BOZEMAN — It’s the question that many ask but is difficult to answer -- will schools find a way to open in the fall?
For Bozeman schools, they officially aim to do so but it all depends on if the pandemic will let them.
Bozeman Public Schools trustees met again on Tuesday, discussing the future of possibly reopening Bozeman Public Schools and that also included the much-talked topic: graduation.
And with MSU donating Bobcat Stadium for free, that helps with social distancing but the next step is getting there.
"You always worry when you see light at the end of a tunnel, it could be a gorilla with a flashlight so you want to make sure that it is really the end of the tunnel,” says Bob Connors, Bozeman Public Schools superintendent. "How are we going to look in the fall? What is that going to look like? You have certain bumpers that we have to look at so if these bumpers are still in place, this is what it looks like.”
It’s a plan of optimism, according to the board of trustees: aim to reopen in the fall but have a backup strategy in case the pandemic has plans of its own.
"We're looking at those numbers,” Connors says. “We're still talking with the health department."
Connors adds that’s why, for graduation, Bobcat Stadium is an ideal venue.
Each of the 508 graduates will be limited to two guests per student.
And Connors says ponchos and masks will be ordered for each graduate.
"The ceremony is very, very important,” Connors says. “It is a very important transition to young people's lives and their parents' lives."
Graduation will take place at 2 pm on Sunday, June 7.
That leaves looking ahead to next fall.
"We want to make sure we can reach the kids where they are at and use this learning process from this spring to make sure we have the right answers,” Connors says.
"It's difficult for all of our students but even specific beyond that, it is very difficult for our seniors who have worked so tirelessly, so diligently to get to this point in their academic careers,” says Dan Mills, principal of Bozeman High School.
Mills agrees if schools are to reopen in the fall, the state must be in the right phase of reopening amid COVID-19 to do so.
"We are going to continue on the path we started out,” Mills says. “We've set some good things in place and continued to support our students, our families in whatever way we need to."
Connors says the schools will be working with the health department every step of the way.
"This could be the last time you are celebrated for doing something, hitting a milestone in your life and we want to make sure that we give that the appropriate sendoff to these seniors,” Connors says.
MSU president Waded Cruzado announced that the university will start holding classes again on August 17 which Bozeman school board trustees discussed as one of several possibilities for reopening.
