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Greetings Miles City School District Families:
The board of trustees met last evening to review the Safe and Healthy Reopening Plan for Miles City Schools and to review Emergency Policy 1905 as it relates to masks or facial coverings. At this time, the board has voted to continue the requirement of masks or face coverings during school hours and at school activities both during and outside of school hours. As always, we continue to put our students and staff at the forefront of our decision making. Masks will allow us to continue to operate in TIER 2 of our reopening plan with less risk of moving into TIER 3 because of staff shortages or over-populated remote classrooms. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation. Superintendent Meghan Brown (Sent via School Messenger notification system)
Good evening Miles City Unified School District families. As most of you are likely aware, the governor announced yesterday that he would be lifting the state-wide mask mandate Friday morning. While we do not know the specifics of tomorrow’s announcement by the governor, school districts across Montana have received confirmation this afternoon from Travis Hall, Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Communications, and Mike Milburn, Senior Advisor to the Governor that the upcoming change in directive will allow local jurisdiction, including local school boards, to implement their own mask requirements. What does this mean for Miles City Public Schools? Regardless of tomorrow’s announcement by the governor, our local school board voted in August to open our schools in TIER 2 of our reopening plan. We remain in TIER 2 today. Regarding masks, TIER 2 clearly states that masks must be worn by staff and students at the high school 100% of the time and that in our other five schools, masks will be expected when entering and exiting school grounds and all times on school property when 6 feet of social distancing cannot be maintained. The school board plans to meet early next week to review the health and safety reopening plan and revisit the plan and District policy as they relate to masks. When and until a change in plan and policy is approved by the board, we will continue to require and enforce mask expectation. When a time is decided upon for this special board meeting, an announcement will be posted to both the District Facebook page and website. Thank you for your cooperation and patience. Please know that we have the safety of our students and staff in mind as we work through this new information. As always, stay safe and be well. Meghan Brown Superintendent As most of you are probably aware, last week, the CDC issued new guidance on length of quarantine for individuals meeting the definition of a direct contact to a COVID positive individual. The definition of a direct contact still remains “someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.”
While the CDC still endorses a 14-day quarantine period as the best defense for maximum transmission safety, the CDC’s new guidance allows for a shortened quarantine period with monitoring for symptoms still lasting through the 14 days. The Miles City Unified School District board of trustees met for their regular board meeting on December 8th and adopted the following new quarantine protocol: Students and staff determined to be a direct contact to a COVID positive individual must quarantine for 10 full days and can return to school after the 10th full day if they are symptom free. They should continue monitoring for symptoms for an additional 4 days. At this time, the District will not be considering reduced quarantines of 7 days with a negative test result. While we are hopeful that Custer County will at some point be able to administer rapid testing that would allow quarantines to be reduced to 7 days, with the County’s current testing sites, testing days, and varying lengths of time between testing and receiving results, the reduced 10-day quarantine has been determined to be the best new course of action for the District. As always, we look forward to the day when quarantining will be a past practice. Until then, we appreciate your continued support as we do our best to keep our students and staff safe and our school doors open. We wish all our District families health and safety in the days and months ahead. Meghan Brown Superintendent Miles City Unified School District NOTICE: Effective on Tuesday, November 17, Lincoln School will be moving to remote learning.
We will keep our doors open tomorrow, Monday, November 16, in an effort to give your family a little bit of extra time to plan for this transition. Face to face learning at Lincoln Elementary is set to resume on Monday, November 30. This decision is based on the staffing shortages we are experiencing at Lincoln Elementary. We have done everything we can to cover our shortages, but at this point, we have exhausted all options. We will send home needed materials with your child, along with additional information. If you expressed a need for a Chromebook on the registration sheet at the beginning of the year, we will work to accommodate that request promptly. If your child is in quarantine, that is still in effect until the dates you were given. Also, any contact tracing that arises due to exposure that took place before Lincoln’s move to Tier 3 will still be completed and families notified if a child meets the definition of a close contact to a COVID-positive case. Please reach out to the Lincoln school office with any questions you may have. Good afternoon Miles City Unified School District families and thank you for taking the time to listen to this important information. The district was notified by OneHealth on Sunday, October 4th that a student who attends CCDHS had tested positive for COVID-19.
The district has been working with OneHealth in the investigation and contact tracing process, and as of Sunday evening, that process was completed. Precautions taken as part of the district’s “Safe and Healthy Reopening Plan,” including wearing masks, a block schedule, assigned seating, social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently, either contributed to expediting the contact tracing process, limited the potential exposure, or both. Students and staff who may have been exposed to the positive case have been contacted by OneHealth. If you were not contacted, no news means good news. This positive case marks the 2nd affecting a district student since the opening of the 20-21 school year on August 31st. We feel fortunate to have made it to October with only these two confirmed positives. As a school community, we are committed to doing our part to keep our doors open, our kids and staff safe and well, and to providing opportunities for our students. We can all do our part by:
If you or your student experiences any of the symptoms of COVID, please contact your healthcare provider for help determining if testing is recommended and next steps you should take. The district continues to be in frequent communication with OneHealth and relies on their guidance during this difficult season. Please contact your home school, the district office, or your healthcare provider with questions. Stay safe and well. Meghan Brown - Superintendent The board of education met to approve the framework for our district reopening plan.
Fine details will be worked out over the next week, with a reopening committee meeting scheduled for August 6th at 7:00 pm to review the fine details for each grade band. Final approval of the plan will take place at the August 11th regular board meeting. Below is that framework model: |
Updates & NoticesImportant notices and updates related to the Miles City Unified School District's COVID-19 Response Plan will be posted here. Archives
August 2021
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Miles City Unified School District
1604 Main Street Miles City, MT 59301 Phone (406)-234-3840 Fax (406) 234-3147 
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