OCR complaint and strategic plan tops discussion

POTOMAC – At their Sept. 13 meeting, the Potomac School Board discussed the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaint and their response as well as worked through their Strategic Plans and Goals for this year.

Principal John Rouse updated the board on the OCR complaint that was filed against the District in August. At the August board meeting he reported an anonymous individual complained that the school’s playground equipment is not handicap appropriate and that there are an insufficient number of accessible handicap parking spaces available.

In response to board questions, Rouse said the school does not know the complainant. In an effort to determine the next steps, he researched to see if there were any provisions in the law that exempted or provided allowance for small, rural schools with limited budgets. He was unable to find anything and since the school board is a taxing body, the board has the ability to raise taxes to cover the cost to comply.

Following last meeting, the Board submitted a letter which Rouse said OCR liked and wanted to accept. The letter outlined actions the District would take to mitigate the complaint which included paving the parking area to comply with the Montana Code Annotated requirement of “non-permeable, solid surface for handicap [parking] spots.” Rouse said that he was told as long as there is an agreement to do it, “they are not going to hold us to a timeline.”

Board Chair Courtney Hathaway said because the complaint was brought to OCR, it removes the ability to negotiate with the complainant.

“It is at a level where it is now all legal and if we don’t comply we would face the legal repercussions of that,” Hathaway said.

She agreed with Rouse and said as long there is a letter of intent, OCR will close the case and someone will circle back to ensure the agreement was upheld. If they can show they are actively fundraising and reaching out to contractors, she thinks OCR would allow them to do the work next summer.

Members of the board suggested approaching local paving companies and trying to tag on to existing projects in the area to help cut the cost. Rouse said COVID money is available for deferred maintenance. This is a funding option that could be explored. Vice Chair Cliff Vann said in the past they also considered using transportation funds to pave the parking lot. He would like to see if that is a legal option.

As well as funding, the board discussed the drainage issue. If the parking lot was not a permeable surface and not designed correctly, it would drain into the playground and run into the church’s basement.

“It would have to be done right,” Hathaway said.

They agreed that it could cost $40,000-$50,000 for the paving based on the cost of a recent job in Potomac. If it needed to come out of the facilities budget, they may not have enough to cover the $50,000 estimated to do the brick repair work on the main building. They decided to hold off on approving the brick work until they have more information on the paving costs.

At the next meeting they will put the facilities committee on the agenda and have an estimate of the area that needs to be paved.

The board began the strategic planning discussion with a summary of the curriculum audit report from Rouse. Rouse said this is a tool they didn’t have last year.

Along with five focus areas, there were several recommendations that encouraged the school to work on policies to emphasize teaching and learning, something very few schools have.

“You don’t want to lose the momentum and the direction that you have invested in by my absence or some of your absences,” Rouse said. “The way you protect that is put it in policy. You put it in policy that someone has to monitor the delivery of the instruction.”

Rouse recommended they use the school leadership team model because at some point the school may be too small to require a full time principal.

Other recommendations from the audit included developing a curriculum map or guide and looking for more higher levels of cognitive questioning.

Board members and teachers supported this idea of curriculum policy. They voiced the need to sustain and maintain the gains they had made as a staff, administration and board in the past few years.

“We have come so far in such a short amount of time and I would hate for that to just go away because we lose the grants or lose certain people,” said Teacher Abby Stitt.

The board agreed on a goal for curriculum sustainability: Develop policy to further sustain curriculum development, management, assessment and professional development.

Rouse said Stitt’s comment also fits under the School Climate and Culture focus area because the climate and culture is dependant on the relationship that the staff has with the board.

Trustee Wes Mitchell suggested the board develop a mission statement. While the board did not develop the mission statement, they agreed it should be embedded in policy that supports and encourages positive staff/board/community relationships since the board is the bridge between the community and the staff.

Under the financial sustainability focus area, Vann pointed out that they are in a very different situation financially due to state and federal COVID funding than they were the last time they worked through the strategic planning. He felt it was important that they seek out, employ and retain leadership that has an understanding of school finances that goes beyond grants.

Trustee Kyle Kelley suggested adding “public safety” to the Facility/Maintenance Needs goal. Since fewer students now ride the bus due to COVID, there are more parents dropping off and picking up children creating more congestion. He feels there needs to be a better flow to maintain safety.

Other points brought up included the need for fine arts that includes hands-on art and music; attracting and retaining good coaches for athletics and increasing communication with community members that do not have children in the school and who do not get the school’s weekly newsletter.

The board prioritized the focus areas and goals. The goals “Increase student participation in all areas related to high school readiness including developing an awareness of the different career pathways available through area high schools” and “Secure funding in order to keep the Friday program functioning” received no votes.

The board agreed that the Friday program was a service that should be maintained under the Financial Sustainability focus area.

The rest of the goals received fairly even support. Rouse said his vision lines up fairly well with the board and the staff should be able to work within this direction.

In other business the board unanimously approved:

• The MTSBA Policies on the second reading, 3310 – Student Discipline; 3311 – Firearms and Weapons; 4315 – Visitor and Spectator Conduct; 4332 – Conduct on School property and 5223 – Personal Conduct.

• Teresa Patterson as a 2021-2022 para/personal care attendant pending background check.

• The sale/recycle/donation/disposal of surplus property.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at Potomac School.