news:education
Table of Contents
Montana Public Education News Summaries
Bozeman School District staff share school safety highlights
Bozeman School District staff shared highlights of school safety from last year.
School district staff shared approved school safety levies, prevention and protection plans, and facility improvements to schools were the takeaways that lead to improved safety measures.
However, communication was the biggest challenge for the district because there wasn’t a designated staff member in charge of communication full-time. There’s a possibility of safety levy dollars being used in the future.
NBC Montana: Bozeman School District staff share school safety highlights
Kalispell school board to review applications for superintendent
Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees will review seven applications submitted for the superintendent position in selecting finalists to interview during its Tuesday, Jan. 23 meeting.
Interim Superintendent Randy Cline currently holds the position. The district decided to hire an interim for the 2023-24 school year after not interviewing any of the five applicants who responded to an initial job posting in March 2023 following Micah Hill’s resignation to take a position as superintendent of Missoula County Public Schools.
The district accepted applications from mid-November through Jan. 12, posting the position with a salary range of $165,00 through $185,000, depending on experience.
The district hired the Montana School Boards Association (MTSBA) to conduct the superintendent search.
The position drew two Montana applicants, including Kalispell Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Matt Jensen.
Jensen has held the position since July 2021. He was one of the candidates interviewed for the interim superintendent position held by Cline.
Daily Inter Lake: Kalispell school board to review applications for superintendent
County, GFPS discuss May election
Cascade County Commissioners met with their interim election administrator during a Jan. 23 special meeting about the upcoming school elections.
GFPS officials said they were unaware of the county meeting about their election until asked about it by The Electric last week.
[Commission appointed Interim Election Administrator Dev Biddick] said that she had looked in Elect Montana, the state voter registration system, and found that about two thirds of actively registered voters requested absentee ballots.
Commissioner Jim Larson said that GFPS is billed for the costs associated with their election and that they had requested a mail ballot election.
Biddick said she wanted to honor voter requests by running the election as both poll and mail.
[Commisioner Joe] Briggs said if they have to mail 67 percent of ballots anyway to voters who opt to vote absentee, then the cost to mail the additional ballots is likely not substantially more.
[District Business Operations Manager Brian Patrick] said that the GFPS board had asked for a mail ballot election as they have for about 16 years.
GFPS updates school board on CORE School progress
The board unanimously approved the GFPS charter on Jan. 19 and the district now has 45 days to execute a contract with the state that will be effective in July for five years.
Mainwaring said that some existing Morningside staff had applied and some hadn’t, but any that wouldn’t be at Morningside when CORE School opens in the falls had been placed in other positions within the district.
Martyn told the board that they’re developing the lottery process for any students who don’t live in the Morningside district but want to attend CORE School.
She said that the reaction from teachers had been mixed but they were excited about those who had applied.
2 Missoula, 3 Bitterroot charter schools opening doors next fall
Two Missoula charter schools and three Ravalli County charter schools will start this fall after approval by the Board of Public Education on Friday.
Missoula TEACH (Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Creative Harmony) Academy will bring a knowledge-based, arts-integrated experience for the school district’s early literacy program and for kindergarten through fifth grade while providing an innovative approach to attracting future teachers, according to the proposal.
The district hopes the charter school will help address declines in student attendance and engagement noted since the COVID-19 pandemic. 35% of elementary students in the Missoula County Public School District miss 10% or more of their school days, with many not feeling engaged in the classroom, according to district data.
Secondly, the school will help address a decline in teacher preparation programs across Montana. It will offer internships to high schoolers interested in teaching through a dual credit pathway with an eventual university collaboration planned to develop paid internship opportunities.
Connect Academy expands the existing Missoula Online Academy established by MCPS during the pandemic, by adding grades 6 through 8 to the remote learning option. The charter school will allow the district to better meet student needs with individualized courses and accelerated learning possibilities, according to the proposal.
Missoulian: 2 Missoula, 3 Bitterroot charter schools opening doors next fall
Bozeman among first in Montana public charter schools after state approval
The Montana Board of Public Education approved 19 new charter schools last week — including two Bozeman programs — made possible by a new law.
Bozeman School District’s Bridger Charter Academy and Bozeman Charter School were among the first round of approvals. Both programs have already been operating as alternative options for students.
The new designation entitles the programs to additional state funding if they meet minimum enrollment requirements. According to HB 549’s requirements for base aid, elementary programs need at least 70 students enrolled, middle schools need at least 20 and high schools need at least 40.
