Fairfield Public Schools

UPDATE: Wednesday, Dec 2nd WE ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE LUNCH! Good News, we are able to provide school lunch to everyone who signed up starting tomorrow, Thursday, December 3rd. Curbside Pickup: 12pm Delivery will leave school at 11:45am and will be a work in progress. We will make that link for sign up available again tomorrow if you would like to take advantage of free school lunch. Unfortunately, we are still continuing to get positive cases in the school for both staff and students, all of which continue to reinforce our back to school date for "reset" to December 14th. Most cases are tracing back to our initial outbreak, but again I want to reinforce that we are in remote learning to limit staff and student exposure. Please do your best to isolate for a little longer so we can safely return to school. Thank you,

2nd Semester Scholarship Checks Are Ready! Please submit an unofficial transcript along with your spring registration to: bevans@fairfield.k12.mt.us Deadline is March 15, 2021

FAIRIELD SCHOOL UPDATE: SUNDAY, NOV 29 THE FAIRFIELD SCHOOL WILL BE UNABLE TO PROVIDE ANY PICK-UP OR DELIVERY LUNCHES TEMPORARILY. WE WILL RESUME THIS SERVICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. On Wednesday, Nov 25 the decision was made to go to school wide remote learning this week: Nov 30 - Dec 4. That decision was based on the high number of students and possible staff who are required to quarantine due to "close contact" and tracing. Over the weekend, Teton County Health and the school have been monitoring the situation closely. We now have additional staff members and some students who have symptoms over the weekend. They are officially being tested making the situation very difficult. TO AVOID ANY FURTHER SPREAD, THE SCHOOL WILL BE REQUIRED TO REMAIN IN REMOTE LEARNING UNTIL THIS SITUATION IS CONTAINED. We will be in remote learning this week and had hoped to resume school in person on December 7th. Due to the additional positive cases after the weekend within the school, we will now need to move our in person date back to to December 14th. The elementary PK-6 students remain our priority for on-site learning. We will continue to assess the situation and prioritize their safe return to in person learning. I would like to emphasize that in order for school to resume safely, everyone will need to be diligent and follow the guidance from county health. Students, particularly those in 7-12, will need to adhere to quarantine orders. Those who were not close contact identified will need to limit their interaction for a couple weeks as well. Please, wear a mask, wash frequently, and sanitize your surroundings often. If you have symptoms or know you are a close contact, please get tested and confirm your status for the sake of everyone around you. If we do so, we can box this in and get back to a covid free school with limited county numbers that can traced to avoid further closure and the safety of our staff and community.

PARENTS OF FAIRFIELD HS STUDENTS Please check your email. We have been working with Teton County Health and the contact tracing component associated with the current positive covid-19 cases identified at school. Close Contact extends to 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms and testing. The events from the weekend and school last Friday have created a fairly large group of students and staff that are considered a "Close Contact" with several individuals who have tested positive and are now subject to a county health quarantine through Dec 4th. For the safety of those around you, please be diligent about these quarantine orders from County Health and follow the guidelines. Even if your student(s) are currently not considered a close contact, you should strongly consider keeping them at home for the next week through Friday, Dec. 4th so we stop any spread associated with the identified individuals. All PK - 12 students are remote learning until that time and we hope to be safely back in school on Monday, December 7th.

Following the weekend, the Fairfield school was made aware of a couple potential covid cases that, if positive, could impact students in grades 7-12 and one elementary class.  Due to the short week followed by an extended holiday, the administration with support of the school board and Teton County Health, implemented their remote learning plan for those students and staff.  This was a proactive and preventative measure taken to minimize any potential spread that takes advantage of the holiday schedule to minimize the loss of learning time and get students back in school earlier than waiting for results, then taking action. Successful grouping and cohorting of the remaining PK - 6 grades has made it safe for their continued education in school for the remainder of the short week. We will continue to monitor the situation and update our community and families as more information becomes available. 

Dear Parents/Guardians: On Thursday, November 19th, 2020 the Fairfield School District was notified that a school employee tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, which was confirmed by the Teton County Health Department. No students have been in close contact with the employee. The employee last worked in person on Monday, November 16th, and as a precautionary measure, Teton County Health and the Fairfield School District isolated and requested testing from one other staff member for Covid-19. Any potential staff or students at risk will be notified by the school and/or the health department to determine a safe and appropriate course of action. Due to the isolated circumstances, this limited exposure will not require the closure of any classes, cohorts, or school functions at this time. This notification is to provide full transparency and communication for the safety of our students, staff and community members. We have implemented the Center for Disease Control safety precautions. In partnership with Teton County Health Department, we are continuing to provide a safe learning environment for all of our students. The limited area accessed prior to isolation has been cleansed and sanitized. We continue to encourage all parents/guardians and staff to monitor students closely for any signs of potential illness. Students should remain at home if they are exhibiting any of the symptoms of Covid-19 including fever, headache, new or persistent cough, loss of taste or smell, fatigue and/or stomach issues. We would like to take this time to stress the importance of utilizing preventative measures such as, handwashing, social distancing and face coverings. Any success in preventing another outbreak depends on us. In order to keep our students and staff in school and safe it will take all of us to do our part in preventing the spread of the virus. School officials will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information if and when it becomes available. Sincerely, Dustin Gordon Superintendent Fairfield Schools

