Vaccines, Jr. High Rodeo, Discussed at Packed MPS Meeting

The Malta School Board Meeting that was held on Wednesday, October 13, was standing room only with many visitors that night.

The board was visited by two middle school girls that made a proposal for a Middle School Rodeo Team.

The girls had a very well, thought-out proposal, pointing out the advantages and positives of rodeo. Such as how rodeo teaches how our ancestors lived back in the frontier days of the old west. It can teach perseverance and determination. How to learn from falling and always getting back up.

They said it can also teach responsibility in taking care of the animals and equipment.

The girls had taken a poll of middle school students and found 26 students that showed interest.

They said that many different events are competed in JH rodeos and that they would like to shoot for as many as they could.

The board thanked the girls for a well-thought-out proposal and asked them to do a little more research into other schools that are doing rodeo and see how they are running their teams. Any information that they get, they should contact Mrs. Cederberg and Mr. Genger and it will go from there.

The High School Student Council representatives Lauren Tuss, Junior Class President, and Maddie Williamson, Junior Class Vice President, made their first report of the school year to the board.

They said that the student council had already been very busy early in the school year. They had organized the homecoming week with the pep rally and dress-up days.

They also said that they were going to start the snack cart during study halls with the money being divided between the four classes.

They have started a pep club. Currently making posters and doing things at sporting events to get the students more involved.

The senior class is currently organizing Snow Ball and it is set for December 23.

Danette Love and Cindi Salveson from Youth Dynamics made a proposal to the board. They are looking to have one of their trained FSA’s, or mentors, in each of the schools.

The FSA’s would be there in the classrooms with a child that is currently in the YDI system and would not be any extra cost to the schools.

They will be very flexible as to whether or not a teacher feels they are needed in the classroom. They could be there for part of a day, or the whole day.

The FSA’s would only be there for the student that is in the YDI system. Not as a teacher’s aid for all students.

The advantage of this is to allow the teacher to focus more on the whole class, rather than on one individual that may be constantly acting up.

The board thanked them for their presentation and said they would review the contract and take action at a future board meeting.

Phillips County Sheriff Jerry Lytle visited with the board next. He stated that the sheriff’s department is currently doing walkthroughs in the schools and would continue to do so.

He said the department would be doing a cyberbully presentation at the school next week, showing what students are facing now and what actions are being done to control the bullying.

He suggested that any criminal acts that are done in the school should be investigated by law enforcement so that any loopholes that a defense attorney could use would be closed.

Lytle then said that he has had a great relationship with all of the school administrators and he hopes that it continues.

County Health Nurse Jenny Tollefson made a visit to the board.

She said that we as a county are currently on an upward trend in cases of Covid. She said that Montana and Phillips County seem to be about a month behind the national trends. Last month the cases were up nationally, this month, Montana sees a rise in cases.

Tollefson said that people just need to be patient. The isolation and quarantine measures will not be going away anytime soon. The quarantines for direct contacts are recommendations. Vaccinated people have to do one thing, unvaccinated need to do another. This is due to the law in Montana.

“We are asking people to do the right thing for a little bit longer,” Tollefson said. “In California, a child has to be vaccinated just to attend school. We are not trying to be Covid Nazis. We’re just asking people to do the right thing for their students and the whole school altogether.”

She said that there is a vaccine that will be coming out sometime around the end of October for children ages five to eleven. At that point, the school board will have to make a decision as to how the quarantine will work for the elementary school.

“Working with the Malta schools has been wonderful,” said Tollefson. “I’ve heard nightmares from neighboring counties working with their schools.”

The Malta School Board, administrators, and teachers all thanked Tollefson and her crew at the Phillips County Health Department for everything that they are doing for the community.

John Dovre was at the meeting with his bid for snow removal at the Malta schools. The bid was the same as last year, with the only change being that his son Trenton would be taking it over.

The bid was accepted and passed unanimously.

In the department reports, the elementary school had its fire safety meeting. Mrs. Seymour said the firefighters did a great job of engaging with the students. The first fire drill was held and all students were out in one minute.

Mr. Bleth said that the textbooks in the high school would need to be addressed in the future. Some subjects are outdated.

Both Mrs. Seymour and Mrs. Cederberg said that Wednesday, October 20, is Unity Day. A day to show unity for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. The goal is to send a visible message that no child should ever experience bullying. A relay will be held at the track that day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with Orange being worn by all who can.

The board also approved an Extra Duty Pay proposal. A one-time payout of $1,500 to all that are doing extra cleaning, prepping lessons for those students that have to be quarantined, etc. The money comes out of the ESSER 2 funds.

They also approved the appointment for Title IX Director of Shiloh Seymour.

The next Malta School Board meeting will be on Wednesday, November 10, at 7:00 p.m.