School board hears from upset parents

Several parents attended the most recent Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Trustees meeting with concerns and frustrations about information for the start of school not being relayed in a timely manner.

The worry was not having enough information to make the decision on whether to send their children to school or home school them in the face of COVID-19.

The board said they understood the frustration, but things were out of their hands as far as how soon they could release information, as they have to wait on the state for the final go-ahead.

Although the district created a three-tier start plan and submitted it to the state for approval, the state took way longer than anticipated to approve the plan so the district had their hands tied as far as information goes until the state had completed their review and approval.

In addition, parents were concerned what would happen if their child refused to wear a mask, worried their child might be punished in some way.

The board assured the parents that would not be the case. If a child refuses to wear a mask adjustments may be made. For instance, the child may walk to lunch or to recess slightly later than his classmates who are masked in order to keep everyone safe.

The board does not want the parents to look at this as a punishment, rather a way to prevent the spread of the virus and be able to keep school open for as long as they possibly can.

State guidelines must be followed and parents should be aware those guidelines from the state could still change as the school year progresses. The district has to abide by those rules and Superintendent Dustin Hunt said he doesn’t want students to lose anything more.

“Last year we lost the Yellowstone trip, prom, those kinds of things,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen again this year so I hope everyone will follow the guidelines.”

School nurse Brenna Huckfeldt told the board she has made some changes to the medication policy in regards to over the counter medications, which are the biggest issue.

She has spoken with local doctors and they will sign orders in regards to certain over the counter items, however, they will not be giving out Tylenol, even if parents have given their permission on the start of school checklist.

The district has increased the number of bus routes they are running due to the virus. Hunt said he has put in a request for a variance to the 50-student rule and is awaiting an answer from County Health Officer Dr. Vern Miller.

Headache is one of the first signs of COVID-19 along with fever, so rather than giving the medication, children will need to be picked up by their parents if they have a headache.

The board passed, on first reading, a revision to the way paraprofessionals are evaluated. As it is just the first reading, there may still be changes before the second reading in September.

All of the teaching staff has approved a potential change in the pay schedule used by the district.

As Hunt presented it, it gives the teachers a better idea of when they will move into a new tier on the pay scale rather than having to guess.

As it is now, they only move up when the district has the funds to move them. With the new system, there would be an approximate three-year gap between raises, giving the district the chance to give larger raises when the time comes.

With each teacher having been brought into the district at different times, there could be three or four teachers one year who move to the next tier while the others stay the same. Then on their year, those teachers would get their appropriate raises.

Having a “years based” scale will not only be easier on the teachers, knowing when a raise is coming, but will also be easier when it comes to figuring the budget each year.

The proposal passed on first reading.