Polson schools hire staff, consider expulsion in flurry of special meetings
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Prior to last week’s regular meeting, the Polson School Board held three special meetings, one for hiring staff and teachers, another to change a bus route and a third to consider expulsion for a student who brought a weapon to school.
The latter meeting, held Oct. 14, was closed to the public due to individual privacy rights. According to minutes from that meeting, the board voted against the administration’s recommendation for expulsion, citing time served, and stipulated that the student complete a gun-safety class, write a related essay, and share that with other students.
In a second action, the board opted to suspend the student through the end of the semester (Jan. 21). To be reinstated, the student must meet certain benchmarks established in a contract between Principal Andrew Fors and the family, and if those benchmarks aren’t met, or any additional infractions occur “in or outside of school,” the student “will be expelled until the end of this school year.” Those benchmarks include “recovery of the weapon, attendance, grades and behavior.” The board also required that the opportunity to earn credits online be made available during the student’s suspension.
At a meeting Oct. 25, the board approved a change in bus routes 11 and 14, to alleviate overcrowding on route 11. The board also met Nov. 8 to approve the hiring of bus drivers, substitute teachers, a new fifth grade teacher and a math teacher, and extra-curricular and coaching staff.
Those actions would typically have taken place during the regular board meeting, which was postponed to Nov. 15 due to parent-teacher conferences. “We couldn’t afford to wait another week to get people hired so we could get them to work right away,” said Superintendent Mike Cutler.
The shortage of bus drivers – a dearth that’s plaguing school districts nationwide – was especially critical earlier this month since the district had athletic trips to Bozeman and Billings in addition to serving its regular routes.
“COVID put everything in a tailspin,” said Cutler of the driver shortage. He suspects that potential exposure to the virus, especially among older drivers, and the prospect of dealing with behavioral issues on busses have caused recruitment problems nationwide.
Substitute teachers also fled classrooms across the nation last year – an issue the district has tried to address by upping pay to $120 per day.
“Vaccinations have given people some hope and comfort,” says Cutler, who anticipates the pay raise might also help lure more substitutes back to school.
During the regular meeting on Nov. 15, maintenance supervisor Dan Giles updated the board on the district’s progress in meeting lead safety standards mandated by the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Public Health and Human Services.
The district has until Dec. 31 to sample water fixtures, including sinks, basins and water fountains; schools must also create an inventory of those fixtures, and establish routine sampling and a plan for regular flushing, which can remove lead that accumulates in stagnate water.
Giles, who told the board he has found lead in some fixtures, is well on the way to meeting the DEQ deadline. He’s already added filters and replaced fixtures at Cherry Valley, Linderman and Polson Middle School, and is in the midst of the same process at the high school, where basins in the chemistry lab posted especially high lead counts.
In a separate interview, Cutler noted that Polson is ahead of many other districts, thanks to the efforts of the maintenance supervisor. “The beauty here is that Dan is doing this himself,” he said. “Most schools are having someone come in and do it for them, which takes a lot more time.”
According to a bulletin posted by the DEQ, lead is especially toxic to children because their bodies absorb the heavy metal at much higher rates than the average adult. It typically enters drinking water through the corrosion of plumbing fixtures. The board also received an update on the proposal to place a bond election before voters next year to finance building improvements. The staff was recently surveyed about their priorities, and Cutler told the board the election date has been moved from March to May to correspond with the school board election.
In a separate interview, he emphasized that the district is “in the very preliminary phases” of crafting a proposal for both the high school and elementary districts. He says the new ballot measure, which must gain approval from the board before it goes before voters, will be considerably different from 2019’s proposed levy, which failed to muster voter approval.
Among the priorities, addressing school safety and overcrowding top the list. Cutler noted that the district uses “a lot of modular buildings that are not safe nor good learning environments.” He also predicts that pre-kindergarten education is on the horizon for school districts across the nation, and wants Polson to be prepared “if and when that happens.”
The ventilation concerns that were part of the 2019 proposal have been taken off the list, thanks to Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief funds, which were included in the pandemic relief package passed by Congress. The board has approved spending nearly $5 million in federal money to improve heating, cooling and ventilation systems at Cherry Valley, Linderman and Polson Middle School – a considerable savings for the district.
The building committee is currently meeting with the architect and consulting personnel before seeking public input on the new bond proposals.
“We basically have one more shot at this thing, and prices are starting to climb as we speak,” Cutler said. “We want to make sure it’s done correctly. No fluff, just meeting our needs.”
