Ronan School District 2021-2022 Information
August 26, 2022
The Ronan School District has been working under a reopening plan since August 2020. We understand not everyone will agree with our plan, but hopefully we will give parent and guardians the ability to prepare for the 2022-2023 school year.
Schools will be open Monday thru Friday for direct in-person instruction. We will be delivering lessons in-person only.
SAFETY MEASURES
The District is taking the following measures to safely provide in-person instruction, including consideration of guidance by the CDC and state and local health officials as follows:
Universal and correct wearing of masks
District-wide:
Students and staff will not be required to wear a mask or face covering; however, they may choose to wear one if they feel comfortable doing so. We will have face masks available for those wanting them.
Physical Distancing
Pablo Elementary/K. William Harvey Elementary:
We have altered schedules to accommodate smaller groups within the building during lunch time as well as recess time. The schedule will keep a minimal number of students in close proximity to one another, preventing crowded situations. Classroom teachers have used a combination of seating arrangements and classroom furniture to provide students with adequate spacing and distance from others.
Ronan Middle School:
Follow local guidelines.
Try to maintain smaller class sizes/groupings
Staggered transition times for some grade levels
Seating charts and various seating arrangements
Ronan High School:
Follow local guidelines.
Try to maintain smaller class sizes/groupings
Seating charts and various seating arrangements
Handwashing and Respiratory Etiquette
Pablo Elementary/K. William Harvey Elementary
Specific Teach To’s for handwashing and respiratory etiquette is taught to students and resources such as wipes, sanitizer and disinfectant spray are available in each classroom.
Ronan Middle School:
Hand sanitizing stations throughout the building.
Sanitizing wipes/guidelines for all technology.
Air purifiers in rooms w/out windows
Ronan High School:
Signage throughout the building
Hand sanitizing stations throughout the building.
Sanitizing wipes/guidelines for all technology.
New windows/ventilation.
Outdoor classroom spaces
Air purifiers in rooms w/out windows
Updated heating/air system
Cleaning and Maintaining Healthy Facilities (including improving ventilation)
Pablo Elementary/K.William Harvey Elementary
A daytime custodian will remain in place and be in charge of cleaning/sanitizing areas throughout the day. This person will be scheduled to disinfect rooms during recess, lunch and activity times when children and staff are generally absent from the area.
Ronan Middle School:
Water bottle filling stations
Cleaning solution to be used by teachers and students
Ronan High School:
Water bottle filling stations
Students sanitize work areas every period
Providing outdoor eating areas/additional seating
Diagnostic and Screening Testing
Pablo Elementary/K. William Harvey Elementary
The district will strive to maintain a nurse presence in each building and through this office, we will follow best practices/protocols for screening visitors/guests. Limited number of outside visitors will be welcomed after such procedures are followed.
Ronan Middle School and Ronan High School:
Local guidelines
Check-In/Check-Out Sign In
School nurse protocols will be followed
Vaccinations
District-wide:
The District will act in accordance with state and federal law with respect to vaccinations for its staff and eligible students. Administrators will work closely with staff to help facilitate the types of employee leave afforded by the CBA in order to obtain/acquire vaccinations and other medical related appointments. The District will help advertise vaccination resources via social media.
The District will not refuse, withhold from, or deny a person any services, goods, facilities, advantages, privileges, licensing, educational opportunities, health care access, or employment opportunities based on the person's vaccination status.
Accommodating Students with Disabilities
The District will provide accommodations to its policies for students with disabilities as determined appropriately based upon the individual student needs and in accordance with an individual accommodation plan or individualized education plan. Students requiring accommodations should contact Special Education Director Charity Cheff to request information on plans for students with disabilities.
CONTINUITY OF SERVICES
The District will provide for continuity of services as follows:
Student Academic Needs
Pablo Elementary:
We are actively advertising for another tutor position to offer more remedial assistance within the building throughout the day. We’ve increased the number of students attending tutor sessions at any given time to serve higher numbers of kids. We offer summer school for all students.We have also increased our school counselor services to a full time position to assist in this area.
