04/08/2024
Almost 100 non-tenured teachers across the Helena school district are at risk of losing their jobs for the next school year, superintendent Rex Weltz said during a school board meeting on Tuesday, April 9.
In case the school’s proposed levies fail, the district’s principals recently met with their staff and notified them that their contracts may not be renewed, Weltz said during his report.
“Let me remind you that’s scary stuff,” Weltz said. “In the event that these levies don’t pass, we need to be nimble and flexible enough to adjust to our own budget.” Salaries account for about 95% of the district’s general fund budget, he noted.
Helena Education Association president Jane Shawn told Montana Free Press that although similar “pink slips” were issued last year, nearly all the union members that received the notices were hired back.
“It’s super important that we pass these levies,” Shawn said. “We are a people-driven organization, and if we have to cut people, we will be looking at cutting programs and that hurts kids. No one wants that.”
If voters approve all five proposed levies, the annual taxes for homes valued at $300,000 would go up by about $331, and those for $600,000 homes would increase by about $662. The election is May 7.
Public Notice
The Montana Office of Public Instruction recently published its report cards for how individual schools, districts and the state performed during the 2022-2023 school year, and the results for Helena are mostly good.
Students in the district’s elementary and middle schools scored as proficient or advanced in math, reading and science at a higher level than the state average. Seventeen percent of K-8 students are advanced in math, 2% higher than the state average. Twenty percent of those students are advanced in reading, while the state’s average is 17%, and 22% are advanced in science compared to the state’s 12%.
The Helena High and Capital High schools’ results for student achievement showed a mix of scores across all subjects.
A higher percentage of the high school students tested as advanced in both reading and math compared to the state average, while 11% are advanced in science compared to the state’s 12% average.
Kaitlyn Hess, the school district’s administrator for data and federal programs, told MTFP that she is encouraged that the district overall is performing above the state average.
Hess attributed the results to research-based teaching strategies such as iReady, a data assessment tool that helps educators know each student’s learning level.
However, there are some elementary schools, including Broadwater and Central, in the district that showed lower or inconsistent scores across all learning levels and subjects compared to the district and state averages.
“There are some schools requiring more support in specific areas, particularly our Target Support and Improvement Schools,” Hess said in an email. “The district continues to support principals and teachers in these buildings with additional staffing, additional curricular resources, behavioral support specialists and other support as needed.”
5 Things to Know in Helena
United Way is on the way: The United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area told MTFP on Friday, April 12, that it had reached its fundraising goal of $50,000 to secure a deposit on the Helena Inn. Earlier last week, the nonprofit shared that it was at risk of losing the contract to purchase the hotel if it couldn’t come up with the initial payment. Now that funds for the deposit are secured, United Way can move forward with its plans to renovate the building into permanent supportive living units, a project the nonprofit is leading to provide Helena with additional options for affordable housing.
No election needed for school trustees: Superintendent Rex Weltz announced on Friday, April 5, that the school trustee portion of the election on May 7 had been canceled. Since only three candidates filed for the three open board positions, and the deadline passed to file as a write-in candidate, Janet Armstrong and Jeff Hindoien were re-elected by acclamation, Armstrong for a three-year term and Hindoien for a one-year term. Rachel Robinson was also elected as a new trustee and will serve a three-year term. The school levies remain on the ballot.
Myrna is getting some work done: The Myrna Loy theater received a $9,000 grant from the Foundation of Montana History last month for renovations to the 130-year-old building. The grant, along with $4,000 to $5,000 from Lewis and Clark County, will be used to repair the arched windows and front doors on the west side of the theater. Built in 1890, the building was originally the county’s jail. The theater’s executive director Benji Cosgrove told MTFP in an email that Preserve Montana, a nonprofit that restores properties with historical significance, will facilitate the renovations and is expected to begin the work in the next six months.
Alive at Lewis and Clark: The local summertime event, Alive at Five, this year will be put on by the Lewis and Clark Brewery Co., 1517 Dodge Ave., according to the Business Improvement District’s interim director Megan Helton. Alive at Five was organized in previous years by the now-dissolved Downtown Helena Inc. and featured live concerts downtown during June, July and August. The brewery has in the past run the event’s beer tent.
