HELENA — Helena Public Schools staff are gathering information to possibly redraw school attendance boundary lines. The possibility was mentioned during a board of trustees work session on March 25, but district officials say they are still early in the process.
“It’s not even an action item to the board yet,” Helena Public Schools Superintendent Rex Weltz said.
While small adjustments have been made to attendance boundary lines, Weltz said the boundaries have remained largely the same for about 40 years.
In that time, both the city and greater Helena-area have changed, from new housing developments to the opening of East Helena High School. All of that has changed the number of students attending schools across the district.
“We’ve needed to do this for quite some time,” Weltz said of boundary changes.
Redrawing attendance boundaries is meant to balance the number of students at each district school. Right now, Weltz said about 1,300 students attend Capital High School, while 900 attend Helena High School. The situation is similar at the district’s two middle schools—Weltz said about 1,000 students attend CR Anderson Middle School and 700 students attend Helena Middle School.
District staff are putting together different boundary options to present to the board of trustees.
“All decisions will be made in public, in front of the public with the trustees—that’s their work,” Weltz said. “Our work is that we’re simply doing all of the planning, all of the scenarios, giving them options so they can choose an option that best fits the community.”
Weltz said there will be opportunities for public input throughout the process, and he hopes to put plans before the board of trustees later this spring.
The discussion on attendance boundaries comes as the district considers other changes, including the possibility of closing Hawthorne Elementary School and putting bonds before voters for school construction and building improvements.
A public meeting on the potential closing of Hawthorne is planned for April 9 at 5:30pm at the Lincoln Center.
