Bengal Happenings

Bell Schedules

Year-at-a-Glance

Friday, August 28 - Assembly Schedule - Fire Drill and Evac

Attendance - hhsattendance@helenaschools.org; (406) 324-2211

Main Office - (406) 324-2200

Website - hhs.helenaschools.org

We will move back to the Helena High School (facebook.com/helenahighbengals) Facebook and Instagram pages as our main social media sites. Both sites have our logo with the tiger in the middle and Helena High School - Home of the Bengals around the outside.

Facebook - Helena High School

Instagram - helenahighschoolbengals

Within the first couple of days of school, students will review updates to the Student Handbook in their 2nd period class. After review, students will bring home the handbook sign-off document. The full handbook will be linked on our HHS website for review throughout the school year. Please be sure to review the sign off sheet and various approvals we are asking from you and return it to the school.

Additionally, we will be sending home the list of approved clubs for HHS. Please review the clubs and return the club approval form, signed, for the clubs you approve of your student joining, if they choose. If clubs are added throughout the school year, students will need to gain additional approval from parents before a student can join.

Finally, on Friday, August 28, students in grades 10-12 will be asked to complete a survey similar to the one we have been asking parents to complete. This survey will help give us an opportunity to gain student perspective on what is going well at HHS, and areas they would like to see improve. If you would like your child not to participate in this survey, please send an email to bkessler1@helenaschools.org, or call at (406) 324-2202 and we will not have your child complete the survey. The survey is anonymous. There are some basic demographic questions, but those are optional for students to answer.

Students have the choice on whether they have a locker or not. We recommend students utilize this resource and find one in an area that will allow them to change books/materials throughout the day and limit how much they are carrying.

If a student is interested in a locker, they will need to find one in an area they would like. They will then stop by the Main Office and connect with Mrs. White to reserve the locker. Students are asked to supply their own lock, but we can provide one for them if needed. Lockers with a backwards lock are ones that are still available.

Stop by the Main Office if you have questions.

Things continue to get exciting with our new building. We appreciate your patience as we have worked together with the various street closures as they have worked on utilities the past two weeks. Traffic should be flowing more normally starting Monday, August 24, but I would continue to plan accordingly.

If you have been around the building lately, you've likely noticed more machinery popping up on campus. While we still have a ways before we see the building start to go vertical, we are definitely getting closer!

On our HHS webpage (hhs.helenaschools.org), we have added a section for construction. We will keep all of our construction-related communications on that page, along with a FAQ section for the common questions that we receive. Please let us know if there are aspects you would like to see included on that page to help with staying up-to-date on what is going on with construction. We also will continue to share out on social media.

As we shared out this week with parking, we are currently creating a wait-list for those that are interested in parking in the school-provided parking lots. We appreciate everyone's desire to be great community partners by parking in designated school parking areas. For those that park in the Harris Street Lot, we will have the shuttle bus available to get to campus, or you are welcome to walk. Please plan accordingly, though, to make sure you are able to get to your classes on time. As of right now, we do not have a 0 period shuttle, but will continue to refine the opportunities as we see what is needed the first couple of weeks of school. The name of the game will be flexibility and adaptability this year as we figure out how to live with construction on campus.

At the start of each school year, we like to remind our families to consider completing the Free and Reduced Meal Application. This application opens many doors for students from qualifying families beyond access to free or reduced-price meals.

When families fill out the application, this helps us also demonstrate student need and helps our district access federal and state funding that directly affects student success, student supports, fee waivers, scholarship and grant applications for students, and other resources for students and families. At this high school level, this also includes the ability for waivers of athletic fees and class fees.

Even if your child does not plan on eating school food every day, I encourage you to complete the application and see if you qualify. The link to complete the application is here - https://dca.opi.mt.gov/FRAPP?SponsorNum=0487

Additionally, we will have computers set up in the Main Office the first couple of weeks of the year if you would like to stop by complete the application that way. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions.

Clicking the photo below will take you to the website to register as well.

Thank you to those who have completed our Cognia Accreditation Survey so far. I will keep the survey open until August 29.

If you have not completed the survey yet, please do so. The information you provide will be helpful for us as we look at areas we are succeeding and developing areas in need of growth. If you have further questions on the survey, or the accreditation process, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Survey

Families that are new to HHS, you will not need to complete the survey as you will likely not have enough experience with us yet to be able to answer the questions.

