Education News

Office of the Superintendent

August 30, 2018 

Elsie Arntzen Hello Montana parents, students, educators, and community members,

Welcome back to school! The Office of Public Instruction looks forward to another year of serving all of Montana’s students, schools, and communities.

School Safety

OPI is applying for a new federal safety grant called Grants to States for School Emergency Management Programs. This is a 5-year/$250,000 annual grant which would allow OPI to hire one federal FTE to assist school districts in building school safety capacity and assisting is school emergency planning and management. This work would complement our STOP grant application which we hope to hear is successful in September.

Teacher of the Year

A diverse selection committee met on August 28th to narrow our applicant field from 14 to 3 finalists. A new committee will meet on September 11th to select the 2019 Montana Teacher of the Year.

Flag Notifications

With the start of the new school year, we have had administrators asking about notifications when the flag is declared to be flown at half-staff. You can sign up to get these notifications here and check the flag status at any time on the state’s main webpage: https://mt.gov/.

OPI Calendar

The OPI will begin posting our external events on the state’s public calendar.

Superintendent’s August Events

  • Meetings with the University System on collaboration opportunities
  • Montana State Library Commission meeting
  • Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission and school events in Great Falls
  • Meetings with the Montana Chamber of Commerce on youth entrepreneurship
  • Perkins State Executive Leadership Team meeting to discuss Perkins reauthorization
  • Meetings with the Governor’s Office regarding workforce development
  • Monthly Land Board meeting
  • Monthly meeting of education advocacy statewide partner organizations
  • Meeting with the Montana Building and Industry Association on workforce development
  • Meeting with Montana Comprehensive Literacy Grant leaders in Livingston
  • Ribbon cutting ceremony and first day of school at the new Prickly Pear Elementary
  • Budget planning for the next biennium



 

 

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