School board discusses eighth grade athletes, enrollment numbers

In addition to appointing Brad Moore interim superintendent of Havre Public Schools, the HPS Board of Trustees heard reports on a request to allow eighth grade students to participate in high school sports, the district’s enrollment numbers as well as an area report for the Middle School and their monthly board meeting Tuesday evening.

Moore said after receiving requests that eighth graders be allowed to participate in high school sports, he’s been talking with Havre High School Assistant Principal Jeremiah Nitz and other relevant staff at the district and he thinks it’s a possibility that deserves a serious look.

He said they would need to look at the viability of that possibility for each individual sport and he thinks a report on the matter could be ready for the board by early spring of 2023.

Moore also talked about the district’s enrollment numbers at the meeting.

He said while the individual schools in the district have seen fluctuations in their enrollment over the years, the total number of enrolled students in the district between 2019 and 2022 has not changed significantly.

Since the district’s funding largely depends on enrollment numbers, the fact that they are holding steady is good, he said.

Moore said the district usually sees a drop between fall and spring, some of which can be attributed to early graduation, and they are keeping an eye on that difference year to year.

One thing he noticed, he said, is that enrollment in kindergartens across the state seems to be down this year, but whether that is a statewide trend, or merely a statistical anomaly he can’t say.

He said class sizes at the kindergarten level at the schools is at 20 students per teacher, which is the maximum, but, overall, the district is still short on teachers.

After discussing these issues the board also heard from Havre Middle School Assistant Principal Melissa Han, who updated them about various issues at her school.

The board took interest in the data presented regarding behavioral issues at the school, with Han noting that while instances of many kinds of behavioral issues, like insubordination, saw small decreases since last year, there was a significant rise in instances of disrespect, defiance and disorderly conduct.

After finishing her presentation, she, the board and Havre Middle School Principal Curt Leeds, who also attended the meeting, discussed possible causes of this increase, which seems to be the culmination of a lot of factors.

Leeds said there is always the general stress among younger students of adjusting not just to a new building and teachers but a completely new model of learning, with more teachers with varying expectations and personalities.

Han said the teacher shortage has also been a complicating factor, with the school having had to cut the time for, or even eliminate, a number of elective courses because they just don’t have enough educators for them.

She said this leaves many students in the position of having to take classes they have no interest in which causes significant irritation and stress.

All of this is combined, with no recess, larger class sizes, significant cuts to physical education and the general effects of the pandemic’s aftermath, she said. Students are just dealing with a more stressful environment, and students facing that kind of stress naturally act out, she added.

Han also discussed academic performance during her presentation, saying they’ve seen a drop in academically non-proficient students in seventh and eighth grades from last year, but the number of non-proficient students in sixth grade has increased significantly, so there is plenty of work to do.

One of the successes they’ve seen in raising academic performance is with their ineligibility slips.

Han said on Mondays, if a student is failing a class they give them a slip saying that if they do not improve by the end of the week they will be ineligible for games, and in the past few weeks it appears this policy is having an effect.

In its first week, she said, 13 out of 17 students improved enough to be sports-eligible by the end of the week, and in the second week nine out of nine did the same.

Many students are also receiving extra help after school and during lunch, and the schools’ math intervention program is providing students an opportunity to get help for specific problems they are having in math class.

Overall, she said, they’ve seen great numbers for sport participation and they’ve gotten better at keeping parents up to date about various sports-related events.

Han also talked about attendance, which she said was at about 94 percent pre-pandemic, but hovered around 90 when students returned to school.

She said in the past year they’ve seen an overall attendance increase, albeit a slight one.