Glasgow School Applauds Teachers, Staff, Community

The Glasgow School Board held their scheduled board meeting on April 8, a week and a half after students, teachers and staff first transitioned to full-time distance learning as a result of the closure of in-person instruction due to coronavirus. Even though there has been growing pains associated with teachers having to modify their teaching plans, parents having to utilize various technologies with some having to remember concepts from their school days, and students learning in a different environment, much praise was provided by Superintendent Wade Sundby, Irle Principal Rachel Erickson, Glasgow Middle School Principal Mike Zoanni and Glasgow High School Principal Brett Huntsman on the extraordinary job the teachers, staff, parents and students have been doing to accommodate the new normal of learning.

Even in the midst of everything going on, the Glasgow School is proceeding with their mail-in ballot levy request and election of two school board members. Ballots are are expected to be mailed out April 17 and need to be returned by April 27. Glasgow School is expected to receive an estimate of $148,261.74 from the federal CARES Act stimulus bill that was passed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, however Superintendent Sundby stated the amount is not sustainable. “We can not rely on this amount year after year,” he stressed.

Due to the changes in learning, the Superintendent has canceled all field trips and music concerts/festivals for the rest of the year. “If we have the opportunity to get back in the classroom, I want students to be back in the classroom, preparing for next year. I want to make the last month the best learning place students can get,” he stated.

Plans are also being made to honor graduating seniors in the event a graduation ceremony can not be held in the traditional sense. The alternative will be the same time and date as the scheduled original ceremony, May 24, 3 p.m. “Some people are talking about a car parade, some people are talking about all sorts of different options, just so you know we are starting to plan Plan B,” stated Huntsman.

In addition to learning at home instead of the classroom, another adjustment for students and coaches have been the postponement of spring sports. The Montana High School Association Executive Board met on April 9 to discuss the future of spring activities. Due to directives issued from Governor Bullock, including the closure of schools through April 24, the Board decided to suspend spring activities, including practices, contests, meets and festivals, through April 24. If students are able to return to in-person instruction by May 4, spring activities will resume with a practice requirement of five with the exception of golf, which will be the normal two practices. However, if in-person instruction does not resume by May 4, spring activities will be cancelled for the season.

The postponement hasn’t stop the school board or Athletic Director Brenner Flaten from looking ahead into next year however. During their meeting on April 8, the Board approved the recommendation by Flaten to hire coaches for the elementary skills programs, middle school and high school sports and activities for the fall and winter sports/activity seasons. Also discussed and approved was the establishment of an elementary school skills cross country program, which will consist of third to fifth graders interested in distance running and cross country. “Surrounding Class C schools have been offering an elementary run with their middle school runs, so this would give kids the opportunity to travel to the meets with their parents, separate from the school,” stated Flaten. The season would be five to six weeks consisting of organized runs a couple times a week. The program will be similar to other skill programs already established at the elementary school and during the first year of implementation the coach will be on a volunteer-basis.

The School Board is also looking forward into finalizing the 2020-2021 school year. High school principal Huntsman recommended the hiring of Brenna Sundby for the open English position at the high school. “It’s exciting to have her apply first of all.....It’s exciting the knowledge that we will be bringing into our English department and some of the ideas she has,” exclaimed Huntsman. The School Board made the motion to hire B. Sundby for the open position pending a background check. There is also a high school math position open, of which Huntsman interviewed one applicant last week, with a few others also interested in the position.

The moving around of parent/teacher conferences for the 2020-2021 school year was also discussed due to feedback of the conference dates this year being too late in the first semester/second quarter for students to improve. “It got to be where for the high school students, it was too late to be meeting because they essentially had four or five weeks after the parents came in and visited the teachers before the semester ended,” stated W. Sundby. The new dates will be in early to mid-November.

Irle School Principal Erickson reported the Child Find event, which is held every year to assess incoming kindergartners, will most likely be canceled and instead be done through conversations with preschool teachers as well as packets of information mailed out to parents.

“I have been visiting with all preschool teachers to gather kindergarten information so we can make sure we get kindergarten registration done in the mail and gather some data about those incoming kinders so we can set balanced and equitable classrooms,” stated Erickson. She also said preschool teachers have been really valuable, providing the information that is needed so kindergarten registration information and information parents would normally receive on community resources can be placed in the mail. “We will still have an impactful child find event, just more in a remote setting, so we’ll see how that rolls out,” said Erickson.

In a letter sent by the Office of Public Instruction, the Board of Public Education and the Montana Public Education Center to Montana county and district superintendents, education leaders are recommending school districts extend distant learning through the end of the year and not hold large in-person graduation ceremonies. Though no official decision has been made by Glasgow School on what will happen in the event school reopens, administration, staff and teachers are doing what they can to ensure students are learning what they need to in order to move onto the next grade/.

“It’s really been a team effort and very impressive to flip the traditional instruction concept in a couple of weeks. I’m not going to lie to you and say it’s perfect, it’s not, but it’s a work in progress,” stated Glasgow Middle School Principal Zoanni.

Superintendent Sundby appreciates everyone’s assistance in making sure students are learning, parents providing feedback and all of the hard work teachers and staff have put in during this time.“I want to thank the teachers, the administration, the board, all of our staff, the community for their flexibility through this time. It really makes me proud, makes me excited to be home, be a part of this and to see all of the great things that we’re doing in our school district,” said Sundby.