Parents across the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys got a sigh of relief last week as the 2023-2024 school year officially kicked off.
With more than 250 students in Seeley, Condon, Potomac and Ovando, some new faces and projects will mark what educators hope will be a successful semester. Seeley Swan High School, Swan Valley School and the Helmville School were too busy teaching to comment for this story by press time.
Seeley Lake Elementary
Students are returning back to Seeley Lake Elementary with a big list of items for the fall, including a 6th-grader trip to Camp Paxton, a new playground and the addition of pickleball to the activities menu.
Superintendent Josh Gibbs said students are excited to be back, and brought their parents to back to school night on Tuesday. Activities like football and volleyball will get students around to other middle schools, outdoor education will continue, and so will the after school program STEAM.
Gibbs said one main goal is minimizing any learning gaps brought on by the pandemic, which had larger effects on younger students.
“Luckily, we didn’t shut down as much as a lot of places,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs said students going from Kindergarten to First Grade will be especially focused on to improve their math, reading and social skills.
The Seeley Elementary playground, which was torn out during the summer, has been replaced and is expected to open in the next week or two. Gibbs said the area is open to the public outside of school hours.
Potomac School
A new principal has also started this fall at Potomac School, but she took the job after more than 20 years working at the school as a teacher. Sarah Schmill will lead the school with a continued focus on relationship building with a specific goal of building literacy.
“We are very excited to get the school year started, there’s lots of smiles and positive interaction when parents dropped their kids off this week,” Schmill said.
There are roughly 90 students enrolled at Potomac this fall, Schmill said. Enrollment has continued to stay steady over the years. With full classrooms, events like the school-bike-a-thon will be back to fundraise for field trips, guest speakers and more.
“Basically students earn pledges, and then come to school on bikes, skate or walk,” Schmill said. It can be anything with wheels that doesn’t involve an animal or car.”
A new program this fall will be forming a student council. The outdoor science program will be continuing as well. Teachers also hope to get multilevel learning accomplished by combining older and younger students for reading sessions.
Ovando School
Students from Ovando school just returned from their annual Montana history tour across the northwest part of the state. The trip celebrated another good year for the school, which has a new teacher and a larger student body.
“We took 17 kids on the trip this year, so we actually took a bus,” supervising teacher Andrea Tougas said. “We’ve never had that happen before.”
This year the K-8 school has 19 students enrolled, with four more children attending Pre-K. Only one student graduated from the school last year and four new kindergarten students started this fall.
With the new students comes a new teacher, as Polly Bartlett started this fall. Tougas said the school is excited to get back to work, and hold its annual chocolate and butter braid bread fundraiser.
She also said the district’s parents deserve a huge thank you for helping clean up the school and handle loose ends as the school year started to take form.
Sunset School
The Sunset School in Greenough got a refresh after employees from the E—L Ranch repainted the exterior of the school last month. This fall the school will host 10 students from kindergarten to eighth grade, with two more prospective students possibly joining during the year.
There will also be a new Pre-K program for Greenough area residents.
“We thought there was a need for the program in the community because we don’t have a preschool near us,” supervising teacher Toni Hatten said.
The school plans to go ahead with business as usual. There will be swim lessons, a visiting art teacher and other outdoor activities to keep students busy throughout the year. Hatten also highlighted the school’s new teacher, Sadie, who is starting her second year with the program.
“The start of school has always been a bit chaotic,” Hatten said. “But it’s a good chaotic.”
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