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East Helena K-12 School District board meeting, Sep 14, 2026

2 h 10 min · 0 public speakers

Reading and test scores ▶ 1:39:18

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

East Helena board approves choir trip to New York and travel club trip to Japan 56:55

  • The board tabled the CSCT agreement with Intermountain Children's Home, which was not before the board, and moved to first reading of policies 3231, 5322, 5323 and 5324. 22:29
  • The board heard an enrollment report showing an increase of about 24 students from where the district left off last year, and principals described crowded buildings, with the high school using every available class space. 31:00
  • The board also approved a memo of understanding with the EHEA and Resolution Number 247 on disposal of obsolete equipment, then discussed committee functions and a draft board self-evaluation. 1:21:00
Item by item (15)
  1. Opening and agenda 0:06
    • The meeting opened with a quorum and the Pledge of Allegiance. 0:06
    • A speaker said the CSCT agreement under unfinished business was not ready and asked trustees to table it. 1:18
    • No one addressed the board during public comment on non-agenda items. ~1:28
  2. Student, school and department reports 2:06
    • The student report covered sports, clubs, homecoming events and a blood drive planned for November 2nd. 2:06
    • A middle school administrator said the school had 13 behavior referrals so far in September, compared with 89 last September. 7:25
    • A high school administrator said the Booster Club voted to give $2,500 more to the Vigilante Star program, and an athletics report said 7 cheerleaders were selected as UCA All-Americans. 9:14
  3. Strategic planning and future needs 17:06
    • A speaker said an engineer assisting with a housing development showed it was on track to be building houses by next year, with about 144 units in the first phase. 17:13
    • A speaker said the strategic planning survey had gone out once and would be sent again, with results to be reviewed at an upcoming planning meeting. 19:58
  4. Consent action items 20:54
    • The consent items included minutes of the August 10th regular meeting and special meetings, warrants, personnel actions and a surrounding school district loan approval. 21:30
    • The motion to approve the consent action items carried. 22:29
  5. CSCT agreement 22:29
    • The chair said the CSCT agreement with Intermountain Children's Home was not before the board and asked for a motion to table. 22:29
    • The motion to table carried. 23:11
  6. Item 23:11
    • A speaker said the Policy Committee reviewed the policies and that the search and seizure language removed the term pat-down search while keeping an option for a physical search in an emergency. 23:24
    • A speaker asked about language requiring a search by 2 staff members of the same gender as the student being searched. 26:24
    • Brandon Hansen said the committee had not explicitly discussed the same-gender requirement. 26:50
    • Motions to approve Policy 5322, Military Leave, and Policy 5323, Personnel and Emergency Leave, under first reading each carried. 28:35
  7. Enrollment report and start of school 30:36
    • A district administrator said enrollment rose about 24 students from the end of last year but was down from 2,026 to 1,984 compared with last September, which the administrator attributed partly to cleanup of rolls. 31:00
    • A high school administrator said the school was at 595 students with 47 on the 227 side and was using every available class space. 37:35
  8. Choir travel to New York 51:47
    • Speakers said the East Helena High School choir was invited to sing at a music festival in New York City, with travel dates of April 15th through the 19th, 2027. 52:48
    • Speakers said they would raise money through bake sales and by selling coffees and flowers. 54:53
    • The motion to approve the out-of-state travel carried. 57:28
  9. Travel club trip to Japan 57:40
    • Speakers described a proposed 2028 travel club trip to Japan that would include Osaka Castle, temples and shrines in Nara and Kyoto, and the Tokyo National Museum. 59:08
    • A presenter said the trip would leave and return roughly between the 13th of June and the 28th. 1:01:34
    • The motion to approve the travel request carried. 1:02:20
  10. Summer maintenance update 1:02:47
    • A speaker said summer projects included asphalt repair and sealant at the Eastgate Playground, the final section of the Radley roof and resurfacing of the first 2 tennis courts. 1:02:57
    • The speaker said the EVMS chiller unit was delivered last week but was not yet connected and installed. 1:04:30
  11. Summer school report 1:07:31
    • A presenter said the K-5 program finished with 129 students and that 74% of them maintained or grew over the 6-week window. 1:07:36
    • A presenter said 32 of 36 high school students received credit and all 30 middle school students passed. 1:18:16
  12. Memo of understanding with EHEA 1:19:36
    • A speaker said the memo lets teachers cover unfilled para positions during prep time with pay, and that the document should list the rate as $24 an hour. 1:19:44
    • The motion to approve the memo carried. 1:21:00
  13. Disposal of obsolete equipment 1:21:00
    • A speaker said the district wants to dispose of an old pug mill and a 60-inch commercial gas range, and suggested a minimum bid of $2,000 for the pug mill. 1:21:30
    • The motion to approve Resolution Number 247 with a reserve minimum of $2,000 for the pug mill carried. 1:23:31
  14. Board committee functions 1:23:53
    • The chair described ideas including earlier engagement of the budget committee, a possible future needs assessment for superintendent and business manager replacements, and sending all policy through the policy committee first. 1:23:53
    • A speaker said the board should be careful not to overwhelm the superintendent with required attendance at committee meetings. 1:30:32
  15. Board team building and self-evaluation 1:31:30
    • The board discussed the second chapter of a book study and how to measure student achievement beyond standardized tests. 1:31:30
    • A speaker said a draft board self-evaluation drew on questions from MTSBA and other sources and asked for consensus on offering it to the superintendent, administrative staff and the heads of the 2 bargaining units. 1:56:44

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “Sept. 14th, 2026 -- School Board Meeting”