School action plans detail switch to off-site learning

The Kalispell Public Schools Board of Trustees has approved a plan of action school districts throughout the state are submitting to the Governor’s Office this week, summarizing how public schools provided instruction and services during the initial two-week school closure March 16-27, as a condition of continuing to receive state funding and waiving instructional hours spent in the classroom.

This week, Flathead Valley public schools are out on spring break.

Kalispell Assistant Superintendent Callie Langohr said the plan will continue to be updated if school closures continue amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, Gov. Steve Bullock extended the closure another two weeks — Monday through April 10.

These action plans cover how districts are providing access to off-site learning (instruction and structure), school meals, services for students with disabilities and other services customarily provided to students.

By waiving pupil-instruction hours, the focus is now on student proficiency and how to best attain that under unprecedented circumstances. Montana has pending requests for waiving federally mandated standardized testing, which is a component of measuring student performance and state accountability. The U.S. Department of Education is currently processing state requests.

“Determining proficiency is going to be in the hands of our building administrators and our staff,” Flatau said, noting there will be consistency among individual buildings such as the district’s six elementary schools and between the two high schools.

The hours of planning staff undertook last week was done in anticipation the school closure would be longer, according to Flatau.

“We had a pretty strong hunch this was going to be continued and actually made plans through April 10,” Flatau said, adding, “My prediction is the governor will probably go in two week segments.”

The district also surveyed families to assess technology needs at home. There were 1,233 responses to an online survey, according to the district, with 94 families reporting no computer access and 49 reporting no internet access (not including cellular access) at home.

About 5,921 students are enrolled in the district. The district made plans to loan out computers if necessary and provide hard copies of learning materials to students without internet access. Spectrum is also offering 60 days of free broadband and Wi-Fi access to households with K-12 students who do not have service from the telecommunications company.

The district will continue serving meals to students throughout the closures at various locations around Kalispell. During the first week of the school closure 1,200 meals were served. For spring break, Flatau said 400 families picked up boxes of food to take home and make breakfast and lunches.

The district homeless education liaison is also working with the transportation department to deliver food, learning packets, toiletries and clothing by bus to homeless students.

In addition to working at keeping students engaged in remote learning during the closures, Flatau also talked about the importance of supporting staff, adding it to the plan.

“We actually added a fifth category we felt was important and that is the additional services provided to our staff because if we don’t support our staff, I’ll say it this way, there’s a direct correlation in supporting our staff and supporting our students,” he said.

While teachers, food service, maintenance and transportation staff have clear tasks to accomplish, the district has also thought about how to keep its classified employees, which includes paraprofessionals, engaged in work, now that learning has moved off-site. During a normal school day, paraprofessionals assist teachers in the classroom by working with students one-on-one or in small groups, or outside the classroom, by supervising students at lunch or recess.

“We’re going to be offering some options for our administrators, particularly for our classified staff, paras, et cetera. We have options that will include, certainly not limited to, supporting the ag center, possibly supporting the student-built home. We’ll have grounds work that will need to be done in the coming weeks,” Flatau said.

While the school day will look very different in the coming weeks, Flatau and Langohr voiced confidence in staff.

“We have also learned through this experience that we have staff that are more than willing to work — ‘I want to participate. I want to be part of the solution. Tell me what to do.’ I mean, they are more than willing to jump in and help and they are incredibly creative, dedicated members of the Kalispell Public School District team,” Langohr said. “One way or the other I think we will make it work.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.