HELENA — HELENA — If voters approve the $240,000,000 high school bond, more than half of that will be designated to building a new Helena High School.
Allie Kaiser reports - watch:
"We just want students to have positive stories to tell," said Brock Gardipee, a senior at Helena High School (HHS) and student representative on the district school board. "For us, we get to tell them horror stories."
He says he has experienced infestations.
"We spent the period trying to catch the mouse with our paint cups," said Gardipee.
Another HHS senior, Mackenzie Groom, shared that her classes were occasionally interrupted by sparking lights.
She said, "We have had classrooms in complete darkness, because the lights will light on fire."
Both students can also attest to the issues with the school's boilers, which operates with 45-50% efficiency.
"It's so great that we've had blankets or teachers that provide them for us, because if we don't bring them along with us, then it's just going to be miserable," said Gardipee.
If they end up failing, the district says HHS students may need to share the Capital High School (CHS) building, with half of the students attending in the morning and half in the afternoon.
The Helena Public School District says a solution to these issues and others might come from voters passing the proposed high school bond and HHS getting a new building.
Brian Kessler, the principal of HHS, said, "There's a lot of history in these walls, but when we start to think about potential and 21st-century learning, our building just doesn't necessarily have the right setup or the right capacity to do so."
The high school bond would also pay for renovations and additions to CHS and the $14,700,000 relocation of Project for Alternative Learning (PAL) to the HHS campus.
While it would still be in a separate wing, moving to the same campus would allow PAL students to use resources like support services, the Career and Technological Education center, and athletics areas.
Another part of the high school bond is changes to the primary competition field, which is currently Vigilante Stadium.
If the bond passes, a new multi-use turf field would be put into Helena High School's campus, but it would be branded for both the Bruins and the Bengals.
According to HPS, the proposed field would provide more seating, including accessible options, and expanded parking options. It would also meet Montana High School Association regulations, allowing the district to hold state track meets.
Opponents on social media have noted that Vigilante Stadium underwent $750,000 in renovations just a few years ago.
The district says those upgrades were paid for from their maintenance budget and not bonds, and the current stadium would be repurposed as a soccer facility.
Some opponents point to the price tag of other Montana high schools, like another Class AA school, Gallatin High School, which cost $93,000,000 to construct between 2017 and 2020.
East Helena High School is Class A and cost nearly $30,000,000 to construct between 2018 and 2020.
The Helena Public School District says the $147,000,000 bill for a new Helena High School differs from those schools.
The new facility would come with demolition costs, asbestos abatement, and inflation increases since those other schools were built.
If the high school bond passes, the goal is for construction to begin in August of 2026 and to be completed by the fall of 2028.
Over the past few weeks, MTN spent hours in the Helena area and reached out to dozens of people on social media, hoping to interview opponents to the bonds who have been vocal about their stance.
No one was willing to go on camera at the time of publication.
You can learn more about the proposed elementary school bond here.