Helena High School is identified as a Title I school. This designation is in relation to the percentage of students in our building that qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. As a Title School, we are required to hold a Title I Parent Meeting each school year. This meeting allows to share with parents our goals for the year, discuss how we utilized the Title funding in our school to directly benefit students, and answer any questions you may have.

This year, we will host our meeting on Monday, September 21 from 4:00-5:00 p.m., virtually. If you are interested in joining, please use the link and information below.

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/258251492389761?p=uxmHAy4iktNHtben3J

Meeting ID: 258 251 492 389 761

Passcode: hu2ks6yc

We love when our students are able to perform the National Anthem prior to our varsity competitions. In the past, we have reserved this for students in our choir classes or our Pep Band. This year, though, we would like to try something new and offer this opportunity to all students in our school. Students who are interested in auditioning for a game need to keep an eye out for the dates and times to play in front of Mrs. Kohoutek. Remember, the National Anthem can be sung, a trumpet solo, small ensemble, and more.

Throughout the year, there will be times in various classes in which lessons, units, or novels will contain material that is covered under the required Human Sexuality and Sexual Identity notifications. Within the designated time frames (no less than 5 days, no more than 14 days), your child's teacher will send home the notice of the instruction and alert you to the opportunity to review the material before the lesson, if you so choose.

For content that falls under the Human Sexuality notice, families will need to opt out of the instruction. For content that falls under the Sexual Identity notice, families will need to opt in to the instruction. This will again be outlined in the notices that come out.

General areas in which these topics typically fall include:

• Health
• Biology (1 and 2, AP)
• Psychology
• AP Psychology
• Certain English novels

Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions related to this.

8/22 - Bengal Booster BBQ

8/24 - JV GO @ Helena Invite

8/24-25 - GO @ Great Falls Invite

8/27 - FB @ Skyview

8/28 - XC @ Billings Invite; SOC vs Glacier - 3/5 p.m.

8/29 - SOC vs Flathead (9/11 a.m.); FR FB @ Helena Jamboree; GFFB vs Glacier 12:00/2:00 p.m. (Vigilante Stadium);VB @ Senior/Skyview

• 22 – Bengal Booster BBQ

• 24 – First Day for Staff

• 26 – Bengal Beginnings Day! Freshmen Only

• 27 – Soph-Seniors First Day!

September

• 1 – Picture Day

• 2 – Last Day to Change Schedules for Semester 1

• 7 – No School, Labor Day

• 8 – MAP Testing Freshmen and Sophomores; Juniors ACT Prep; Seniors Counseling Presentation (Assessment Schedule)

• 9 – MAP Testing Freshmen and Sophomores; Juniors Community Service Day, Seniors Josten’s Visit (Assessment Schedule); Open House 6-7 p.m.

• 13 – HEF Carnival Classic

• 14 – Senior Parent Night – 6-7 p.m. Little Theater

• 25 – 1st Quarter Mid-term

• 28-Oct 3 – Homecoming Week!

• 28-Oct 9 – College Application Weeks

As we continue to ramp up for the school year, we are working to iron out final details in terms of parking, access to the building and our communication structure for when streets might be closed or access to certain areas might change. This will continue to be a work in process as we refine the best ways to get the message out to ensure everyone sees it.

We appreciate you taking the time to read through these communications and hope that you also encourage your friends and family to also stay up-to-date by scanning through The Happenings, following us on Social Media, and checking out our website (hhs.helenaschools.org) for information. We have everything just about set to go to be a regular source of information and appreciate your feedback if there are ways to better align that information to make it helpful and useful.

In anticipation for the coming years, we are looking for continued partnership with families to set our students up for the best chance at success. With the main parking area for students about a 5-7 minute walk away from campus, this will make it more difficult to get to their cars and get somewhere for lunch and back in time for their 5th period class to start. As we try to alleviate tardies and ensure students are in class on time to get the most out of the lesson, we hope that families will have discussions on how to best manage the lunch period. It may mean bringing lunches to school more so students stay on campus and can be to class on time. We do offer lunch at school as well. Our Sodexo team has been offering more variety to their meals for a reasonable cost and have options - sandwich bar, pizza, main course - for students to choose from. Our Catty Shack has a lunch special each day, also. We will continue to work with our Student Leadership on how to provide options, as well, to help keep kids close to campus.