If Bridger and Bozeman Charter both meet the minimum headcounts, the charter programs could be entitled to a combined $531,678 in state funding and local property taxes, district staff previously told the Chronicle.
Bozeman Chronicle: Bozeman among first in Montana public charter schools after state approval
Montana Board of Public Ed takes up new charter schools, including one with for-profit company
A controversial online charter school that would be run by a for-profit company will take another shot at approval from the Montana Board of Public Education after a superintendent withdrew its application Friday.
But the Park City Montana Connections Academy raised more concern than celebration from many members of the public and board members. It received five positive comments plus four letters of support including ones from outside Montana — and 32 negative public comments, according to a report to the board.
One day later, the board announced Park City Superintendent Dan Grabowska had withdrawn the application, but Board Chairperson Tim Tharp said the board looked forward to a resubmission in June.
The Park City school drew praise from Republican legislators. In a letter of support, state Sen. Forrest Mandeville and 14 other Republicans said the intent of a couple of education bills in 2023 was to foster “real innovation” in the classroom.
“To that end, we are supportive of the creation of a statewide online charter school as submitted by the Park City School District and partnered with a 20-year expert in online learning,” said the letter.
One, House Bill 562, the “School Choice” Act, is under a temporary injunction because a judge said it appears to unconstitutionally take powers away from the Board of Public Education, which oversees schools.
A separate bill, House Bill 549, also opens the door to greater flexibility for charter schools.
However, it does so within the public school system; it allows trustees to first choose to open a proposed school or to opt out. This is the legislation that prompted the 26 new proposals to the Board of Public Education.
Billings school board keeps "Assassination Classroom" in libraries; closes Washington
The Billings school board voted 5 to 4 to keep “Assassination Classroom” in high school libraries.
More than five hours into the meeting at the Lincoln Center Auditorium on Monday night, trustees Tanya Ludwig, Zack Tarakedis, Janna Hafer, Teresa Larsen, and Scott McCulloch voted no on the motion to remove the book.
The original request in October states concerns with phrases such as “I can't believe I get to kill a teacher with my own hands,” which a student states in regard to a teacher who is actually an alien, who asked the students to kill him to save the world.
Many disagreed that this book is a problem.
The board also decided to close Washington Elementary School, next school year.
A 6-1 vote among the elementary trustees, supported Superintendent Erwin Garcia's plan to close the school and turn it into a charter school, the Washington Innovative Center.
Garcia said the move would help with a $4 million deficit in the elementary district.
Now those 208 students will have to attend another school.
KTVQ: Billings school board keeps "Assassination Classroom" in libraries; closes Washington
GFPS receives two superintendent applications; moving forward with interviews
The Great Falls Public Schools district has received two applications for superintendent.
In November, the school board hired the Montana School Boards Association to conduct the search for a new superintendent.
District staff worked with MTSBA to create a superintendent advertisement. The board budget committee met Dec. 5 and reviewed current AA superintendent salaries and recommended the salary range be $175,000 to $185,000.
[Trustee Bill Bronson] said the district gave enough time for applications but was “obviously disappointed,” to only receive two applications.
In February 2021, [Superintendent Tom] Moore’s salary was $160,000 and the board approved a three year increase to $165,000 for the next school year, $170,000 the second year and $175,000 the third year.
The Electric first reported on Nov. 13 that Superintendent Tom Moore is retiring effective June 30, 2024.
Electric: GFPS receives two superintendent applications; moving forward with interviews
From the superintendent: School master plan a 'map' to help guide district
The FMP process is common practice for school districts and is usually contracted out to a firm with extensive experience in the facilities planning field.
The average age of our buildings in the district is 62 years.
The FMP will bring these factors together in one report and recommend multiple paths forward – from making needed upgrades to each of our current district facilities, to consolidating some schools and building new ones.
The Facilities Master Plan is more accurately described as an analysis followed by a set of recommendations. Think of the “plan” as a map – it will show us our current location on the facilities landscape and provide multiple routes to get to various destinations. The district will revisit and update this “map,” if you will, each year to keep it up-to-date as the facilities landscape changes over the next five, 10 and 20 years.
Facilities actions that trustees take as a result of the plan recommendations would need to be specific, publicly noticed board action items – a process that would span the course of multiple board meetings.
Helena IR: From the superintendent: School master plan a 'map' to help guide district
news/education.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/14 20:14 by lmuszkie