One Nation, Under God

MPS Board hold first post-school meeting

The Malta School District held its regular school board meeting on Wednesday, June 9, in the boardroom of the Malta Middle/High School at 7:00 p.m.

The Board Chairman, Carter Clausen, called the meeting to order, recognized the visitors to the meeting, and asked if there was any non-agenda public input related to topics under the jurisdiction of the Malta Public Schools. There was none, so the board moved on to the consent agenda portion of the meeting.

The board approved the agenda for the nights’ meeting, approved the minutes for the May 12 special meeting and the May 12 regular meeting, and approved the payment of the bills.

The board then moved on to discussion items, of which there were two listed.

The first item was any standing committee reports. It was decided that they would all be covered in the action items coming up next in the meeting.

The second discussion item was administrative reports. Both Mr. Clark and Mr. Bleth were in attendance to give those reports.

First to address the board was Malta Elementary Principal, Mr. Clark.

He reported to the board on the projected enrollment for next year. It currently stands at 240. The incoming kindergarten class is currently sitting at 53.

Clark informed the board of the current schedules for the staff.

He then handed out graphs to the council on the I-Ready diagnostic results and stated that they, “Are showing a good trend.”

Clark then informed the board of the last activities that the students had taken part in during the last month of school.

He said the entire elementary had participated in a track and field day, and that it went very well and the kids seemed to have had a really good time.

Clark then said that the first and second grades had gone on the annual train trip. Both grades went this year due to the second grade missing the trip last year.

He reported that the kindergarten and third grade classes had gone to the Phillips County Museum.

Clark then said that the second grade had gone to the Dinosaur Museum and also participated in an in-field dig out at Hammonds Ranch.

Lastly, Clark said that the fourth graders had gone out and learned how to pan for gold.

He informed the board that summer school had started on June 1, and would go through July 1.

As this was Mr. Clark’s last meeting, the entire board thanked him for his year of service and wished him well in his new job.

Mr. Clark said, “I really enjoyed this past year and I thank you for giving me the opportunity.”

Next was Malta High School Principal Mr. Bleth to give his report.

Mr. Bleth updated the board on the custodial schedule for the summer.

He then informed the board that starting Monday, June 14, the school was offering a credit recovery program for students in the high school who had earned a failing grade for a semester of the past school year. He said the primary reason for offering this is to help a student earn those credits back, so as to not completely “screw up” their scheduling in the upcoming years.

He told the board that this does not affect the policy of being ineligible for activities for 90 days starting the next semester. The students would still be ineligible. This program will just help the students stay on track schedule-wise. He informed the board that this would be taught on the digital academy and the students are required to come to the school for it three days a week for 17 sessions.

Bleth said, “If they miss two days, they are done. The students need to put the effort into the program.”

He then said, “I’ll be honest, we had more kids than average have failing grades in the last semester. A number that I’m concerned with.” He added, “It wasn’t one particular grade, subject, or teacher. The one thing that I did notice in looking at it though, is that of those kids, well over half of them missed 10 percent of the school year or more in absences.”

Bleth told the board that the program is not mandatory and that there were five or six kids that had said they would like to do it.

Bleth then informed the board that the school would be switching providers for the website. He said that the new one will be much easier to use for both the faculty and parents.

He told the board that the handbooks would be addressed in the July meeting due to some tweaks that need to be made. He went on to say that the biggest change would be seen in the attendance policy and excessive absences.

Bleth informed the board that he would be in Glasgow on Monday and Tuesday, June 14 and 15, for the Class B athletic directors meeting. He is attending due to there not being an A.D. on staff as of yet.

After the Administrative Reports, the board moved on to a large number of action items. Many of these were discussed in the special committee meetings held throughout the month.

The first item was for Board Chairman, Carter Clausen to assign the school board trustees to their new committees.

The new assignments are as follows; Building Committee- Justin Lamb and Scott Meneely. Curriculum Committee- Greg Skiff and Meneely. Finance Committee- Carter Clausen and Kevin Koss. Personnel Committee- Clausen and Skiff. Transportation Committee- Koss and Lamb. A motion was made to accept the assignments; it was seconded and approved by unanimous vote.

The next action items for the board to discuss were to approve the 2020-21 contracts, approve the 2021-22 contracts, approve the 2021-22 membership dues and/or agreements, approve the final expenditures, as needed for the end of the year, approve the Whitewater and Turner transportation requests, the individual transportation contracts and out of district attendance agreements.

These items were all discussed, motioned, seconded, and approved by unanimous votes.

The next action item was to approve the 2021-22 bus routes. This item was tabled to the July board meeting so as to have more information after a transportation meeting later this month.

The board then approved the corrected 2021-22 school calendar.

The next item was to approve the extension of the emergency declaration. This was recommended by the state board to cover bases for the next year. A motion was made, seconded, and passed by unanimous vote.

The board then approved the collective bargaining agreements that had been discussed/bargained for in a special committee meeting.

The next action item was to change the current mask mandate in the schools. This item was discussed heavily by the board members, principals, and teachers that were in attendance. It was decided that the new mandate would be that all masks are optional and up to the individual whether they wanted to wear one or not. It was also stated that this will be a very fluid mandate and that it can and will be changed as to the current state of Phillips County as needed. It was also discussed that there needed to have definitive wording in the handbook as to the rules for wearing masks.

The final action item on the agenda was to approve the purchase of a Ford route bus. This was discussed, motioned, seconded, and approved by unanimous vote.

The next item on the agenda was the Superintendent’s Report.

Mr. Genger informed the board that the elementary roof repair is scheduled for the next week.

Genger said that the materials had been ordered for the locker room shower upgrades.

He said that the teacher search is still ongoing.

Genger informed the board that he would be attending A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) training in Lewistown on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 15 and 16. He will be attending this with the goal of becoming a trainer so that he will then be able to present that here in Malta.

Mr. Genger then went on to discuss a large problem in the school of vaping. He informed the board that he is looking into getting some sensors for the bathrooms that would alert both his computer and Mr. Bleths’ computer when vaping is going on and that the two could then look at the cameras in the hallway to see who it was by timestamp. He stated that the sensors had worked well for Cut Bank.

Genger also told the board that there is a problem on the horizon with candy, water, and other items that are laced with THC that are almost impossible to tell the real items from the laced ones. He stated that he would not be surprised in the near future if the state came out and said absolutely no outside items, (candy, gum, water, etc.) allowed in the schools.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 14, at 7:00 p.m.

 

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