Poplar School Board Holds Special Meeting

The Poplar School board voted by a 4-0 margin to hire special education instructors from abroad during Tuesday morning’s special meeting.

Approved for hire Sept. 1 were Rosemarie Ordinario, Maribel Wagas and Janine Tan. Julia Carpentier was hired as a special education paraprofessional.

The instructors currently reside in the Philippines.

Poplar superintendent of schools Dan Schmidt explained that they needed to be offered contracts as part of the visa process. The individuals are working on obtaining their Montana teaching licenses and to become certified.

Housing has been found for the instructors. The hope is that they can start working in Poplar during the second semester.

“We’re hoping they can start in January. It depends when the travel ban is lifted,” Schmidt said.

Hired for co- and extra-curricular positions were Ben Lovan as junior high football coach, Jake Riediger for weight training and Manny Granbois as junior high football coach.

Schmidt discussed the current policy regarding the workday. The policy reads that the length of a workday is eight hours exclusive of lunch. He said trustees need to review the policy. He is hoping for feedback at the Sept. 14 board meeting.

“We just want to reach consistency across the board,” Schmidt said. “We just want a clear path forward.”

One audience member expressed that there have been concerns voiced to her about the current policy.

“If you have questions, you need to come here,” Schmidt said of his office. “The discussions come to this office after talking with principals. That’s how this works. This is how we set this system up.”

Schmidt added that Poplar’s school officials have contacted about 8 to 10 other schools about how they deal with workday policies.