Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 20. EDUCATION

CHAPTER 9. FINANCE

Part 8. Emergency School Closure

Definitions

20-9-802. Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Declaration of emergency" means a declaration by a board of trustees that an unforeseen emergency has occurred in the district.

(2) "Reasonable effort" means the rescheduling or extension of the school district's instructional calendar to make up at least 75% of the hours of pupil instruction lost due to an unforeseen emergency through any combination of the following:

(a) extending the school year beyond the last scheduled day;

(b) the use of scheduled vacation days in the district's adopted school calendar pursuant to 20-1-302;

(c) the conduct of pupil instruction on Saturdays as provided in 20-1-303; or

(d) extending instructional hours during the school day as provided in 20-1-302.

(3) "School day" means the school day set by the trustees as provided in 20-1-302.

(4) "Unforeseen emergency" means a fire, flood, explosion, storm, earthquake, riot, insurrection, community disaster, or act of God or a combination of the foregoing that acts as a principal cause for a school district's inability to conduct a portion of the minimum aggregate hours of instruction required by 20-1-301.

History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 288, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 85, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 430, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 138, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 151, L. 2021.