Soapbox Derby: Registration has opened for Helena’s fourth annual Soapbox Derby. The derby, which is part of the Septemberfest activities, will include live music and refreshments from Ten Mile Creek Brewery. Registration is free and open to those with a valid driver’s license. The derby begins on Friday, Sept. 13, and the entry deadline is Sept. 6. Visit the Septemberfest website for more details and to register.
3 Questions For
The Old Salt Co-op is a Montana meat company that operates a processing plant, butchery, the Old Salt Outpost burger shop and now a new restaurant — The Union. The business took over the former Bert and Ernie’s location at 361 N. Last Chance Gulch. Cole Mannix is the president and founder of the co-op and spoke to MTFP about The Union opening and the services it will provide. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: What is the Old Salt Co-op and what motivated you to open up The Union?
Mannix: We’re a Helena-based Montana meat company, and we’re a regenerative alternative to commodity food.
All the way from start to finish, from the ranches that supply us, to the processing, which we have across town over on Bozeman Avenue, our first restaurant, which was the Old Salt Outpost, to the one that’s about to open this week, The Union, to Old Salt Festival, we’re a vertically integrated start-to-finish meat company that is trying to change the fact that 2% of the meat that was eaten in Montana every year actually comes from here.
We really wanted a home to the brand that was really our place, a place we could host the community. We absolutely love the outpost and it’s definitely not going anywhere, but we lease that place in the Gold Bar. We have heard so many people talk about the union market, which closed in the 80s. It was kind of a beloved community establishment, and we’ve wanted to have a place where we could [have] more than just burgers. Really feature our beef and lamb and pork on a retail basis in the butcher shop and also feature it on the menu in a way that could feature the whole animal.
MTFP: What foods will The Union offer?
Mannix: The meats themselves; it’ll be everything from raw cuts to cured meats and prepared patties, things like bresaola or terrine or some old-world cured products. Then the restaurant itself, with the wood-fire grill, will have skewers, some steaks, some braised cuts like lamb shank and some braised pork and some grilled veggies.
Beyond featuring the co-op’s meats, it’s really a Montana-inspired menu that sources bread from Sunflower Bakery, flour from Montana Flour and Grain, lentils from Timeless Seeds and veggies from Winter Kissed, which will also go really nicely on the grill.
The market itself will have a very simple breakfast option, but it will be damn good. It’ll have a couple of different breakfast sandwiches and black coffee from Black Coffee Roasting out of Missoula, and a daily scone. It will also have some side dishes, some salads and stuff to compliment the meat and take home for anybody who’s shopping at the market for a weekend or a weekday meal.
MTFP: How do you think this is a positive addition to Helena?
Mannix: I think that happens in a lot of ways, but first connects the community to their surrounding landscape in a significant way. They’re going to be directly supporting farms and ranches that supply from the valleys and landscapes nearby Helena that people know and have a real connection with. I think the other way is just that the people really make the place, and so providing salt-of-the-earth hospitality, that’s our goal.
The Union is kind of meant to be our flagship. It’s an old building that is in a wonderful little location. The first part of it was built in the 1890s and then it was later added on in various different iterations, but it’s been maybe 33 years for Bert and Ernie’s. It’s been an institution, and we hope that this next iteration will also be a good contribution to the community. Toby DeWolf, who owned Bert and Ernie’s, it was his family that also owned the union and he grew up working in it. So it’s kind of a fun nod to his history.
Comings and Goings
Coming: A new Starbucks — the fifth in Helena — is under construction at 1919 E. Custer Ave., according to documents filed with the city. The renovation to the building, which previously housed a Hardees, is valued at $1.5 million. The contractor is Radix Construction Inc., out of Idaho.
Coming: Helena College will host the grand opening of its new salon on Thursday, April 18, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Donaldson campus, 1115 N. Roberts St. The salon is part of the college’s new cosmetology program. The first cosmology cohort has 16 students who started the program in January. Helena College Dean Sandra Bauman told MTFP that this would be the first opportunity for the public to check out the salon, purchase products and schedule appointments. Hair services will begin on Monday, May 13. For any additional information about the program, visit the college’s website, and for more details about the salon, visit its website.
Might Be Fun
The 2024 Helena Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show, hosted by Helena’s Mineral Society, will be on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21, at the Civic Center at 340 Neill St. The show will feature vendors from across the state and begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Admission is $3 and is free for veterans, active military members and children 12 and under. For more information, email the show’s chairperson, Alexis McEwan, at [email protected].
Helena History
Before the Myrna Loy, it was a jail.
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