Annual Fairfield School Veteran's Day Program Please go to: http://eaglestreaming.com/ The entire video program is available and ready to play at your convenience. Thank You Veterans

ATTENTION: SCHOOL CLOSURE MONDAY Due to the weather conditions, there will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, November 9th. This will be an "Emergency Snow Day" because there are families drifted in who also may not have power or internet restored by tomorrow to accommodate distance learning. School will resume Tuesday, but we will continue to monitor the ability to provide bus transportation that morning and will communicate with families who may still be snowed in. Stay Safe and Warm,

Just a reminder that today is a 1/2 day and this afternoon is Parent/Teacher conferences. Please see the forms on this website to request a conference with your child's teacher(s).

Dear Parents/Guardians: On October 29, 2020 the Fairfield School District was notified that a school staff member had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. The positive test was confirmed by the Teton County Health Department, but it was determined that no students were in close contact with the employee during the period of possible exposure. The employee last worked in person on Friday, October 23rd, and due to symptoms developed over that weekend, self-quarantined. As a precautionary measure, Teton County Health and the Fairfield School District have isolated and requested testing from several other staff members for Covid-19. Any potential staff or students at risk will be notified by the school and/or the health department to determine a safe and appropriate course of action. Due to the isolated circumstances, this limited exposure will not require the closure of any classes, cohorts, or school functions at this time. This notification is to provide full transparency and communication for the safety of our students, staff and community members. We have implemented the Center for Disease Control safety precautions. In partnership with Teton County Health Department, we are continuing to provide a safe learning environment for all of our students. The limited area accessed prior to isolation has been cleansed and sanitized. We continue to encourage all parents/guardians and staff to monitor students closely for any signs of potential illness. Students should remain at home if they are exhibiting any of the symptoms of Covid-19 including fever, headache, new or persistent cough, loss of taste or smell, fatigue and/or stomach issues. We would like to take this time to stress the importance of utilizing preventative measures such as, handwashing, social distancing and face coverings. Any success in preventing another outbreak depends on us. In order to keep our students and staff in school and safe it will take all of us to do our part in preventing the spread of the virus. School officials will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information if and when it becomes available. Sincerely, Dustin Gordon Superintendent Fairfield Schools

Annual "Trunk or Treat" sponsored by the Fairfield Junior Women's Club. Thank you for putting this annual event together for our children.

REMINDER We are quickly approaching the Fall deadline for graduated students to submit paperwork for scholarships - November 1st. Please remember to take care of this if you have not done so already.

October 14, 2020 Fairfield Parents, Students, and Community Members, As you know, everyone here at the school, in collaboration with the county health department, is working very hard to keep our students in school, our athletic teams competing, and our facility operating effectively K – 12. Every day seems to bring a new challenge, but we have thus far effectively navigated most of the difficulties that have come with opening and in-person learning, which has been our primary goal. We have also successfully avoided a partial or whole school shut down due to COVID up to this point. As we move further into the fall, the number of COVID cases continues to rise in Montana, including Teton County. A growing number of schools in the state and several in our area have had to revert to distance learning due to exposure to infected students or staff, consequently shutting down in-person learning and extra-curricular competition. Even temporary shut downs create an enormous burden on teachers and students for learning, as well as parents who work and do not have daycare or the ability to stay home and facilitate their children’s education. Because of this, we feel we have to do everything we can to minimize a COVID exposure within the school, and to accomplish this, we need your help and cooperation. If your child becomes ill, please keep them home until they are symptom free for at least 24 hours, especially for temperature and deep cough and the other major symptoms associated specifically with COVID. There are a lot of other illnesses that students contract every year, so we have to work through those as well. If there has not been a defined close contact with a COVID case, it is likely a common illness and they will be back in school after a short time. If you and/or your child have had an exposure or even potential exposure, please keep your child home and call county health and/or the school until appropriate contact tracing can happen and they are cleared to return. It is possible a COVID test will be requested and quarantine time can vary, depending on the situation. Each individual case is considered carefully in cooperation and communication between the school, county health and the families involved, while observing and honoring all personal FERPA and HIPPA rights to privacy. If you are planning to travel, particularly out of state, we ask that you please contact the school and communicate so we can plan together for school work that might be missed and the possible need for a school supplied Chromebook or iPad. In consideration for the safety for all of our students and staff upon return, we would also appreciate the understanding that we need to measure the potential risk with your destination and activity for its possible impact on our entire school community. With the holidays coming up and other events that might necessitate your family to travel, we would like to work with you to ensure your child’s educational needs are met, as well as preserving the safety and operation of the rest of the school upon return to avoid an unintentional exposure and school closure. If you are going to a destination with community spread or one where contact tracing would be difficult or impossible, we would like you to please work with us and consider the potential risk for the other students and our entire school. Arrangements can easily be made for a short quarantine period that involves individual students to protect the student body and staff. Teachers will appreciate the consideration and will work out a temporary plan for distance learning and can even accommodate attending class live digitally. We do not penalize for absences that are precautionary or necessary and simply want to do what’s best for the whole school and community. We have a good plan and technology to work through a school shut down if necessary, but again, our first goal is to do what we can to prevent that from happening. Education for the majority is much more effective when students are on campus, especially for grades K – 6. Many families cannot afford to take time off if their children are required to stay home. Extra-curricular activities play a very big part of mental health for students and for many it is a major reason for attending school in person. We are navigating the difficulties associated with health and safety for those activities, while at the same time keeping the rest of the school safe. Separation, cohorts, masks, limited fans, good communication and community cooperation that works to protect the entire school whenever possible is what will allow us to continue to stay in school, keep participating, and be successful. Education this year, along with all the many things associated with school, is going to continue to be difficult and will require difficult decisions that have to be made in the best interest and safety for the entire school. There is no experience to draw from and there are no single rules that fit every circumstance. We will get through this together, and if we cooperate, communicate and all sacrifice a little for the best interest of the whole, we will do so with success. Thank you, Fairfield Administration

