School Update Center

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

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

November 13, 2020

Update - 11/12/2020

Remote Learning student groups due to COVID-19 circumstances:

All students of K. William Harvey Elementary 11/6/2020 ~ 11/20/2020
First Grade students of Pablo Elementary 11/7/2020 ~ 11/17/2020
Seventh Grade students and staff (RMS) 11/12/2020 ~ 11/22/2020

October 21, 2020

Update - 10/21/20

Ronan School District 30 will be releasing a weekly update on the effect of COVID-19 on our School District. Please check the link below each week for updated statistics and reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

RSD30 Covid-19 Weekly Update - Statistics

June 30, 2020

Update - 06/30/20

June 30, 2020

Dear Ronan School District No. 30 Staff and Families,

The school year ended much differently than any of us anticipated. We want to thank you for your patience and flexibility during the 12 weeks of remote learning. We also want to continue to acknowledge the tremendous strain these circumstances have placed on our families, our children, our teachers, our support staff, our administrators, our community, and our economy. We know the sacrifices and changes that our families and staff have had to make in order to implement new remote learning plans, and we are grateful for the partnerships we have had during this challenging time.

As we end this school year, we want you to know that school leaders in the Flathead Valley and Lake County are already discussing plans for the opening of school this fall. We are meeting regularly and working closely with state leaders and remain in contact with the local health departments. We will continue to do so throughout the summer. We are sharing ideas and working together to hopefully bring all students back to school this fall in a safe and healthy environment. While our hope and goal remains to return to school in the fall at 100% capacity, we recognize that, in light of COVID-19, we must do so with the guidance of our local health officials. As always, the safety and wellbeing of our students, families, staff, and community is our highest priority.

As we begin planning for next fall, it will be helpful for us if each family completes the following survey:

~~https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/98MB5FP (~~Survey Closed)

As school leaders continue to meet throughout the summer, my plan is to provide updates on decisions that will affect the Ronan School District No. 30 students, staff, parents, and community for the upcoming school year. It is hard to predict where we will be in the next couple of months. Regardless of the decision, I understand that our decision will have a big impact on our families.

Thank you for your continued support, and we wish you all a very safe, healthy, and enjoyable summer!

Sincerely,

Mark J. Johnston
Superintendent
Ronan School District No. 30

April 29, 2020

Update - 4/29/20

The Board of Trustees unanimously decided to extend online learning through the end of the school year. Food Service will continue to provide breakfasts and lunches as usual.

April 22, 2020

Update - 4/22/20

Good afternoon,

Today, Governor Bullock held a press conference where he discussed lifting some facets of the Stay-At-Home order currently in place. Governor Bullock stated this is not a time for celebration, and our goal as a State is to remain open for good once we open. He did say that regardless of our decision, our school funding will continue as normal. I would like to share what he said about the current school closure.

Starting May 7th, how schools move forward will be decided by local control. That means our school board will have the final say. I will also be seeking input from the Lake County Health Department and the CSKT Tribal Education Department to help us make an educated decision. We also have a vulnerable population that has to be considered. That being said, we are fortunate to have a great board made up of intelligent individuals, who like me, will analyze this situation and make a decision that is in the best interest of our students, staff, and the community.

Schools have some interesting challenges that have to be considered. Would it even be possible to have a classroom of 20-30 students in the same room while trying to follow social distancing protocol? What would lunch or breakfast look like? What would passing time in the hallways look like? How would we put one student per seat on a bus that currently has two to three students sharing? Would parents just opt to keep their children at home for their safety or the safety of others? These are just a few of the many questions or scenarios that need to be considered.

At this time, we are working hard figuring out this distance learning process. I feel we have come a long way and will continue to tweak our efforts to provide the best possible education for our students. Today, I met with a teacher and an administrator from each building. We discussed some of the challenges, but we also were able to celebrate many of the successes we are seeing. All of us appreciate the hard work of our students and parents and their willingness to step out of their comfort zone and learn along with us. We know it is not perfect, but we will continue to improve our current system.

We are having a special board meeting on April 29th at 7:00 PM where we will discuss and possibly vote on how our District will proceed for the remainder of the school year. I know how important it is for you to know, as soon as possible, the direction we will be taking going forward. Please feel free to email me any questions, comments or concerns you may have. Also, you can call the District Office to discuss with me or you can contact your child’s school if you have questions, comments, or concerns.

Stay Safe,

Mark J. Johnston
Superintendent
Ronan School District 30