Policy Needs and School Safety Top School Board Discussion

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary student walkout, school safety upgrades and required facility maintenance were the main topics of discussion at the March 20 school board meeting.

The student-led Walkout at SLE occurred March 14 at 10 a.m. along with the National School Walkout. While fourth through eighth graders could have participated, only 12 fourth, fifth and sixth graders left class. Students met by the flagpole in front of SLE. After a moment of silence for the 17 students and staff killed a month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., they marched in front of the school for the remaining 17 minutes.

Superintendent Chris Stout and board members said they visited with concerned parents about the Walkout. The board also received a letter expressing concern and requesting action.

Board Chair Todd Johnson said the main concerns for the Walkout included interrupting the school setting, supervision both in and outside the classroom during the Walkout and student safety.

While it was unclear if it was actually legal to protest on school grounds, Johnson felt the students that walked out were safer on school grounds than out in the streets.

Vice-Chair Kyle Marx said another concern of one of the parents was that his/her student participated to honor those that were killed in recent school shootings. The student did not realize that it was also about gun control.

Board member Karen Kovatch said that parents of Seeley-Swan High School students were required to sign permission for their student to be allowed to leave the building. This was in accordance with the Missoula County Public School policy. Kovatch said having parent permission would inform the parents of the protest and ensure students knew what they were protesting.

SLE’s junior high teachers self-adopted MCPS’s policy since there was nothing in place at SLE. Junior high teacher Duane Schlabach said that when students asked him the day before if they could leave class, he said that their parents need to come and check them out and they needed to leave school grounds.

SLE teachers at the meeting said they weren’t informed the walkout was taking place at SLE until Wednesday morning when signs went up at the school.

“I encourage you to please be very specific in policy. We took a lot of heat for that and we had nothing to do with it,” said Schlabach addressing the school board. “I beg you to be very thorough in what you do and that it is consistent.”

Third grade teacher Kelsi Luhnow added that parents are making the assumption that students are in the teachers care. If the teachers released the students from class then it begs the question who gave permission. “Even though I didn’t have any students out there, I feel like I have to defend my fellow teachers if they are taking on heat.”

“In all honesty, with what we had I think we handled it appropriately. Of course in hindsight there are a million things that we could do differently,” said Stout. “That is why I think it is important to say that everyone was safe and made it through that. Let’s now take it, reflect upon in and see how we can handle it better in the future and move forward.”

Johnson agreed that they handled it as well as they could have and everyone was safe. He felt that if the school has prior knowledge of anything that is organized, that would take a student out of class during school time, with a sign and without parent permission, there needs to be a policy that addresses it.

Board member Gary Wayne said that even though the school had prior knowledge of the walkout, “It’s not clear what students were protesting. So to say [as stated in the letter of concern] that we sanctioned a protest by allowing it to happen [is questionable].”

The board agreed to reply to the letter of concern over the Walkout. They asked the Safety Committee to create a policy for student-led protests and demonstrations that they would recommend for adoption at the board’s April 17 meeting. This would put policy in place should students leave class during the National School Walkout April 20.

Also on the topic of school safety, board member Ryen Neudecker asked if any progress has been made on the intercom system. Stout said that Blackfoot has been responsive and has done some work but not everything is fixed. The teachers said they are still unable to hear the intercom system in their rooms.

Clerk Heather Mincey said that an announcement can be sent to the entire school from the office by pushing one button. The issue now is the intercoms on the new phones are not loud enough to be heard during class. Blackfoot is exploring different options since announcements can be heard in the hall but not in a classroom when the door is closed.

Regarding building maintenance, the board voted unanimously on the intent to impose an increase in the transportation and building reserve fund levies. This is a non-voted levy allowed by Senate Bill 307. Estimated impact to a $100,000 home would be $0.31 annual increase and for homes valued at $200,000 it would be a $0.64 annual increase. This replaces last year’s levy amount.

The board will decide if they will impose the levy by their August meeting.

SLE received a note from the Health Department mandating kitchen remodels. Stout said they are working with the Health Department to allow them to hold off on construction until summer because they don’t currently have this in the budget and it would be very difficult to remodel the kitchen while serving lunch to more than 150 students.

“Nothing is out of compliance as far as food quality right now but everything is out of code with our drains,” said Stout who said the majority of the money would be spent on upgrades that are not visible. “As far as the permissive levy goes, unless we have another pocket of money, we are going to be mandated to update the kitchen.”

While Stout could not give an exact amount, he estimated more than $20,000 just to meet code upgrades.

In other business:

• The 2018-2019 school calendar was approved with graduation set for Wednesday, June 5.

• The freezer at the school is fixed. Stout shared his appreciation for Cory’s Valley Market allowing them to store food at the store for nearly a month.

• There will be 26 sixth-eighth grade students going on the Washington D.C. trip June 9-13. The junior high goes every three years. It will just be SLE students since they met the minimum number of 22.

• Staff hired: Brett Haines as head track coach; Tylen Dial as the assistant track coach; and Mike McGrew was the 21st Century Coach/Helper.

The next school board meeting will be April 17 at 5:30 p.m. at SLE. The meeting agenda and time are posted at the front of the school, at the Seeley Lake Post Office and at Cory’s Valley Market at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.