It is so great to live in a community that is so generous and so involved in the school. We have just received a wonderful anonymous donation of not one, but two brand new Fender electric guitar amplifiers for the music department! One is for electric base the other for guitar and both have already had a positive impact. The donation came as a result of, "Ms. Carpenter's passionate effort to involve kids and give them opportunities to enjoy learning music." "She is a wonderful teacher and has made a huge difference in our child's education." The donors also wanted to credit Todd's Sound and Music in Great Falls who really worked with them to provide the opportunity for two high quality amps for a very reasonable price. Way to go Ms. Carpenter! Thanks for making a difference for our students!!

Town of Fairfield

THANK YOU - We would like to take a minute to sincerely thank some businesses and community members who made an enormous difference to our school and students this week... As you know, the corona virus has made so many things different and difficult in 2020. We were so happy just to get the students back in school. After no prom, no spring sports, a limited class night, limited graduation, no senior class trip, limited summer activities, barriers, masks, cohort classes and lunches, etc... we really wanted to try to do something fun and cool for our students for homecoming. I would like to first thank Marty Severson of Severson Productions in Great Falls for making one of his 36' x 12' LCD jumbotrons available this weekend. His others are at a concert in Helena and a rodeo on Idaho - we have the biggest and best on here in Fairfield!!! Despite the adversity of losing their varsity game, the students have been excited all week about the jumbotron for whatever football game became available and the Homecoming Drive In Theater experience Friday night. This is all available to some generous local donations and sponsorships from our local branch of First Bank of MT, 3 Rivers, Sun River Electric, and an anonymous contribution. When they heard we were working on something unique and cool for homecoming, they all contributed and helped make this happen. From all of the students, staff and administration here at the school, THANK YOU FAIRFIELD FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!

