MISSOULA — Missoula County Public Schools has released additional information about plans to move into the second phase of its reopening plan.
The MCPS Board of Trustees voted last week to move forward with plans to tranisiton into Phase 2 of the district's reopening plan.
Superintendent Dr. Rob Watson states in a letter sent to families on Monday that "Phase 2 is defined as more days in school for students and increasing the capacity of students in the school on any given day."
"We will continue with shortened school days to help with limiting the number of students on our buses and we will continue with the intensive block schedule at grades 6-12 to limit the number of contacts within any one school day," the letter continues.
A full description of Phase 2 can be found here.
Four-day school weeks will be in effect during the transition period with in-school instruction taking place Tuesday through Friday.
Below are the start dates for the transition to Phase 2:
- Grades K-2: January 26th
- Grades 3-5: February 2nd
- Grades 6-8: January 26th
- Grades 9-12: February 2nd
- Willard: February 16th (Due to timing of their grading period.)
Below is the full letter from Dr. Watson:
Dear MCPS Families:
Thank you for your continued patience with our COVID response. In addition, thank you for your support for the dedicated staff at your school. They are working through challenging times and have been instrumental in keeping our schools and classrooms safe this school year.
In the message we sent last week following the board meeting, we shared that the Board of Trustees met last Tuesday to discuss the in-person learning model for MCPS. After lengthy discussion and public comment, the Board supported the recommendation from the COVID taskforce to move forward with transitioning the District to Phase 2 of our reopening plan. Phase 2 is defined as more days in school for students and increasing the capacity of students in the school on any given day. We will continue with shortened school days to help with limiting the number of students on our buses and we will continue with the intensive block schedule at grades 6-12 to limit the number of contacts within any one school day. A full description of Phase 2 can be found HERE [drive.google.com].
As we are entering the last week of the semester, the Board supported the development of a transition plan to support this move to Phase 2. Due to the timing of the PIR day (February 8) and the President’s Day Holiday (February 15), we have decided to start with 4-day weeks for this transition period. In-school instructional days will be Tuesday - Friday.
Here are the start dates for transition to Phase 2:
- Grades K-2: January 26th
- Grades 3-5: February 2nd
- Grades 6-8: January 26th
- Grades 9-12: February 2nd
- Willard: February 16th (Due to timing of their grading period.)
Mondays: January 25 and February 1 will be reserved as staff preparation days before the shift to Phase 2. Remote learning is not expected on these days. February 8th is a pre-scheduled PIR (staff training) day. February 15th is a school holiday.
This information is also updated on our website at www.mcpsmt.org/covid-19 [mcpsmt.org]
Thanks for your support in this transition to Phase 2.
Rob Watson
Superintendent
