School board talks calendar, elections and awards

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees discussed a number of issues at their meeting Tuesday, including the coming year’s calendar, elections, successful programs and awards for district paraprofessionals.

While the matter of the coming school year’s calendar was not on the agenda for the meeting Tuesday evening, the matter was brought up during public comments by Havre Education Association President Jess Jones, who requested that any vote take place after the upcoming school board election due to an abrupt change in course by the board’s chair.

Jones said the board discussed four different calendars at their March 27 meeting and were originally planning to vote on the matter tonight, but the items were not included on the agenda when it was released April 6 in advance of this meeting.

She said this change in course by Board Chair Smeby was not communicated to HEA, local stakeholders or the rest of the board, and they have since been told that all four calendars have been thrown out, to be replaced by three, potentially new ones.

Given this significant course change, she said, the association is requesting that the board postpone any vote on the matter until after the school board elections and subsequent board reorganization, regardless of their outcome.

“What is HEA realistically supposed to expect by the time of April 25?” Jones said. “The rules are always changing.”

She said the March 27 meeting made clear that there is little support for a traditional 5-day week and communication within the board, as well as between the board and the community is strained, so the matter should be considered after the election.

At the end of the meeting the board tentatively agreed to hold the next special meeting April 27 at Havre Middle School at 6:30 p.m. to make attendance easier.

Trustee Jake Ingram asked what exactly they plan to do at that meeting, with Smeby saying that they would then either vote on a calendar, or decide to postpone the vote until after the election as requested by HEA.

Ingram said none of the board members have even seen these three, potentially new calendars, and Trustee Christin Hileman asked if they would be put online for the public to see before the meeting.

HPS Interim-Superintendent Brad Moore said they would be, clarifying after the meeting that he anticipates they will be up at some point this week.

Two public speakers also commented on the matter, including retired Montana State University-Northern professor Kevin Johnson who said students need good teachers to succeed and the number of teachers the district has is going in the wrong direction.

He said the board needs to be transparent with the public and communicate among themselves if they are to make good decisions, and they can’t afford to lose more teachers.

“The stakes are too high,” he said.

The third speaker was Brenda Evans, a longtime supporter of HPS who’s been on many committees and boards including as a past president of the district’s Parent Teacher Organization.

Evans said she understands some of the board members’ concerns with going to a four-day week, as well as the concerns of fellow parents that don’t have as many resources as her family does, particularly the potential elimination of a meal for students, but the purpose of the district is first and foremost to teach students.

She said the last time the matter was discussed the school sent out a survey to gauge interest in a four-day week in the community and the district, and she’s not sure what the point of it was given that the result showed strong support of the idea which the board did not act on.

Indeed, the survey returned with 74 percent of community respondents in favor and over 90 percent of teachers in support.

When asked after the meeting why the four calendars were eliminated from consideration, Smeby said he wanted to see more simplified options.

During the meeting the board also heard from members of the Havre Public Schools Educational Foundation Board who are requesting an updated memorandum of understanding between the two entities.

Foundation Chair Kyle Leeds said the foundation was created 23 years ago after the need for an organization to support the district became more and more apparent and since then they have made it their mission to help the district however they can.

Leeds said they began primarily as a scholarship-focused organization but have since moved on to funding larger projects and facilitating donations from local donors, but they believe they can do that more effectively with an updated MOU.

Foundation Board Member Todd Hanson said the process for making charitable donations is complex and a lot of organizations feel more secure giving to organizations like the foundation if they have a very clear MOU laying out the relationship between them and the district they are supporting.

Hanson said the updated MOU they are proposing would do just that and allow them to be more proactive in searching for financial support and funding projects.

This MOU would also allow the foundation to make longer term plans along with the district for projects that are many years out.

Hanson said one project in particular the would like to get going on is potentially developing a piece of property they district owns but isn’t utilizing to create housing for school staff and teachers, which was a vision of the late Superintendent Craig Mueller.

Representatives from the foundation requested that the board move quickly to approve the new MOU so they can get going as soon as possible.

During the meeting the board also approved the addition of a new course to Havre High School’s Agriculture Program, which Moore said is going very strong after only one year.

The board also eliminated a number of COVID-19 related policies at the recommendation of Moore.

Moore said these policies are being eliminated at the federal level and the district’s legal counsel has recommended they do the same.

The policies were eliminated unanimously.

Moore also announced that the district would see no increase in its health insurance costs this year, which, considering the volatility of the market right now, is pretty remarkable.

Smeby thanked Moore for his work making sure the district could secure health insurance without any rate increase.

During the meeting the board also presented a number of awards to district teachers and paraeducators from the Montana Council for Exceptional Children.

Those who were presented awards include teachers Terra Vogel, Glenda Stickel and Emylee Mueller along with paraeducators Margo Chinadle, Kim Keeler, Sarah Navarro, Erika Holsapple, Dee Dolphay, Noah Nitz, Carsyn Vogel, Tana Gorecki, Brooke Holland, Lance Coligan and TJ Schwartzcopf.

The teachers and paraeducators were thanked for their contribution to the district and their dedication to students by the board and their fellow staff.

The meeting also featured Havre High School Principal Dustin Kraske, who talked about the recent successes of the high schools’ work-based learning and dual credit programs.

He said they have 21 students participating in some kind of work-based learning, including many who are working in the districts’ own schools as paraprofessionals.

One such student, Alisyn Maloughney spoke at the meeting saying the program has been incredibly fulfilling and given her insights on what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

Maloughney said she wasn’t sure if education was what she could pursue as a career, but this had given her a great opportunity.

Highland Park Early Primary School Principal Hayley Criner also spoke at the meeting, saying student paraprofessionals have been a massive positive influence at her building, helping teachers and inspiring students, and she hopes it can continue.

“They’re an outstanding bunch,” Criner said. “… I don’t know if I was that professional at 18.”

Kraske went on to say that they have 71 students participating in dual credit and, considering the entire junior class is 120 students, that is a noteworthy number.

Before the meeting ended, Moore talked briefly about bills making their way through the Montana Legislature, including ones governing elections, health insurance and two bills regarding charter schools, which are likely the most consequential and are set to be discussed next week.

One of the bills in question, HB 562, would authorize the creation of “community choice schools” under the jurisdiction of a new, autonomous, statewide commission attached to the Montana Board of Public Education.

Under the bill, parents and community groups could seek approval for such a school directly from the new commission or from an authorized local school board. Choice schools would be subject to the same federal laws as K-12 public schools, but governed at the state level by their own set of curricular, licensing and academic reporting regulations.

The other bill, House Bill 549, seeks to place state oversight of charter schools directly in the hands of the Board of Public Education. Public charter schools would be governed by the same laws and administrative rules applied to public schools, and be under the local jurisdiction of either an existing elected school board or a locally elected charter school board under this law.

HB 549 more or less codifies what is already in Montana law, as the state already permits the creation of charter schools provided they have the same accreditation standards as public schools. Bridger Academy in Bozeman is an existing charter school.

Smeby said he anticipates one or both of these bills will pass.