COVID-19 Plan of Action for Student Services During School Closure

by Robert "Bob" Lewandowski

On Friday at 3:30 PM the Colstrip School Board of Trustees unanimously approved the COVID-19 Action Plan. The Plan was sent to the Governor's Office and has received approval today to begin the Plan March 30, 2020. The District is in an excellent position to provide remote learning to our students. With Chromebook One-to-one services as well as a host of programs utilized during regular instruction, off-site remote learning should go well. If you do not have internet access, please contact the school, see the number below.

If your child has picked up their Chromebook, you should start seeing information pushed out by your classroom teachers and administration starting on Monday, March 30, 2020 if you haven't received it already. See the Action Plan for more details.

Below is the Action Plan and the expectations set forth for delivering off-site learning, school meals, services for students with disabilities as well other services customarily provided.

If you have any questions please call at 406-748-4699 extension 3400.

Information has been and will be shared through the follow venues:

• Emails

• Phone Messenger

• Colstrip Public School Website

• Facebook 

COVID-19 Action Plan

Offsite learning instruction and structure: 

• Colstrip Public Schools is asking the certified teaching staff to be electronically available during the hours of 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM during school calendar days providing instruction to students through the following mechanism:
• On-line Courses
• Video chats/tutoring
• Phone conference calls
• All students have been issued Chromebooks that they currently use at school for access to on-line programming. Those that do not have on-line access will be provided hard copy packets on a bi-weekly basis. 
• Information will be pushed out to students and parents using at least one of the following: email, Google Classroom or Dojo. 
• The District will be using IXL as the main resource to provide educational services; however, IXL by itself is not sufficient and in some cases does not provide support to some contents and age groups. Therefore,  IXL will be complemented by other appropriate on-line services through Google Classroom or DoJo such as SuccessMaker, Edready and iReady. Teachers are encouraged to utilize other on-line sources as well; however, the District requires K-12 student participation with IXL in applicable contents. Variations must be approved by the Curriculum Director, Susan Sharkey. IXL is appropriate in that it is very user friendly and that it is diagnostic and analytical in its delivery and provides systemic reporting of student engagement and mastery learning for following up with the Montana Office of Public Instruction and Governor’s office. 
• Point of fact, IXL is an intuitive program that also allows maximum input by the instructor while providing redirection during student use through the program. IXL also provides analytics and diagnostics that give up-to-the-minute insights, which pinpoints students' overall working grade levels and their levels on key strands. The Diagnostic Strand Analysis makes differentiation a breeze showing you the most common skill recommendations needed. Once again, IXL will also allow District-wide reporting that aligns with Montana Common Core Standards and student mastery. 
• Teachers will assign skill based lessons using IXL through either Google Classroom or DoJo. DoJo or Google Classroom can also be used to push out content and provide student learning experiences. The District understands that the developed educational services will look different in almost every class and will do our best to provide consistent parameters for students, parents and teachers to follow. 
• The District is providing access to these opportunities through the school website at http://colstripschoolsdigital.org. Technology Supervisor, Mike Lovato is working on the website to establish links for learning appropriate to student classes and grades. Students will be able to gain fluency and confidence in math, reading and language arts! The identified programs and interventions will help students master essential skills at their own pace through fun and interactive questions and built in support. We will have staff available to answer any questions as well as a helpline for students. 

School meals, consistent with what the district regularly provides: 

• Colstrip Schools has been granted a waiver through the MT Office of Public Instruction to establish an emergency Summer Food Service Program during school closure. This waiver allows Colstrip Schools to provide breakfast and lunch for all children ages 18 and younger free of charge. Participants are asked to notify the District Office (748-4699 x3400) for questions or to schedule meal pick-up. This plan will go into effect beginning Monday, March 30^th. The pick-up point will be the Ponderosa Butte Golf Course lower parking lot (softball) from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. This is a grab ‘n’ go program. Bus routes may be run as needed to deliver meals to out-of-district students.

Services for students with disabilities: 

• The District is providing a Free and Appropriate Education for students with disabilities.
• The District is conducting IDEA and 504 meetings via electronic means and/or meeting in person, but complying with The Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Center for Disease Control (CDC) Guidelines, State Guidelines and/or local health guidelines;
• The District is providing educational and related services, in collaboration with parents and staff, through all means available, including
• Alternative learning sites
• On-line learning
• Video chats/tutoring
• Phone conference calls
• Hard copy packets of materials
• Special Education Director, Jennifer Hickok indicates that all special education needs will be provided on-line and in alignment with student individual educational programs while adhering to social distancing. Needed meetings and reviews will be hosted virtually using programs like Zoom, Go to Meeting or Webex. 

Other services customarily provided to students: 

• Other services customarily provided must align with the Governor's directive for health and safety. 
• The District is providing guidance counseling supports and services utilizing communication forms: email, telephone, Zoom and etc. Constituents may call the District Office at 406-748-4699 for directed services.
• The District is providing social and emotional supports and services utilizing communication forms: email, telephone, Zoom and etc.  Constituents may call the District Office at 406-748-4699 for directed services.