Dear Families, Staff, and the Helena Community,

Happy Halloween! Many of our schools have incorporated decorations, themed spirit weeks, student council hosted dances, trick and trunk-or-treating, costume parades, and other fun events among our students’ day-to-day learning schedules this last week (and a bit throughout the month). For our middle and high schoolers, this is a perfect way to mark the end of their first quarter of the school year. For our elementary students, these are exciting additions to their routines and provide new opportunities to build relationships and practice their PAX leadership.

One of those additions included Torgerson’s Equipment generously donating a pumpkin to every Helena Public School first-grade student. The locally grown pumpkins were delivered this last Tuesday and Wednesday by Torgerson’s staff and came in a wonderfully diverse array of shapes and sizes – some much larger than some of our first graders! The staff also shared pumpkin facts and discussed the importance of locally grown produce. This tremendous donation and the time Torgerson’s took to personally deliver them and engage with our students is deeply appreciated. We are thrilled to participate this year, as Torgerson’s has been running this fantastic program for 20 years in Great Falls schools, and now HPS is lucky enough to share in the tradition! You can see some fun photos from the deliveries posted on our Facebook page.

In other news, I want to update you on the MAST Reports going out. Families of students who were in grades 3–8 last year will soon receive individual state assessment reports from the Montana Aligned Standards Through-Year (MAST) assessment. This assessment is required under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 and replaced the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC). The 2024–25 school year marked the first operational year of MAST. We recognize that the new assessment requires considerable instructional time throughout the year, and our district remains committed to protecting and prioritizing classroom learning over testing time. It’s important to recognize that these results represent just one data point and may not always align with what teachers observe through classroom assessments, daily work, and other measures of student understanding. When reviewing these scores, please consider them as part of a broader body of evidence that includes multiple sources of data to best support student growth.

And to close out this week, I wish you all a fun and safe night! I look forward to seeing the pictures and hearing the stories!

Respectfully,

Rex Weltz, Superintendent
Helena Public Schools

BONDS PROJECTS UPDATES

Up Next:

• RFQ Notice #2 for the Kessler Elementary project goes out tomorrow, November 1.
• Architect interviews for the Capital High School project are this Tuesday, November 4.
• RFQ/RFPs for GCCMs will be posted in November.
• Brews and Blueprints – After a summer of successful Brews & Bonds events and the historic passing of the Helena school bonds; the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to launch a new monthly series: Brews & Blueprints!
  📅 Join us Wednesday, November 5
  🕠 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
  📍 Brothers Tapworks

If you have questions or want to chat about the choice and what’s next, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Keep up-to-date on the bonds projects as we enter into each
phase of the processes:

VISIT SITE

COMMUNITY CORNER

Resources for Families Affected by the Government Shutdown

Click the button below to access a list of resources for furloughed federal employees:

VIEW RESOURCES

Click the button below to access a list of resources for national guard members and their families:

VIEW RESOURCES

Next week, Helena Public Schools will send communications on district-wide initiatives to provide support to our students, their families, and in turn the Helena Area community through food uncertainty during (and after) the government shutdown. As part of those initiatives, we would like to remind you of the Helena Food Share’s Kid Packs as a resource–

For more information about the Kid Packs, what’s in them, and how to get a Kid Pack for a child:

CLICK HERE

To donate or become a Kid Pack Champion:

CLICK HERE

• School supplies and clothing
• Sports and activities fees
• Instrument rentals
• Field trip fees
• Fees for academic tests such as the Advanced Placement exam
• And more!

The Angel Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting Helena School District children in need by providing essential school items such as clothing, shoes, and more.

The program application will open to eligible families Wednesday, October 1 – November 13. To qualify, families must complete the Application for Free and Reduced-Price School Meals. Submitting this application may also make your family eligible for additional support services. The Angel Fund is also providing $200 for school clothing to qualifying elementary students (double that for students experiencing homelessness) and $250 to qualifying middle and high school students (double that for students experiencing homelessness).

MORE INFORMATION

Register for HEF’s annual fall event, Great Conversations on November 19, and help us celebrate 9 outstanding educators: Terri Johnson (HHS), Joe Pichardo (CHS), Barb Ridgway, Michael Madsen (CRA), Jessica Vallincourt (HHS), Jamie Toivonen (CHS), Andrea Tucker (Rossiter), Sheridan Marr (Bryant), and Michele Zentz (PAL). We can’t wait to give them the recognition they deserve, and we’d love to have you join us, so find a table topic that intrigues you and register today!

Are we missing anyone?
Please send an email to tlassiter@helenaschools.org so we can include them in the next round.

Fall of the Berlin Wall Celebration

For the third year in a row, German Clubs are hosting a celebration to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. Students at both high schools come together to design a mural, reflecting on themes of unity and division, and paint it on a 6′ x8′ wall at the Holter Museum. The mural will be on display November 7th during the annual Helena Art Walk at the Holter. German Club students will be there as well selling cookies and raffling a club T-shirt. On November 8th we’ll have guest lecturers from MSU give a talk on German Reunification at the Holter at 4:00     PM. German Clubs will provide pizza and drinks at 5:00 PM, and the wall will come down at 6:00 PM.

For more information click HERE.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS OF MONTANA
VOLUNTEER AND PLAYER OPPORTUNITIES

For interested students with and without intellectual disabilities – you’re invited to be involved in the local area Special Olympics teams as an athlete or as a volunteer for this year’s Special Olympics State Basketball Tournament, which will be held here in Helena November 6-8 (the final year before moving to Butte for the 2026-2028 years).

WHAT’S COMING UP THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT?
November 1 – November 15, 2025

If we missed something, please let us know – helenamtschools@helenaschools.org. As a good rule of thumb, always check with your school on what they have going on. You can also find upcoming event information and more in this year’s calendar online at https://helenaschools.org/25-26-calendar-flipbook/.