School District 6 formally announces emergency school closure; buildings will be locked down on Monday for cleaning

The Columbia Falls School District 6 Board Thursday declared an emergency school closure due to the coronavirus outbreak. The closure comes as the expectation is that schools will likely remain closed much longer than Gov. Steve Bullock’s initial closure order, which is set to end next Friday (March 27).

“The period of time covered by this declaration will be for the period covered by any declaration of emergency by the President, Congress, Montana Legislature, governor or Flathead County Health Department,” the closure resolution for both the high school and elementary schools states.

The plan next week is to not allow anyone in the buildings starting Monday except for custodians so the buildings can be thoroughly cleaned.

The board passed the resolution on an unanimous vote via conference call. Board members Michael Nicosia, Keri Hill and Larry Wilson were not on the call, but the move was not entirely unexpected, despite being termed “emergency.”

School superintendent Steve Bradshaw noted that health experts have been saying that closures really need to last at least 30 days to be effective. Schools closed by order of Gov. Steve Bullock on March 16.

The district still plans to teach students remotely after spring break. Bradshaw said schools will give out Chromebooks to students who need them — about 400 total. The district is also adding software capabilities to make it easier for students to access materials. District staff will work over spring break to get it up and running. Students this week also picked up their books, which were still at schools.

Teachers will create their own schedules so they can have flexibility with students. That way a student that needs help, at say, 6 p.m. they can get it.

The district is still working on providing Internet access to everyone. Most students have it, but a few don’t — less than 5 percent. There’s even some staff that don’t have Internet access from home — they use their cell phones. Problem with that is they don’t have unlimited data plans, and streaming live video gobbles up data.

One option might be to let teachers in the schools after the buildings are cleaned, but they might need a waiver from the state for that.

Another problem is teaching hands-on classes like shop. Teachers have said they can do at least some video classroom tutorials, but it won’t replace the hands-on experience.

Students in the building trades class are building a cabin for Glacier National Park. That project is supposed to be done by the end of the school year. Bradshaw suggested that perhaps small groups of students — perhaps five at a time, could work on it.

But a lot of this is up to teachers and whether or not they’re comfortable with the exposure risk. Younger people often carry coronavirus, but they don’t often get sick.

To date 761 Montanans have been tested for the coronavirus and 12 have tested positive, but one resident was out of the state when the illness was confirmed.