05/13/2024
Last week, Helenans chose not to approve any of the school district’s five proposed levies, leaving school leaders to resolve the district’s budget woes.
For the past year or so, the school district has been working to alleviate the $3 million budget shortfall, and officials asked the community to fund technology upgrades, security necessities and some operational costs.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the election results, but we do empathize with the voters,” Helena School Board Chairperson Siobhan Hathhorn told Montana Free Press. “We’re all in really hard, trying financial times. So we’re accepting that and moving forward.”
In preparation for any or all of the levies failing, the district created a budget consensus committee made up of stakeholders within the school community. The committee was tasked with developing a prioritized list of recommendations to cut the budget.
While the administration will use the list as a starting point, Hathhorn said it’s too early to determine where cuts will be made.
“We do know that there will be reductions going forward. Although at this point in time we haven’t pinpointed specific budget cuts. It’s just too premature right now,” she said.
Because the school year is ending soon, Hathhorn said that the district will be as responsible as possible if staffing reductions are needed. Earlier this year, about 100 non-tenured teachers were notified that their contracts may not be renewed.
“We’re going to come out the other end of this in good shape one way or another,” Hathhorn said. “Helena will find a way to continue to provide a great education for our community. So that’s what’s on the forefront of my mind.”
Although the school district has not announced school closures, some parents are concerned about the future of their children’s schools.
“If the solution is going to be to bus the kids to a temporary structure in a parking lot of a school, I don’t know that that is something that we will do,” Hanna Warhank, a Helena parent, told MTFP.
The next school board of trustees meeting will be on Tuesday, May 14, at 5:30 p.m., at the Lincoln Center, 1325 Poplar St.
Public Notice
Community grant reports and a public art project: The Helena Area Community Foundation will present its annual report to the city commission during the next administrative meeting on Wednesday, May 15, at the City-County Building, 319 Park Ave, at 4 p.m.
During the same meeting, the Helena Public Arts Committee will recommend an artist for the Helena Public Art Community Collaboration Project. The city commissioners allocated $5,000 for the project and put out a request for applicants in March.
5 Things to Know in Helena
New leader for HRSA: The Helena Regional Sports Association announced last week that Kelly Posewitz is the group’s new executive director. According to a press release, Posewtiz will lead the sports association’s main project, the ARC. The ARC is a proposed indoor recreation facility that the association, along with the Lewis and Clark Fair Board, has been advocating for in the Helena area. The proposed project would cost about $115 million. For more information on the association and the ARC project, visit its website.
New cushions for the Myrna: Both of Myrna Loy’s theaters are getting new seats, according to a Facebook post last week. Despite the small construction, the Myrna has its doors open and will screen one film a night. Renovations are set to finish later in May. Bruce Molsky is scheduled for the first live performance on Thursday, June 6. Visit the Myrna’s website for additional details.
What Helena gave: The Helena Area Community Foundation recently held its annual donation event, Greater Helena Gives, where donors give to local nonprofits that register through the foundation. This year, about 1,250 donors gave about $271,000 during the event, according to foundation director Emily Frazier. Although the total donations from this year fell short of the $300,000 goal, Frazier said that many fundraising efforts are low this year because of financial constraints.
Helena talks disabilities: Ability Montana and Carroll College will host the event, “Let’s Talk Disabilities! Helena” on May 16 and 17 at the college’s FLEX Theater, 1601 N. Benton Ave., at 7 p.m. The event will feature Helena residents with disabilities sharing their experiences in hopes of creating a space for open discussions and promoting understanding. Tickets are $10. For more information, email Ability Montana at [email protected].
Street closure: A section of Jackson Street will be closed from May 13-15 for asphalt repair. The construction will be between East Sixth Avenue and East Broadway Street. Work will take place each day from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and southbound traffic will be cut off and delays are expected. Call the city at (406)-447-1566 for additional information.
3 Questions For
The Helena Food Share recently received a substantial donation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the food bank’s new building on the corner of Boulder and Montana avenues. The food share program broke ground on the 19,500-square-foot, $12 million project last year and is expected to be in the new location in October. So far, the food bank has raised $10.7 million, about 88% of the total amount, toward the project. Helena Food Shares Executive Director Bruce Day spoke with MTFP about the donation, plans for the funds and the need for a bigger, new facility. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: How much did the church donate and how did it come about?
Day: It’s $1.3 million. It’s a really significant contribution to our overall campaign to raise the necessary funds for the building. It’s just a monumental kind of gift that doesn’t happen frequently, and we’re just so pleased about it. I think some of the local leaders here in the church reached out to their humanitarian assistance outreach coordinator for this area and invited her to come to Helena. As part of that visit, we made contact and made them aware of what our needs were in terms of the building and equipping the building with a commercial production kitchen and more food storage space. They thought it was a great project and put together a proposal. So it was kind of in progress for over a year and then finally came through with approval. So it was really cool.
MTFP: How will the additional funds be spent and what services will they provide?
Day: I would say that it’s all going toward what we would call the food service equipment. So all of the equipment that would be in a commercial production kitchen, basically equipping that entire facility, shelving or racking system for our warehouse for our dry goods storage. It really increases the capacity of our cold storage, so all of the freezers and coolers in both the warehouse [and] market space. There are a lot of pieces in this building that are being covered by this donation.
We will continue absolutely with the services that we already provide: our grocery share program, our mobile pantry, our kid’s food pack program and our senior program. But in addition to that, we’re really going to have this ability to prepare and produce foods locally. So that kind of production that we’ll be able to distribute to people, maybe like packaged meals that are ready to eat.
MTFP: What does this donation mean for the program and Helena?
Day: The kitchen and the increased capacity to store food means really that we’ll be able to rescue more food from the community and put it into a usable form that people can take home and eat. So basically it means that we’re going to have the capacity to provide food, more food for more people who are in need. It’ll just really give us that increased ability to provide for people who are in need of it.
We’re just appreciative of everybody that has contributed to this effort. It’s truly taken a community and people and groups from all parts of the community. So we’re appreciative of that. It’s, unfortunately, kind of an essential part of what we need to do to be able to meet the needs of people needing food assistance in this part of Montana in the Helena area, and that need continues to rise. I think [the new building] will be a real asset. It’s important because no one wants to see people in their community going hungry.
Helena History
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].