Fairfield Fans, After a very long week with many cancellations, additions, and changes we are happy to announce that we will be able to conduct our homecoming tomorrow and Saturday in a modified manner. As many of you know, Sweet Grass County High School, had some concerns and were not able to travel to Fairfield for the regularly scheduled game tomorrow at 7:00pm. This left homecoming a little uncertain as we have never conducted homecoming without a football game. The school attempted to contact other B schools who had: 1.) Open dates or 2.) Had cancellations due to Covid. Through all of those teams (about 8) we were not able to schedule one Varsity team to come to Fairfield and play Football for our homecoming. The school also contacted AA schools to see if they would send a JV team to play our varsity and they were not able to make it work either. We also temporarily had a game set up with an A school before that was cancelled. At 4pm today, we decided there were no options but to either play a JV game or to not play a football game at all this week. We decided to schedule a JV game with Belt for tomorrow. Jeff Graham and Belt were kind enough to offer this game so that we could at least play. It is not an ideal situation but we feel it is still a better alternative than not having any game at all for our FB team this year. We will thus have a modified schedule of events tomorrow. The Football game will be held at 6:00pm instead of the traditional 7:00pm. The Movie on the big screen will be held after that. Here is a brief timeline for homecoming events: 4:00pm Parade (Changed from 4:45) 4:30pm Luke O will learn the video switcher/replay 4:30 Belt will arrive 5:50pm (National Anthem and Starters) 6:00pm Fairfield vs Belt JV Game Begins Halftime: Coronation of Homecoming Royalty (Any family member of nominated royalty are invited to attend the game regardless of being a family to a football player.) Halftime: Recognition of all Varsity Players who have had 3 of their 8 regular season games cancelled (Non JV Playing Team Members) Post Game: Movie on Big Screen Anyone needing a Sr. or Handicap/family parking space please contact Mike Schmidt at: mschmidt@fairfield.k12.mt.us Same football protocol Covid rules will be in effect as the last home game. We are making an effort to be extra vigilant with Covid as the post season is only 4 weeks away. In our conference and around the state we are seeing many more cases inside the school and record number of cases throughout the state. The school is doing our best to protect our teams from being hit with a quarantine that might eliminate the teams from the first round of the playoffs and the District volleyball tournament. It would, in effect, end our season. We are very appreciative of the support we have received over the past few weeks and ask for your patience as we strictly enforce the mask rule, attendance rules, and other Covid protection behavior rules. We cannot control the Covid virus but we can try everything in our power to mitigate the risk to give our kids the best change to participate in the post season that they are earning. On Saturday the 2nd half of our homecoming will take place with the girls playing Volleyball against the Broadwater County team. Game time starts at 1:00pm and is on a plus 20 plus 20 schedule. If family members would like to change their family pass list please do so by 1:00pm tomorrow. I would like to apologize for a notice so close to an important event like homecoming. We are so thankful we live in Fairfield and people are patient and supportive of the efforts to protect the athletes and their sports seasons. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call the school. We would be more than glad to answer your questions or address your concerns. Lastly, as this is an ever fluid situation, we will be posting any changes and or additions/deletions on the website tomorrow, throughout the day to better serve you.

How awesome is it when your teacher can give a special tour and opportunity to learn about Native American pottery with a local artist! Thanks Andy and Marie for sharing with our students!

Fairfield Football Fans and Community, After ongoing discussion between Teton County Health, Roosevelt County Health, Fairfield Schools and Wolf Point Schools we have all decided to postpone the football game scheduled to be played at Wolf Point for health related reasons. There will be no football game this weekend as a result. We apologize for any inconvenience this has created due to the short notice, but we needed to communicate with all those involved in the decision, and we needed to monitor the situation closely this week. Thank you for your understanding as we continue to make decisions that keep our county, community and ALL the students safe in our schools. At the same time, know that we are also doing our best to support participation in all our extracurricular activities. There will undoubtedly be similar situations as we progress into this year and hopefully you will also continue to support those difficult decisions as well as the guidelines adopted that allow our students to participate. By working together and making some small sacrifices, hopefully parents and fans can continue to enjoy watching our student athletes compete. Thank you, Fairfield Administration Teton County Health

Fairfield Football Fans – Update Clarification Hello Fairfield Nation! As many of you know, it’s game day for football vs Cut Bank tonight. I’m excited,… you are excited,… we are all excited that after over 5 months we finally get to watch our kids compete and gather to cheer our kids on! You also have probably been made aware of the guidance update we posted yesterday in a pro-active effort to address social distancing so that we can ultimately KEEP WATCHING our kids compete. We would like to address a few items in that updated guidance. We tried to choose our words carefully, but I think a little clarity might be in order. “Last week, with the number of fans that attended the game, it was difficult to adequately social distance making it necessary to start limiting attendance.” AND “At this time, we are asking those of you who are not direct family or students, please consider watching the live broadcast on NFHS, or find a place away from the field to observe.” There are two factors here that essentially are designed to address one point. We need to preserve the opportunity for families to watch their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. This is the reason for the word “Direct” family as opposed to “Immediate” family, which would be limited to household only. The other component is asking for those of you not in category of family to “please consider watching the live broadcast or finding a place away from the field to observe.” There were a lot of people at the game last week who were not direct family crowding the sideline, which made physical distancing a challenge to say the least. At this time, we are not turning anyone away at the gate, but the reality of going to a pass list only allowing players to choose a few people who can attend will be the next step if we cannot do a better job of physical distancing and adhering to the mandated mask rules in place. So, to be clear – the community is still allowed into the game tonight, but physical distancing has got to be observed or we will need to further modify the ability to attend the remaining games. We have also asked the student body to occupy the endzone areas to open up more sideline and the ability to hopefully spread out. Cut Bank fans will be in attendance in the designated area as well on the visiting sideling. Please do not park or stand in their community cohort area. We have from the North East Corner to the South East corner to occupy. Cut Bank has not been able to even attend their first two games, which is a situation I hope to avoid in Fairfield for the entire season. Handicap parking is still available in the south endzone, but for that you MUST be on Mr. Schmidt’s pass list which has to be requested each game so we do not list anyone not attending a given week.