Dear Families and Staff,

From pies in the face, to national academic awards, to a 100-foot-long Sundae, it’s been a lively few weeks in the district.

Let’s start with dessert.

The whipped cream flew at Helena Middle School recently, where a student “pie-in-the-face” fundraiser raised $1,420 in donations for the Angel Fund. It didn’t take students long to reach the $1,000 mark they needed to get Principal Cal Boyle and Assistant Principal Erin Maxwell, each of whom were served up a generous helping of whipped cream by their own children. The fundraiser capped an assembly to recognize students who were inducted into the Helena Middle School “BOB PAK (Positive Action Kids), which recognizes students who demonstrate exemplary behavior.

Helena Middle School Social Studies Teacher Patrick Rieley gets a pie in the face from student Vaidee Lehman while Science Teacher Sara Grotbo crawls away.

Meanwhile, Warren Elementary marked the 100th day of school last Friday with their annual 100-Day Sundae celebration. For nearly 45 years, Warren students, staff and parents have kept this tradition alive. After a day of counting and calculating in multiples of 100, students dug into their 100-foot-long treat.

Community events like this remind us that our public schools are part of Helena’s identity, bringing us together in classrooms, on playing fields and in theaters to celebrate our students. As we now finish our 105th day of school, with 75 remaining, we have much to celebrate and be proud of.

Two named National Merit Finalists
We learned this week that two Helena High students, Eva Skibicki and Evelyn Callery, have advanced to the final round of the National Merit Scholarship Program—a prestigious honor achieved by only 15,000 seniors nationwide. To put this in perspective, more than 1.3 million juniors from roughly 21,000 high schools took the PSAT/NMSQT® as an initial screening for the competition.

Only a small fraction of those entries became semifinalists, including four from Helena Public Schools, Eva, Evelyn and Adeline Walters and Mason Whitney of Capital High.

As finalists, Eva and Evelyn are eligible to win National Merit Scholarships based on their academic records, test scores, essays, examples of leadership and community involvement, and recommendations from school officials.

Congratulations and best of luck, Eva and Evelyn!

It’s worth noting that some of the factors National Merit judges consider are a student’s course load and difficulty level as well as depth and breadth of subjects studied. Both Capital High and Helena High are on the national AP School Honor Roll (silver and bronze, respectively), an honor achieved by only 7 percent (Gold) and 10 percent (Silver) of eligible schools nationwide.

Also on the national stage, I want to again congratulate Capital High teachers Sarah Urban and Jake Warner, who recently received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Ms. Urban and Mr. Warner are among only 306 educators nationwide—and just six from Montana—to earn this prestigious honor, which recognizes those shaping our next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators. Ms. Urban and Mr. Warner were recognized by our Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees Tuesday evening and will travel to Washington, D.C., for the awards ceremony.

Ms. Urban teaches science, and Mr. Warner teaches math. As Ms. Urban told Trustees Tuesday evening, these recognitions speak to the quality of educators who serve our students across Helena Public Schools.

Presidential Award recipient Sarah Urban teaches cellular biology at Capital High School.

Presidential Award recipient Jake Warner teaches tech math at Capital High School for students planning careers in the trades.

Students lead new healthcare ed advisory board
Alongside our focus on academics is our commitment to giving students leadership opportunities, from organizing a pie-in-the-face fundraiser to support fellow students in need, to creating career development opportunities for future generations of students. A group of enterprising student leaders at our high school is doing just that.

A new, student-organized Helena Health Sciences Advisory Board (HHSAB) is bringing together students, teachers and healthcare professionals with the aim of advancing and expanding health science education programs in our schools.

The group also aims to “promote awareness for various health professions and to create a pipeline that increases the number of healthcare professionals that practice in Montana,” said Charlie Snellman, a Capital High Senior who is helping lead the effort and who also serves as Capital High’s student representative to the Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees.

The group is hosting “fusion events” that connect real-world professionals and college professors with high school and middle school students. Their first event, focused on heart health awareness, is coming up February 25 at Carroll College. See full details below.

For educators, it’s deeply rewarding to see our students grow into leaders working on behalf of younger students and the health of our state. We’re grateful to Carroll College, the Carroll Student Nurses Association and our other community healthcare organizations for supporting their efforts.

Capital hosts CTE Trade Day
On the topic of Career and Technical Education, at Capital High this week students participated in a Trades Day that brought hands-on activities in everything from plumbing to dry wall to cabinetry into the school.

Students rotated through stations where they could try out new skills and talk with industry professionals.

Students try their hand at drywall during CHS Trade Day

Special thanks to all of the local business and individual sponsors and volunteers who made this day possible: Dick Anderson Construction, Silver City Stone Cabinetry & Tile, Williams Academy, Hamper Plumbing, Montana Electrical Training Center, Grizzly Drywall, Pioneer Flooring, Sleeping Giant Mechanical, Freedom Fabrication, Regan Clancy and Ted Riehl. Materials and supplies were graciously donated by Power Townsend, Northwest Drywall and the Montana Army National Guard.

I also want to thank our parents who braved this week’s deep freeze to attend parent-teacher conferences and to our educators who worked late into these frigid evenings. And I want our students, staff and parents to know how much I appreciate your flexibility as we worked through our annual cold spell. If you have questions about the district’s cold weather protocols, please see this overview.

While we’re still in some of the coldest days of winter, we know they won’t last long as the evenings grow lighter.

2025-26 Academic Calendar
A sure harbinger of spring here at the district is the release of the academic calendar for the coming school year. Click here to view the Helena Public Schools 2025-26 Academic Calendar.

While a calendar may seem straightforward, there is much involved in setting the start and finish of the school year, balancing required academic days with breaks and holidays, and so much more. The 2025-26 calendar features a 3-day first week of school followed by a four-day week for Labor Day weekend. A two-week winter break is followed by a one-week spring break.

Special thanks to this year’s Calendar Committee Members: Thomas Baty, Jane Shawn, Gary Myers, Jonna Schwartz, Shannon Callahan, Leighann Wilson, Kathleen Prody, Chelsa Kingston, Justine Alberts, Brian Kessler, and Josh McKay.

Speaking of calendars, remember that there is no school Monday for Presidents’ Day.

Enjoy the long weekend,

Respectfully,