MCPS Returns to In Person Learning

The Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees have voted to move to the Phase 2 Hybrid Learning Model which will have students back in the classroom four days a week starting after January 25th. The vote comes following a lengthy and at times heated meeting and based on recommendations from the district’s “COVID Task Force.”

The task force, relying heavily on new guidance from Harvard recommended that all grades move into Phase 2 of the MCPS “reopen plan” for Semester 2, with grades 9-12, being staggered after the return of the younger grades. According to their recommendation, it is understood that the “District and education staff will develop a safe implementation plan where we make every effort to achieve 5 out of 6 of the infection control measures outlined in the new Harvard guidance.” You can read their complete recommendation here.

The meeting was maxed out at 300 — Zoom’s limit for participants — and comment was submitted ahead of time for the Board of Trustees meeting (found here) and to the task force that has been meeting to make recommendations (comments here). During the meeting many parents overwhelmingly supported more in-person learning.

During the previous Board of Trustees Meeting, it was voted that MCPS would stay in the current hybrid model (kids remote learning three days a week and in person two days). You can read those minutes here.