I represent you and need to hear from you. What do you think? I want to know.
04/28/2023
What a great honor for Mr. Jensen! Congratulations!
History teacher at Lewis & Clark Middle School honored by 'One Class at a Time' Mr. Jensen keeps his history classes challenging but also incredibly fun. His teaching approach has made him quite popular with students.
04/20/2023
Please take advantage of these opportunities to meet and share your thoughts with Dr. Garcia, the incoming Superintendent.
Next week, April 24th, 25th, and 26th, Dr. Garcia will be visiting the following schools to host Special Education and Parent Meetings:
Medicine Crow MS
Monday, April 24th
6:30PM - 7:30PM
Commons area
Riverside MS
Tuesday, April 25th
6:00PM - 7:00PM
Library
Ben Steele MS
Wednesday, April 26th
6:00PM - 7:00PM
Commons area
Your opinion is extremely valuable! Please let me know what candidate you think will be best for our students. The school board is voting on Wednesday.
Make sure to click on the link below titled "resources.finalsite.net" for a brief summary of each candidate. There is also a community forum at the Lincoln Center Auditorium at 6pm you can attend to get to know them better as well.
03/31/2023
SUPERINTENDENT FINALIST COMMUNITY FORUMS
Community Forum with Superintendent Candidates - One Night Only at the Lincoln Center, Tuesday, April 4th @ 6 pm featuring all three Finalists:
Dr. Erwin Garcia
Ms. Brenda Koch
Mr. Thom Peck
Please join us!
03/23/2023
We have narrowed the superintendent search to four applicants. I am pleased with the qualified and diverse candidates and very hopeful for the future.
The first round of interviews are scheduled to start next week. The interviews will be open to the public. They will also be recorded and available for public viewing online.
Please feel free to comment or email the board directly.
Superintendent candidates narrowed to four for School District 2 Two candidates will tentatively be interviewed by the board next Tuesday followed by the other two next Thursday. Finalist interviews are slated to take place the following week.
03/20/2023
This is a fantastic program and an incredible opportunity for one of our Heights students! Congratulations Harper!
Thank you, Mr. Niemeyer, for bringing The Amazing Shake to our district!
A mover and a shaker: Castle Rock student becomes first Montanan to advance to national competition Amazing Shake began in Billings in 2015 and has provided fifth grade students here the opportunity to learn the nuances of professional human interaction.
Have you ever heard, or even said yourself, "Why can't the school district live within its budget?" I must admit that years ago, I wondered the same thing before I understood the basics of school financing. Now I know better. Let me explain...
Basically, SD2's budget is capped by law based on the number of students enrolled - 80% of that budget comes from state funding while 20% of the budget comes from local taxes in the form of mill levies. When mill levies pass, SD2 receives 100% of the budgeted funding. When mill levies do not pass, SD2 operates under 100% of the allowed budget. You can read all about it yourself here
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the Future Ready program.
01/30/2023
The Career Center, which houses the majority of our Future Ready Programs, is in terrrible shape and to repair it would cost as much or more than to build new. That gives us the opportuinty of looking at other sites for the Career Center. We are currently gathering information and options to present to the community with all those details. But, FIRST, before we move forward with cost data and engineering drawings, we need to know if you are in favor of moving it downtown or another central location. Of course, the final decision, if we move forward on this, will be made by ballot.
Here is some information:
According to Google Maps, the fastest a Skyview student can get to the Career Center is 24 mins. The fastest a Senior student can get to the Career Center is 10 mins. The fastest a West student can get to the Career Center is 7 mins. If moved downtown, it would shorten the time for a Skyview student by 11 mins (13 mins total commute) and a Senior student by 10 mins (4 mins total commute). It would increase a West students communte by 3 mins (10 mins total commute).
According to 2022 Fall Enrollment Data, the total student population is 21% Skyview, 26% Senior, 53% West. Not surprising given that West High is so much closer.
What about the new inner belt loop? Won't that shorten the drive to the Career Center for Skyview students? That is a good question and I wondered the same thing. So I asked the City of Billings Planning Department. She said that the new road being built to complete the inner belt loop would be 7 miles. That means that it would shorten the drive by approximately 4 mins (20 min total commute) for Skyview students. In my opinion, that is not a big improvement.
Another note worthy fact to remeber is that the last High School bond that was passed to address building repair was in 2012 for $3.7 million.
I see a lot of benefits for our students and community in moving the Career Center to downtown, but that doesn't matter. What matter's most is what you think! I want to know...
06/02/2022
Reading Rocks, organized by the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools, is a program to help retain kids’ reading levels during the summer. Reading Rocks meets at parks throughout Billings from June 13th to July 21st. Program times are Monday-Thursday from 12:15-1:00 pm and Thursday from 5-6 pm. To make this program possible, volunteers are needed to help read with kids. There are also opportunities to read a story aloud to the group of children. For more information visit https://bit.ly/3PXpn3O or email [email protected].
Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools
The school shooting in Ulvalde, TX is heartbreaking! My prayers are with that community and those families affected by this tragedy. This should never happen. Never.