Hellgate Elementary School Looks to Expand – Meeting Wednesday to Field Questions, Concerns and Suggestions

Due to increased enrollment, Hellgate Elementary School is asking for feedback from district members, parents and staff, on a program that will allow extra space for 1500 students.

"Over the past year, we've put together three possible scenarios that we've come up with,"  Superintendent Doug Reisig said. "But they range all the way from bringing in modular classroom units to accommodate the expansion, to adding on to the existing facilities that we currently have, or in fact, actually building another building here on our campus to accommodate the increasing student population."

Reisig said teachers, administrators and the school board "ensure the kids come first in every decision," making Hellgate Elementary so high in demand.

"One of the big hurdles that we have to overcome is confusion, even with the people that we have living out here," Reisig said. "When we talk about expansion, they say, well goodness gracious, in November, we just approved an $88 million bond issue for Missoula County Public Schools to expand and now you want more money. What we have to constantly tell our people is that that $88 million bond issue doesn't impact us at all, nor does it impact the taxes out here. We're our own separate district."

Reisig said Hellgate Elementary will be up close to another 250 students in the next five years. To hear the interview in its entirety, click here.

The meeting will be held in the middle school commons area at 7 p.m.