This also will be important in helping students work on thinking through the extra time needed to walk (or ride the shuttle bus) to the campus and be here on time. Thinking through what time they need to get up in the morning (and conversely what time they need to go to sleep so they can be rested) to adjust for the additional time it will take to get the building without having to push speed limits or increase worry or anxiety about being late. While we recognize this set-up is not the most ideal for everyone, there could be a silver-lining in providing more after-high-school preparedness in building strong time-management and executive functioning skills that students will need to apply to their every day lives (organization, preparation, etc.). We look forward to working together on this.

We are fortunate to have such a great community to work with during this project. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns as we get through the building projects together.

Go Bengals!

Parking Permits - New and Repeated

Students will need to purchase Parking Permits to park in the designated HHS lots for the 2026-2027 school year. Permits are $5 and need to be purchased online through RevTrak. All information on what is needed and the link to purchase can be found here.

To clarify based on some common questions coming in:

• There will only be one student parking pass that we sell. It will not have a color on it or allow someone to park just in the Yellow Lot or just the Harris Street Temporary School Parking Lot. The pass will work for both areas on a first-come, first-served basis.
• While we also appreciate the busy schedules of our students, we will not be able to reserve spots for students. Instead, we will work together if a student is coming back from a college class, internship, etc. with their next teacher to formulate a plan.
• As mentioned, we hope that students and families will utilize these lots and not park in the neighboring streets or private business. We cannot control how those areas will respond to unauthorized people parking there and want to help families alleviate any troubles that might be caused by doing so.

*Please call to be put on the wait list if you are still wanting a parking permit.

Construction Updates

We continue to move forward with our progress on the new building on our campus. Things are very active and we will soon be learning how to very effectively live together with the construction teams and our normal school functions.

There are times, where roads around our area will be closed - either for quick moments or longer term - in order for some utility work to be completed and the movement of materials. We will do our best to communicate these out so everyone knows they will need to plan alternative routes to get to the building.

If you've been by lately, you will notice that the east side of the gym area has been completely demolished and further prep work has happened to get ready for the footings and foundation work to begin in the near future.

I encourage you to also check out the information provided around the Rammed Aggregate Piers that are currently being put in place on our new building site. This information is helpful in understanding how we are able to mitigate the water and soils that we are currently built upon. This can be found on the district website and their Facebook page.

The following communications were sent out regarding parking, both for before and after school events, entry to the building, bus drop offs and the plan for late night returns from out-of-town trips. Please continue to reach out with questions around these plans.

• After school activities, late night returns
• Regular School Day

Cell Phones and Electronic Devices 2026-2027 School Year - Repeated

As we shared out in the Spring, there have been discussions throughout the school, district, state, and nation regarding cell phone use in schools and classrooms. There is plenty of research that tells us cell phones, and other electronic devices (namely ear buds/headphones, watches, other gaming devices), cause distractions to learning and socialization amongst our population. As a school staff, we have agreed to work toward limiting student use of these devices throughout the school day to support student learning and growth. While the approach listed below is not overly different than what we have had in the past, we are committed to being consistent with these approaches as a school this year. We look forward to working together as a team of staff and parents to help our students follow these expectations.

HHS Cell Phone and Other Electronic Device Expectations

The overall expectation is that phones and electronic devices are either put into the designated location in the classroom or in the students’ backpacks, out of sight and reach. Cell phones and/or electronic devices are not to be used in the classroom except for academic purposes approved by the teacher. Students will be allowed to utilize their devices before school, during passing periods, lunch, and after school.

Progressive Discipline for choosing not to follow the teacher's directions will be in place. Students will be given one warning in class by the teacher before the progressive discipline approach is utilized.

Cell phones and other Electronic Device infractions will be cumulative throughout the student’s schedule (they do not get a first offense in each period - if they had to turn in their phone from their 1st period class for the first offense, then had to turn it in again for their 2nd period class the next day, that would be the second offense). Other electronic devices include, but are not limited to – ear buds, head phones (or other devices that allow a student to listen to music or receive notifications), and smart watches.

