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Good morning, it’s Phoebe, the Billings reporter for Montana Free Press.
In this edition we have a new home for the nursing school, a union local seeking pay raises for educational support staff and details about a weeklong fundraiser to benefit the surviving families of the mass shooting in Billings in August. More than 60 area businesses are participating.
But first, a weather preview ☀️
The weekend will start warm and end cooler, with rain possible Sunday night and Monday morning. Highs should be 83 Friday, 71 Saturday and 65 Sunday. Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.
Billings nursing school gets nice new digs
The Montana State University-Billings College of Nursing has a snazzy new building smack dab in the middle of the medical corridor. This week, more than 100 people gathered to celebrate its opening.
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The 26,000-square-foot building was funded by a $101 million donation from Mark and Robyn Jones, co-founders of Goosehead Insurance, who grew up in Alberta, Canada, and now split their time between Texas and the Flathead Valley. The Montana State University Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing is named in their honor.
The gift was the largest given to any nursing school in the country, according to College of Nursing Dean Sarah Shannon. It paid for the Billings building as well as new buildings at the MSU nursing campuses in Kalispell, Great Falls, Missoula and Bozeman. All are now built and in use, according to speakers Wednesday.
The building at 1040 N. 29th St. was built on land jointly donated by Billings Clinic and Intermountain Health. It is located on the same block as several Billings Clinic buildings and across the street from portions of the Intermountain Health campus.
The nursing school at MSU Billings started in 1939. It has been housed at times in leased classrooms at Billings Clinic, converted dormitories at MSUB and eventually a full building on the MSUB campus.
The crowd that attended the opening this week included students, faculty, builders and architects who worked on the project and representatives from both Billings hospitals.
In her remarks, Billings Campus Director Jeanne Conner said students were spending more time on campus studying and socializing.
“Of course they’re being challenged and working hard,” Conner said. “But they genuinely seem happier with this new building providing a sense of place and belonging.”
Typically, the MSU College of Nursing graduates approximately 300 students a year, 70% of whom stay in Montana to work. But with the new instructional space in Billings and the other four cities, the school expects to graduate 400 nurses a year by 2030, according to Dean Shannon.
Setting the stage to seek a pay raise
There are approximately 400 support staff working as special needs aides, accountants, computer technicians and other roles in Billings Public Schools who need a pay raise, their union representative told trustees this week.
“Our support staff do not receive a livable wage,” said Jennifer Leligdowicz, president of the Billings Classified Employees Association. “At all.”
Leligdowicz was speaking at the Billings Public Schools Board of Trustees monthly meeting Monday night. She said it’s stressful for those employees “when you can barely decide which bill to pay, rent or food,” she said.
Starting pay for an instructional paraprofessional in the district is $18.34 an hour, according to a recent job listing, which, at the part-time hours stipulated in the job description, comes out to $31,013 a year.
The Billings Classified Employees Association and its counterparts across the state are launching what they’re calling a “respect campaign,” which will lay the groundwork for asking the state to better fund those positions in the 2027 Legislature.
AI in Billings’ public schools
Billings Public Schools is in the second year of using a platform called School AI, and according to Director of Professional Learning O’Shean Moran, “AI literacy” is the No. 1 objective.
“The biggest thing is not having kids use AI all the time without thought,” Moran told the Board of Trustees Monday night at their monthly meeting.
Moran’s presentation came as tech executives have increasingly sounded alarm bells about the rapid advancement of AI.
School AI is a program that lets teachers integrate a closed-loop AI program into classwork. Moran said in a call with Montana Free Press Thursday that platform usage varies, but it is available to all teachers in grades 4-12.
A closed-loop program means that what gets generated in one session of use won’t feed into any larger AI models, such as Claude, GPT or Gemini, that would absorb the information and use it for future programming. The work a student does on the platform is visible to just them and the teacher, Moran said.
Moran gets regular reports on how School AI is being used in the district. He said the top usage is by instructional coaches explaining to teachers how to use the tool. The second most frequent use is to conduct quick check-ins with individual students to assess their knowledge of a topic before a lesson or their comprehension afterward. Thirdly, the platform is used to help kids brainstorm for writing assignments, identify topics of interest to get their buy-in or analyze writing and give instant feedback, Moran said.
Moran said the district created a committee to oversee the implementation of the AI program with representation from different grade levels, building administrators and technology coaches.
In case you missed it ↩️
A Billings man whose gun rights were restored after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed his felony conviction has again begun armed “patrols” outside his home across the street from Broadwater Elementary School. The district has taken some steps in response, such as installing a visual barrier to obscure the man’s view of the playground. The superintendent says a change in state law is the most lasting solution, but some frustrated parents say that will take too long. You can read my story here.
Public Notice 🧐
Council to vote on bid for Zimmerman Trail rock stabilization project
Monday, Sept. 28
5:30 p.m.
316 N. 26th St., on the fifth floor.
The Billings City Council will consider a recommendation to award a $232,000 contract to Global Rock Works to install anchor bolts, wire rope cabling and other equipment to help stabilize a 70-foot stretch of sandstone halfway up the road that has been identified as a hazard. Global Rock Works submitted the lowest “responsible” bid, city staff has noted. Another bid was rejected for irregularities.
Game of the Week 🏆
Girls’ flag football is in its second year of play, after Billings Public Schools trustees added the sport in 2025. Both Senior (4-2) and West (4-4) varsity teams need some hometown support as they take on Great Falls High in back-to-back games at the Sam MacDonald Stadium at Daylis Saturday. West plays at noon, and Senior plays at 1:15 p.m.
About Town 🚶
Cocktails, games and a costume contest are on tap at Witches and Wizards Spirits Saturday at 5 p.m. at the historic Moss Mansion. Tickets are $55. Proceeds go to the Moss Mansion Museum. https://mossmansion.com/event/witches-and-wizards-spirits/
Enjoy a free outdoor screening of The Sandlot Saturday at the 406 Events Lawn at 323 N. 14th St., courtesy of the BIRD, which manages the Eastern Urban Renewal District TIF funds. Gates open at 6, the movie starts at sundown and the event includes a bounce house for kids and Grateful Guys Pizza for purchase. More information available at https://www.facebook.com/406EventsLawn.
“Community Week” in Billings, Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, features 60+ businesses designating a portion of their proceeds to benefit the families of the mass shooting victims in Billings Aug. 23. A Complete list of participating businesses is available at https://www.facebook.com/thebigjshow.