K. William Harvey Elementary:
Students will check out individual Chromebooks and be allowed to use them while they are at home. If students are quarantined they will be allowed to take these home, but must bring them back when they return. All lessons will be posted with online lesson plans. Two additional paraprofessionals will be added to help with student learning loss due to the pandemic.
Ronan Middle School:
Online access to work materials
Summer School
Lunchtime tutoring
After School tutoring
Additional paraprofessional support
Ronan High School:
Online Credit Recovery Program
Summer School/Credit Recovery Program
Academic Academy/Tier II Support
Will hire an extra paraprofessional
Student Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs
Pablo Elementary:
As mentioned already, we have increased our counselor day to reflect a full time position in order to meet the social, emotional and mental needs of the students.
K. William Harvey Elementary:
School counselor has been added to a weekly schedule to see all students within the building on a weekly basis. Lessons are geared around dealing with all social, emotional, and mental health needs.
Ronan Middle School:
Added another ½ time counselor
Student led groups sponsored by staff members
IEFA building representatives to help as liaison between students, staff, and community.
Indian Ed. Coordinator and Tribal Education partnership
Added counseling lessons within the classroom, for grades 5-8.
Ronan High School:
Added another ½ time counselor
Added weekly/quarterly incentives for students
IEFA building representatives to help as liaison between students, staff, and community.
Indian Ed. Coordinator and Tribal Education partnership
4-H Mentoring
Other Student Needs (which may include student health and food services)
Pablo Elementary and K. William Harvey Elementary:
The “Backpack Program” is a resource managed by the counselor to help students who are in need of food assistance. The district offers breakfast and lunch at no cost to our students, while the food service department provides a “healthy snack” each afternoon throughout the year.
Staff Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs
Pablo Elementary:
The district has 7 PIR days built into the schedule to provide training for staff in a variety of areas to include social, emotional and mental health needs. For at least two of those days, staff is free to choose the training and support services they find most necessary and valuable to them.
K. William Harvey Elementary:
Provided staff with extended lunch times and duty free lunches if possible during the week. We will also have a staff member of the month to address teachers going above and beyond. A brag board was also started in the teacher’s lounge for other staff to post a note of appreciation for our efforts.
Ronan Middle School:
Re-establishing a staff lounge
Weekly newsletters
Regular group and individual check-ins with staff
School leadership team meets monthly
Ronan High School:
Sunshine Committee for staff morale
Weekly newsletters
Weekly grade-level meetings School leadership team meets monthly
Other Staff Needs
District-wide:
We have increased budgets for staff in many areas to help with resources for lesson delivery, seating arrangements and sanitization in an effort to give teachers flexibility and to accommodate their personal safety/medical needs.
PUBLIC INPUT
District-wide:
The Plan for Safe Return will be on the monthly school board agenda until at least September 30, 2024. We will continue to get input from the Title VI Parent/Guardian Survey. We will continue to have Title VI meetings to get feedback from our Native American parents.
The District will review this Plan at least once every six months and will provide an opportunity for public input in association with any review of the Plan.
8/11/2021
Ronan School District No. 30 Staff and Families:
As we prepare to begin another successful school year, we are hopeful that there will be a return to what we have grown to appreciate from a traditional school experience. Ronan School District No. 30 is committed to full-time, in-person instruction, activity participation and parent engagement in our schools. We look forward to focusing on what we do best, supporting the growth and success of our students.
Keeping our staff, students, and community safe and healthy also remains a top priority for the 2021-22 school year. We continue to thoughtfully consider decisions regarding COVID-19. Much like last year, arriving at an approach that prioritizes safety while also providing the highest quality educational experience is an extremely challenging and sensitive process with many considerations. We are monitoring Lake County data closely and continually discussing the developing guidance and recommendations that we receive from federal, state and local health authorities.
