done and how it's worked for them," Moore said.

He said this will not be a question and answer session in the sense that the audience will ask the panel things directly, but instead that the committee will be providing answers to the most commonly asked questions when any given community starts discussion of a four-day-week.

He said questions have also been taken from those that have been raised during committee meetings, as well as questions added at his suggestion, as someone who's been involved with this process multiple times before.

"It should cover the vast majority (of questions)," he said.

Moore said if participants want to ask the panel followup questions after the presentation is done, that would be appropriate, as time allows.

The forum will be held tonight at the Havre High School auditorium from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and can be attended remotely via Zoom with the link available at http://blueponyk12.com .