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Office of Public Instruction creates task forces for guidance on 2020-21 school year

O.P.I plans to release a guidance this summer.
Posted at 2:08 PM, May 21, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-22 11:05:13-04

Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elsie Arntzen, announced that she has formed two task forces to provide feedback and guidance on how to open the 2020-2021 school year.

One group is the Montana Learn 2020 Task Force. It is made up of students, parents, and educators to assess what resources families and educators need to be successful.

The Montana Flex 2020 Task Force is made up of school admins, education associations, and the Board of Public Education to review state and federal rules that need updating to provide schools with more flexibility.

The two committees will meet four times through Zoom in May and June 2020 to draft a guidance to the Office of Public Instruction.

The Office of Public instruction (OPI) will then issue a guidance this summer for a comprehensive approach to opening the new school year in the fall.

“Well, we know that education has continued since COVID. So, we want to learn, and that's one of the task forces, Montana Learn 2020. We want to learn from the impacts from COVID on the instructional model, making sure that students are the focus and put in the very center of this dialog," says Arntzen.

OPI will take in any comments or questions from the public as well by emailing them at OPICOVID19@mt.gov.