The administration team developed and our school board has approved our Plan of Safe Return. That document can be found on the District’s website on the main page, www.ronank12.edu. Some of the items you should be aware of are:
All students and staff will be required to wear face coverings on district school buses, regardless of vaccination status. This is a federal law for public transportation including public school buses. Ronan School District will comply with any federal, state or county health mandates.
· Students rotate through schedules and routines as normal
· Food Service will be 100% on-site and will continue to be free for all students
· Parental involvement of health screening prior to school day is necessary
· Staff and students are encouraged to stay home if they are feeling ill
· Handwashing and germ transmission prevention pro-actively taught and frequently encouraged
· Frequent sanitizing of physical space and equipment
· Face coverings are optional for all staff and students
· Extra-curricular activities resume per MHSA regulations
· Field trips will be allowed
· Student or staff school related travel allowed
· There will not be a District calendar printed this year because of the constant changes in events. Instead, both our District condensed calendar and our monthly calendars will be on the District website (easy to find in the black on the top of the main page).This will be constantly updated to hopefully give you the most accurate information. This calendar will include athletic activity events.
Keep in mind everything can change in an instant. I have been monitoring the news and understand that nationally, there seems to be an increase in cases due to the Delta variant. Lake County Health Department and local hospitals are strongly recommending that all eligible persons be fully vaccinated to help prevent COVID-19. Vaccination is important to not only prevent infection, but also to reduce the severity of illness, protect the more vulnerable people around you, and slow the mutation of new, more harmful strains. In the last report I read, it said 97% of all hospitalizations due to COVID-19, are from the unvaccinated population. I am not sure if these numbers are accurate, but even if it is close, vaccination seems to be a good choice.
Protocols related to COVID-19 isolations and quarantines will still be in effect for the 2021-22 school year. The Lake County Health Department released the following information:
Lake County and Tribal public health officials strongly recommend that anyone 12 years of age or older be vaccinated against COVID-19 as long as they are without any contraindications to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Please note the following regarding isolation and quarantines for COVID-19:
● If someone tests positive for COVID-19, that person will have a mandatory 10-day isolation period regardless of vaccination status.
● If someone is a close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19 (defined as anyone who was within six (6) feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 48 hours before the person began feeling sick (or tested positive in the case of asymptomatic persons) until the time the patient was isolated):
Any unvaccinated close contact will have:
● A ten (10) day quarantine if he or she has no symptoms and no COVID-19 test
OR
● A seven (7) day quarantine with no symptoms and a negative COVID-19 test. The negative test must have been completed five days after the initial exposure. If the test result doesn't come back by the end of seven days, the close contact must quarantine until results come back negative or until after day 10. The test can either be a PCR test (which is primarily the test given at the hospital) or a rapid antigen test.
If someone is a close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19 and is vaccinated and not symptomatic, that person will not have to be quarantined.
· All Montanans aged 12 and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. If you are interested in receiving a free COVID-19 vaccine, Walgreens in Polson, call 406-300-6042 or go online at: (https://www.walgreens.com/topic/findcare/coronavirus.jsp?ban=dl_dlDLB_03292020_covid19)
· Pfizer vaccines for ANYONE (Tribal or non-Tribal) aged 12+ are also available through Tribal Health Pharmacy Polson or St. Ignatius. Walk-in hours are Monday-Friday from 8 AM-5PM.
· All COVID-19 vaccine recipients who are minors will need a parent or legal guardian to accompany them to their appointment to sign the consent form.
Exception to the definition of close contacts related to school settings – updated July 9, 2021
· In the K–12 indoor classroom setting, the close contact definition makes an exception for students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) where:
■ both students were engaged in consistent and correct use of well-fitting masks; and
■ other K–12 school prevention strategies (such as universal and correct mask use, physical distancing, increased ventilation) were in place in the K–12 school setting.
· This exception does not apply to teachers, staff, or other adults in the indoor classroom setting
We will closely monitor the COVID activity within our schools and continually evaluate if adjustments are needed in our responses and protocols. Please understand the health and safety of our staff and students is and will continue to be a priority that guides decisions. We humbly ask our entire school community to respect and care for one another.
