Students who experience trauma at home throw chairs in the classroom, don’t pay attention, and use profanity. Teacher Jenny Marnan Butcher said he sees challenging behavior every day.

Butcher said he has been teaching in public schools for the past five years. “And I assure you that aspiring educators will also need these skills.”

As such, she said she was “extremely concerned” about the proposed changes to the Public Schools Board’s educator preparation standards, eliminating terms such as “trauma-informed” related to classroom management. Rather, educators need to understand the effects of childhood trauma and other stressors, she said.

Another educator expressed concern about removing the word “fair” from the standard.

On Tuesday, the Montana Board of Public Education Executive Director McCall Flynn said at a public hearing on the proposed changes to Chapter 58 of the Commission’s Administrative Rules, ahead of the 5:00 p.m. I chaired the meeting on behalf of the members. This chapter is called Professional Educator Preparation Program Standards.

The board is also in the process of updating Chapter 55, called the “Accreditation Criteria,” and Flynn said he expects public comment on these changes to begin in October. . Some of these proposals have already been controversial, such as abolishing the minimum requirement for school counselors to students and the minimum ratio of school librarians to students.

On Tuesday, only Chapter 58 was on the agenda. The superintendent’s recommendations are derived from significant outreach and recommendations from the task force, superintendent Julie Margel said. In particular, the focus group said teacher retention is a challenge, especially in rural and reservation communities, and one goal is for schools to have sufficient and sustainable numbers of teachers.

However, the public, including institutional leaders and long-time educational researchers at both the University of Montana and Montana State University, has expressed support for some changes to chapter 58, including those that address the criteria for principals and superintendents. I suggested.

John Matt, UM’s Director of Educational Leadership, said he would rely on a more recent standard for training principals and superintendents, from the National Educational Leadership Preparation, with specific additions relevant to Montana. He was one of the educators who urged the board. He said the outdated standards currently in force create ambiguity.

“We have a high standard of leadership in the state,” Matt said. “It is imperative that we continue this standard and ensure that all Montana residents know that we set high standards for our leaders.”

Rob Watson, along with Montana school administrators, has asked the Board to ensure that standards for Montana educational leaders are consistent with best practice and current research. Old standards date back to 2008. and does not directly address key concepts such as curriculum development and the use of data for decision-making, he said.

“These concepts are key to the effectiveness of all school leaders,” Watson said. “And we expect our university partners to incorporate these concepts into the training of principals and superintendents in Montana.”

Dennis Perman, director of the Montana Rural Education Association, said he didn’t want three terms in particular removed from the rule. It’s ethics, ethics and fairness. He pointed out that the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elsie Arntzen, recommended a change to remove those words from the revision.

The draft linked to Tuesday’s meeting agenda was updated to include a reference to ethics. However, all references to “fairness”, a term that the Gianforte government opposed in favor of “equality”, were removed.

For example, the draft states that leading K-12 specialists must demonstrate a level of understanding by “developing and implementing strategies to advocate for equal opportunity” rather than “for equity.” I’m here.

The Public Schools Board will take a decision on Chapter 58 at its meeting in Helena on September 14th and 15th.