This story was originally published by Daily Montanan: URL: https://dailymontanan.com This story has not been altered or edited. (C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. ------------ AA superintendent encouraged after meeting with OPI – Daily Montanan ['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- February'] Date: 2022-02-17 00:00:00 A meeting AA superintendents held this month with Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen served to alleviate at least some concerns the district leaders had raised in a December letter that said they expressed “no confidence” in Arntzen’s leadership. Rob Watson, superintendent for Missoula County Public Schools, said Thursday the AA superintendents had a couple of top priorities for districts on their Feb. 2 agenda, teacher licensure and special education, and Arntzen and six members of her staff joined them to talk about those issues. “I feel more comfortable, a lot more comfortable, after the meeting knowing that some of our top priorities are being considered and are being addressed,” Watson said. In December, all of the AA superintendents signed a letter that described numerous ways action or inaction at the Office of Public Instruction was having a negative effect on local school districts. In response, Arntzen said in part that OPI would continue to make changes and work with local districts. At the Feb. 2 meeting held via Zoom, Watson said teacher licensing was on the agenda for a couple of reasons. For one, he said OPI is going through an upgrade to its computer system around teaching licensing, and at this point, it isn’t taking any electronic applications. “They’re all paper-pencil until June 1 when their new system is up and rolling,” Watson said. But it’s a busy time for the district, with new teachers trying to get licensed and hired, and working teachers needing to get re-certified every five years (or roughly 20 percent of the teaching staff in the district any given year). Watson said teachers had questions about how to get the task done, and at the same time, Missoula is a large district, so it has personnel in its Human Resources office who can help with more information. He said the people on the call talked through logistics, and even though OPI is only taking paper applications at this point, they’re processing those applications fairly quickly. Teachers were confused before, he said, but the meeting provided clarity. “I think it alleviated a lot of their concerns,” Watson said. On the call, OPI also asked if it could share a pilot of the new licensing system with staff to get feedback, and Watson said that approach will be helpful to work out kinks: “Anytime we go to a new computer system, there’s going to be bugs.” The AA superintendents also wanted to hear about the status of hiring a Special Education director for the state, which has been a challenge for OPI. In November, the deputy superintendent at OPI said the Special Education director had been the most challenging position to recruit for among many open positions, in part because the $79,000 salary was $40,000 below market, and just one person had applied. However, Watson said OPI indicated the recruitment was moving along well. In an email, OPI communications deputy Brian O’Leary didn’t specify a timeline for filling the post or identify how OPI was able to make headway, but he noted progress. “Currently, seven qualified applicants are in the review process for this position,” O’Leary said. The AA superintendents had noted ways that unfilled positions at OPI were affecting districts, and in November, the deputy superintendent also had updated the Montana Board of Public Education on 15 positions under recruitment. In his email Thursday, O’Leary said eight positions are open, four are under candidate review, and three are in the reclassification process. At the meeting, Watson said AA superintendents also learned more about a special education monitoring process districts undergo roughly every five years as a federal requirement. “It’s kind of like an audit, so we all get a little bit nervous and want to make sure we have everything that they need so we can do everything efficiently,” Watson said. Given staff turnover at OPI, he said districts wanted to make sure they were aligned with the state, and he said OPI shared advice about its virtual monitoring process and also said they have processes in place to help districts prepare for the review. “I think it was reassuring for all of us to hear that that process is still running smoothly and efficiently, and we’re going to have support,” Watson said. The AA superintendents had named other specific concerns in their December letter as well, such as the lack of a plan to update teaching content standards. But Watson said the most burning issues were those on the agenda for the meeting, and the AA superintendents said they would continue the dialogue with OPI and could meet again on other issues if necessary. “We really need to have a positive working relationship with OPI because we do a lot with them,” he said. In earlier statements, Arntzen described the AA superintendents’ letter as “heavy handed” and politically motivated, but she also said she wanted to work together with school districts to help students. In his email, O’Leary also said Arntzen planned to meet with district superintendents individually, had met with the superintendent in Great Falls on Feb. 10, and also met with school counselors there. “The discussion with the counselors focused on the needs of student mental health, and Superintendent Arntzen is planning a follow-up meeting to start an advisory council on student mental health,” O’Leary said. [END] [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/02/17/aa-superintendent-encouraged-after-meeting-with-opi/ Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/