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Great Falls School Board election to go forward with all mail-in ballots
The Great Falls School board election in May will go forward as a mail-in ballot election after back and forth with the Cascade County Commission about whether to conduct a hybrid-poll election.
Great Falls Schools Superintendent Tom Moore told the Daily Montanan after Monday’s meeting on cost estimates he asked why they were meeting the next day, and when commissioners told him it was to discuss the contract, Moore said the contract was finalized already and requested a mail-in ballot, as had been discussed in previous meetings.
Moore said he asked if there was any more discussion needed, and a consensus was reached that the meeting wasn’t necessary and the county would move forward with a mail-in ballot as was outlined in the contract.
Daily Montanan: Great Falls School Board election to go forward with all mail-in ballots
Billings Public School establishes Parent Advisory Safety Committee to offer solutions for student safety concerns
As safety continues to challenge students and the Billings community, School District Two (SD2) Superintendent Erwin Garcia hosted an area community meeting on Wednesday at Billings West High with members of their newly formed Parent Advisory Safety Committee to talk about safety-related topics.
SD2 established this committee in August of 2023 with over a dozen parents and community members after seeing a growing number of safety concerns for students, especially centered around firearm safety.
As safety continues to dominate public discussion, Billings Public School will be putting a safety levy on voters' ballots this spring and Young says showing community’s support towards the levy will be crucial for the overall wellbeing of the Yellowstone County.
Billings Public School District an "outlier" after school calendar change
Students in Billings Public Schools will have an extra long summer this year, with big changes to the calendar about to take effect. The district's board of trustees voted to bump back the start of the school year in December.
Starting next school year, James will have to make some adjustments, as the 2024 school year will start after Labor Day and end on June 13.
New district superintendent Erwin Garcia said the change is overdue, citing a lack of air conditioning in two high schools as one of the primary motivations for the change.
“Just attending school in the summertime, I noticed classrooms can be 90 degrees, 95 degrees, almost 100 degrees,” Garcia said.
KTVQ: Billings Public School District an "outlier" after school calendar change
National School Choice Week draws supporters to rally in Billings
Proponents of charter schools held a rally Friday in Billings hoping to increase opportunities for students and expressed concern about their kids' education.
It's National School Choice Week, and the group, which included area students, rallied on the Yellowstone County courthouse lawn.
But new options are emerging. Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen also spoke at the rally. Just as month Montana's Board of Public Education approved applications for 19 new charter schools across the state, including three in Billings.
“It doesn't matter if it's a brick public school, or a private school, or a Christian school or your kitchen table,” said Arntzen, a Republican. “It's about learning.”
KTVQ: National School Choice Week draws supporters to rally in Billings
How Bozeman schools work to keep students safe
Bozeman Public Schools officials say they are always adapting their safety plans — and learning from incidents like these — in order to improve.
Just two weeks earlier, a special education paraprofessional at Whittier Elementary School was arrested on Jan. 3 for allegedly sending nude photos of himself to a Vermont investigator who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.
The staff member was placed on unpaid administrative leave after his arrest and the community was assured that allegations in the case did not seem to involve any Bozeman schools students, Bertram said in a Jan. 4 press release.
The staffer had went through the standard background check process that all district employees must pass before working with students.
“In the event of a safety emergency, you can’t communicate enough,” King said in the Jan. 25 interview. “You know, parents want to know, they want information and it’s hard to keep up.”
The district partners with the Bozeman Police Department to station school resource officers in school buildings, King said during the board meeting. There are four officers split between 12 buildings and Sgt. Scott McCormick oversees them.
“Part of what the SROs do, they do go into the classroom, they have classes that they teach starting in elementary school all the way through high school on different safety issues, different legal things,” McCormick said. “Overall, we’re there to prevent crime and I think just building that relationship with, you know, from administrators, to teachers, to students and parents, have an open line of communication with them helps reduce the amount of incidents we have in the district.”
Staff do have issues with people leaving doors propped open to let others in, he said. Some states, such as Texas, have passed laws requiring regular audits of school campuses, including ensuring all doors are closed and locked.
In May, the district passed a tax levy to help pay for ongoing safety costs, Waterman said. The levies brought in about $2.3 million for school safety measures so far.
Bozeman Chronicle: How Bozeman schools work to keep students safe
news.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/04 05:22 by lmuszkie