Board approves new camera system and gives updates on student improvement plan

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Elementary School Board unanimously voted to use the remaining $13,000 the school received in CARES Act money towards purchasing new security cameras during their Dec. 21 meeting. The board also received updates on the Student Improvement Plan, COVID and discussed how homeschooled children could engage with the school.

SLE Superintendent Josh Gibbs said the school’s CARES Act money must be spent before Dec. 30, otherwise it goes back to the state.

The camera company the school is using is Verkada which Gibbs has described as the “Cadillac of camera systems.” He proposed going with the brand due to features like tracking specific pieces of apparel or cars as well as its ability to signal staff members if someone is spray painting them or if they are dislodged. According to him, a “handful” of schools in Montana are currently using the system now.

The board unanimously approved purchasing nine cameras in total, six outdoor and three indoor. A quote for the cameras and a five year license is $12,723. Individual cameras cost between $800 - $1,000 apiece. They come with a 10-year warranty and all unsaved footage is stored for 30 days before being deleted.

During his report, Gibbs gave an update on the School Improvement Plan. In the plan’s action steps, the school highlighted certain sections that are coming up, being currently worked on or completed.

Actions that have been completed include implementing STAR for benchmark testing to track student progress and creating a community engagement committee. Currently members of the School Improvement Team are working on updating the student policy handbook. In the first couple of months of 2021, the team members will work towards completing a technology inventory as well as a curriculum inventory for each grade level.

Gibbs said so far there have been no positive student or staff COVID cases at SLE. As the state leadership transitions in 2021, Gibbs said the school will be under Missoula County’s mask mandate.

Board members engaged in a conversation regarding home school student participation in SLE classes and activities. Gibbs said the Missoula County superintendent told him that schools can individually determine how involved homeschool students can be in terms of extracurricular activities and daytime classes.

Trustee Kathy Teague took issue with homeschool parents having their children interrupt the school day by participating in only some of the daytime classes.

“We’re not good enough for them to send here, but yet they want to come and pick and choose what they want to do,” Teague said. “I have no problem with extracurricular, that’s sports, that’s Missoula Children’s Theater, even the ski team, and I have no problem with that at all, but not during the day. Plus I think it’s an interruption for our other students.”

Chair Kyle Marx responded saying that there are other reasons parents may choose to homeschool their children.

“Everybody has a reason that they have decided to homeschool their children or keep them out,” he said. “And I hate to deprive that child of things that they cannot be given at home. I don’t want to sit here and be the judge of ... why they decided to homeschool their child or not. Because it’s not the children that are making this choice, it’s the parents that are doing it and I’d hate to deprive the children.”

While he supports providing opportunities he still believes the schedule needs to be regimented and homeschool students will need to follow the schedule.

The board will engage in further discussions before determining how exactly homeschool students will be allowed to get involved.

The board unanimously approved the student attendance agreements, the updated substitute list and raising the substitute pay rate from $10 an hour to $11.50 an hour. They also unanimously approved the ski team coach hires Mike McGrew and Darren Zelman.

The next SLE board meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m., Jan. 19.