School Board discusses enrollment and transportation

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees discussed enrollment and the coming year’s transportation schedule during their regular meeting Tuesday evening.

Havre Public Schools Superintendent Brian Gum said enrollment numbers are currently about the same as they were last year, however the district is still getting new students every day, especially at the kindergarten level, so things are moving in the right direction.

Gum also talked about conversations he’s had with Havre Public Schools Facilities and Transportation Director Scott Filius about setting up transportation between the schools and the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line now that the school is using a hybrid four-day week model for the coming year.

Club Executive Director Tim Brurud spoke at the meeting about some of the things the club is doing to adjust their operations to better synergize with the school’s new schedule.

Under the new schedule students would be required to attend school four days a week, with extended class periods, and every other Friday would offer optional extra help for students in the morning, called Support Fridays.

Brurud said the club will be open every Friday from noon to six and he’s happy that the school is offering to provide transportation from the schools to the club.

He said the club is permitted to serve one meal and one snack per day and on Support Fridays they will probably serve the meal later in the day, since students will likely have had lunch at the school.

On non-Support Fridays, he said, they will probably serve the meal early and the snack later, but the finer details of how that will work still need to be worked out.

Brurud said the club will likely face some staffing issues on Fridays since most of their employees are college students pursuing education degrees and they need to attend class, but they will find a way to work it out.

As for enrollment at the club, he said they have around 230 students total including 46 from Highland Park Early Primary School, which they still have slots available for.

He said the club is still getting new students signing up, but he’s hoping they won’t have to cap enrollment.

He said nearly 90 percent of their enrolled students are looking to attend Friday’s so the club is still going to be well-attended.

On the subject of transportation, Gum also thanked members of the board for writing letters of support for the district’s attempts to get a grant that will pay for two more electric buses.

He said the two electric buses the school has been using already are extremely reliable and having another two would be a valuable addition to the district’s fleet.

During the meeting the board also decided not to join the Montana Quality Education Coalition.

Gum said he’s analyzed the services of the organization and the cost to join it and doesn’t believe it is necessary at this point.

He said a lot of the services the organization offers are already being covered by the Montana School Boards Association so he doesn’t think it is a worthwhile investment.

He said he might reconsider his position on the matter if the organization were to make some kind of presentation to the board about the organization’s potential benefits at some point, perhaps next year.

The board also approved a number of new and revised policies on first reading, which were primarily proposed to keep the district’s policies in line with state policy.

Gum said there will be a second reading of these changes before they are voted on so anyone with questions or comments will have another opportunity to make them.

During the meeting the board also heard from Lincoln-McKinley Primary School Teacher Jane Leinwand and her daughter Lindsey, who recently completed a massive student-teacher project with Albert H. Small Normandy Institute about the Normandy Invasion and a soldier from Harlem who participated in WWII, U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Wallace Winston Mummey

Jane Leinwand said she and her daughter were selected by the institute to complete an extensive research project on the invasion that Mummey took part in, along with the contributions of many other soldiers.

Leinwand said this project involved a great deal of research with primary and secondary sources as well as trips to Washington, D.C., and the Normandy Region of France for on-site historical research.

During the meeting Lindsey Leinwand read a eulogy she wrote for Mummey as part of the project talking about the war, his part in it and what he meant to his comrades and the state, which, proportional to its population, sent more troops into WWII than nearly any other state.

“Mummey fought, made many sacrifices, and protected our country,” she said. “Mummy’s name and story will never be forgotten.”

Jane and Lindsey Leinwand said doing this project has been an amazing experience.

When asked how she’d heard about the Institute, Jane Leinwand said this project wasn’t her first encounter with the organization and she’d been told about it by then-Havre Public Schools Superintendent Craig Mueller, who died unexpectedly last year.

She said Lincoln-McKinley Primary School Principal Holly Bitz wrote a letter of recommendation for their project.