HELENA — As the community grows, so do the needs of the school district. The Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees adopted changes to the district's boundary lines this month.
This change will apply to students who have not yet started kindergarten or who have not attended a school in the district.
So if you are already in a school, you won't be impacted. The district also has a sibling rule. Families with children may follow their sibling in school attendance areas and can be grandfathered in by making a request, but this could impact transportation.
The Treasure State Acres neighborhood changes K-5 student attendance from Four Georgians to Rossiter, but these students will continue to attend the CR Anderson and Capital High pattern. After grade 5 at Four Georgians, Tree Street neighborhood students will attend HMS and Helena High. The dividing line is Mchugh Lane. West will go to CR Anderson, east to HMS.
For students with north and east Mount Helena addresses, they will now use Grant Street as the east and west line. The East Side attends HMS and Helena High. The west side attends CR Anderson and Capital High.
Now, for those north of Lincoln Road and east of Ferry Drive, K-5 students will instead of attending Jim Darcy, attend Warren, then HMS to Helena High.
Finally, students north of Custer Ave, east of I-15, and south of Pleasant Valley subdivision will change from Bryant to Rossiter, and maintain the HMS and Helena High path.
With these adjustments, the district expects to eventually shift around 350 students to different pathways through high school.
Another reason they need to adjust the school boundaries is the opening of East Helena High in 2019, which saw a decline of around 450 students to Helena High School.
The new boundaries will go into effect beginning the next school year.
