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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
news.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/04 05:22 by lmuszkie