As always, thank you for your support of Ronan School District No. 30,
Mark J. Johnston
Superintendent
Ronan School District No. 30
Posted May 25, 2021
First day of school for students is Wednesday, August 25th.
I would like to write a quick letter to let you know what my tentative plan is for the upcoming school year. My tentative plan is to ask the Board to consider going back to school full-time for the 2021-22 school year. This would mean we would not be offering any remote learning next year. The following are practices that will either be the same or changed from the current school year:
Keep the daytime custodians – Administrators and teachers felt having these custodians during the day really made a difference. This will allow us to keep the cleaning protocols we currently have in place, which according to the staff might have led to a decrease in the flu and other contagious outbreaks they normally see. The daytime custodian will also continue to keep common areas cleaned and sanitized.
Making masks optional – We will continue to follow the CDC, state and local guidelines that are in place. Students and staff will still have the option of wearing a mask or shield if they so choose. Our District mask mandate ends on June 4, 2021, with the conclusion of school for the current year.
Increased paraprofessional support – As a District, we are expecting over $10 million dollars in ESSER II and ESSER III funds from the federal government to help schools open and help with the learning loss due to the COVID pandemic. One of the provisions of the funding states 20% ($2,000,000) must be applied to those two areas over the next three years. That is about $700,000 per year over three years. We feel if the workforce is out there, we could be looking at hiring more paraprofessionals. I feel our District pays competitively for a paraprofessional. For the 2021-22 school year, a first year para with no education can make $13.70 per hour. One with any bachelor’s degree starts at $15.27. Employees also receive insurance, vacation, and sick pay. This is a great job for someone with kids in school, because when your kids are at school you are getting paid working and when they are home, you will be off with them also. The District is also looking for food service help. They also start at $13.70 per hour with the same benefit package. Keep an eye on the Districts website and click the employment button to see any and all current openings.
Additional Counselor at the middle and high school – We are pleased to have an additional counselor hired as half-time at the middle and half-time at the high school. We feel there will be a need for more mental health services for next year, and it will give additional support for career counselling for all of our students.
Seven period day at RMS and RHS – We will go back to a seven period day next year. Even though we know there is some support to continue with block scheduling, the middle and high school share many staff members. After some discussions within the buildings, we felt that at this time a seven period day is our best option.
School days – For next year we will be going back to our original times for our students.
Pablo – Start serving breakfast at 7:30 AM and instruction runs from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM
K. William Harvey – Breakfast starts at 7:50 AM and instruction runs from 8:20 AM to 3:20 PM
RMS and RHS – Doors open at 7:45 AM and instruction run from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Here Comes the Bus APP – The District purchased bus tracking software with a tracking app you can download. This app will let you know where your student’s bus is, if they are on the bus, or how far away the bus is. This should really help if there is a delay or when you need to be at the bus stop. Information about the Here Comes the Bus app can be found on the main District webpage, www.ronank12.edu. Contact the transportation department if you have any questions about downloading or using this app. Matt Gaut, head of transportation, can be reached at 676-3390 Ext 7230.
Tentative Plan – Keep in mind that all of this is tentative and things can change. The best we can hope for is to be back in-person full-time for the upcoming school year. We all understand that this plan needs to be fluid in case of a setback. We will embrace the positive things we have learned and incorporate them into the way we do business. There are aspects that I hope to never deal with again.
I would like to personally thank the students, staff, parents, community, and the Board for being supportive during this challenging year. I know we are not perfect and probably would have made some different decisions if I had a crystal ball, but under the hand we were dealt, everyone really stepped up. The District has been tracking COVID numbers since the beginning of the year and from April 5, 2021 to today, we have only had one positive COVID case. That is awesome considering we have over 1450 students and 250 staff. Hopefully, this is behind us.
Stay safe,
Mark Johnston, Superintendent Ronan School District No. 30