1st Offense – Student turns their phone or other electronic device into the main office and receives a white slip signifying they have done so to give back to their teacher. The student will be able to pick up their phone or other electronic device at the end of the day. The teacher will document this offense in the Office Discipline Referral (ODR), and parent(s)/guardian(s) will be made aware of the infraction.

2nd Offense – Student turns their phone or other electronic device into the main office. Administration will connect with the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to pick up the phone or other electronic device from the main office. A discussion will happen about proper electronic device use in the classroom with the student, parent, and administration. Staff will document this offense in the ODR form.

3rd Offense – Student turns their phone or other electronic device into the main office. Administration will connect with the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to pick up the phone or other electronic device from the main office. The student will no longer be allowed to bring their cell phone or other electronic devices to school, or they will need to check them in at the main office at the start of each day. Staff will document this offense in the ODR form.

Students will not be allowed to take phones or other electronic devices to the restroom with them. If a student needs to connect with a parent/guardian, they can ask to go to the main office and do so there. Parents are also encouraged to utilize our main office to get notes to students instead of texting/calling them at school.

Freshmen Parent Night and Bengal Beginnings Day - Repeated

We are excited to officially welcome the Class of 2030 to HHS! As students, and parents, get ready to begin the new year - a few informational items for you:

Freshmen Parent Night - Tuesday, August 25 - 5:30-6:30 p.m. - HHS Little Theater

The HHS admin team will provide a presentation on things to know as a Freshmen parent, help to prepare you for what's to come the next four years, and have an opportunity for Q&A. Please enter through Entry 1 (Billings Ave) or 33 (North Side) and follow the signs to the Little Theater. Students are also welcome to attend.

Bengal Beginnings Day - Wednesday, August 26 - 8:15 a.m. - Meet at Entry 1 (Billings Avenue Entry)

The first day of school is reserved for our Freshmen and amazing Link Crew Leaders to build connections and become more accustomed to a day in the life at HHS. The day will start with a welcome assembly and small group activities with our upper classmen Link Leaders. Lunch is available for free (thanks Sodexo!) for all students that day - we will be having burgers and hot dogs with gluten free options available. After lunch, students will rotate around to all their classes to meet their teachers and classmates and continue to learn more about HHS. We will finish earlier on this day - around 2:30 p.m. with buses running at their normal time. All students need to bring is a pencil and ready-to-engage attitude.

With the change to our entry availability this year, we are going to have our students start in a different location than we have in the past. We will ask that students be dropped off and wait outside Entry 1 off of Billings Avenue until they are brought in to start the day.

Student Schedules - Repeated

As we shared, student schedules are still being worked on by our counseling and administrative staff. While some might be seeing their schedules on certain apps, please make sure you are paying attention to the schedule that will be available in PowerSchool.

Schedules are built using the requests students submitted in the Spring. While we will take requests for changes, please recognize that changes may not always be possible. Counselors will initially start working on schedule changes based on the schedule below, whether you are new to our building or a returner. You are welcome to stop in during those times, or submit your request through email to your counselor.

• Seniors - Wednesday, August 19 - 8:30-11:30 a.m.
• Juniors - Wednesday, August 19 - 12:30-3:30 p.m.
• Sophomores - Thursday, August 20 - 8:30-11:30 a.m.
• Freshmen - Thursday, August 20 - 12:30-3:30 p.m.
• All Students - Friday, August 21 - 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Students will be given 5 days to make a change without taking a withdrawal-fail. The last day to change schedules will be September 2, 2026.

2026-2027 Year-at-a-Glance - Repeated

Linked below is our current Year-at-a-Glance to help with your planning for the coming school year. We will update this throughout the school year as dates change. The date at the top will be show the last time it was updated.

2026-2027 Year-at-a-Glance

New Student Orientation - Incoming Sophomores-Seniors New to HHS - Repeated

For those of you who are joining HHS this year from another school in the district, another state, or school in the area, we would like to invite you to join us on Wednesday, August 26 at 11:00 a.m. in the HHS Library for a brief orientation and Q&A session. Bengal staff will be there to help introduce you to HHS, give you a tour of the building, get a Chromebook checked out to you, and answer your questions. You are also invited to join us for lunch that day on the HHS front lawn (hamburgers and hot dogs).