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Big changes at school
Deer Lodge Elementary School District superintendent Rodney Simpson held a community meeting to discuss potential changes to the upcoming school year.

​Schools focus on student safety during COVID-19 pandemic

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by Cathy Harding

Deer Lodge Elementary School District #1 Superintendent Rodney Simpson held a special meeting Thursday night with parents and others interested in the upcoming school year. Simpson addressed a variety of concerns from bus schedules to quarantining students who travel to areas with high rates of COVID-19 infection.
Held both in person and via Zoom, the meeting was designed to allow parental input regarding reopening school.
When asked if he could guarantee students would not contract COVID-19 in school, Simpson responded, “Can I ensure that your kids are not going to catch COVID-19? I cannot ensure that because it’s everywhere. It’s not just here in the school. It’s everywhere. What I can ensure is that we’re taking every safety precaution here at school to keep our kids, our staff, and all the community members that come in as safe as possible. Ensuring that somebody doesn’t get COVID, I mean, what can I do. 
“When we’re here in school, we’re going to do everything possible to make sure that we are as safe as possible.”
In the draft Reopening Plan the school board voted on last night, it is noted that there are three different segments built on levels, depending on the current phase for reopening as determined by Governor Steve Bullock. Level 0 is a stay-at-home order; Level 1 coincides with Phase 1. 
Under the draft plan, Deer Lodge Schools would open under Phase 2 guidelines. According to the Plan, “This will be closest [sic] thing we have to regular school as is possible.
 See School, page 13

Prisoners connect with kids

by Lori Grannis

A new program designed to help minor children cope with the challenges of having an incarcerated parent begins this week.
Fifteen families, including 36 children, will participate in the Connecting Adults and Minors through Positive Parenting (CAMPP) experience through the Montana State Prison with the goal to reunite children - many of whom are in foster care - with incarcerated fathers.
“The goal of CAMPP is to help children cope with the challenges they face having an incarcerated parent, and to provide incarcerated fathers with a meaningful relationship with their children,” said Marisa Britton-Bostwick, education director at Montana Correctional Enterprises. 
Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the program is designed to help forge valuable connections between children and their incarcerated parents.
CAMPP curriculum was originally scheduled to be a counselor-led, three-day family camp experience at the MCE ranch near the state prison, but will now be conducted virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Britton-Bostwick said activities scheduled between August 10 to 17 include “guided letter writing and having fathers record books that are sent to the children” and will proceed as normal, but instead of in-person visits, CAMPP will hold supervised video visits with fathers and children.
For some children, this will be the first encounter with a parent they have never before met. 
CAMPP organizers recently sent participating children curriculum boxes in preparation for the virtual camp that begins this week. Fathers are sent matching boxes with exercises to help with the reunification process. 
Fathers and children will connect via Zoom to create vision boards and craft “All About Me” posters, make journal entries and learn how to garden, using pot, soil, and seeds included in curriculum boxes. Children will perform in a virtual recital at week’s end
The CAMPP curriculum provides incarcerated fathers with instruction to develop parenting skills, in order to better understand adverse childhood experiences. 
Children receive support throughout the program to ensure positive reunification with their incarcerated parent.
More on this and the other issues grabbing this week's headlines
​can be found in our print edition, out every Wednesday.
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