Rocky Boy Schools starts with staff coming back Aug. 16, classes Aug. 21

From Rocky Boy Superintendent Voyd St. Pierre

Rocky Boy Public Schools will open the 2024-25 school year when it welcomes back new and returning staff Friday, August 16, 2024 for three days of training and collaboration, with students starting Wednesday, August 21, 2024.

The district remains a five-day school week, with 180 instructional days planned into this years calendar. The last day of school is scheduled for May 29, 2025.

The district is the second largest school in Hill County, but also has district boundaries within Choteau County. Rocky Boy Schools serves approximately 535 students in grades K-12, but also has a Pre-School Cree Immersion Program serving 15 4-year old children. K-12 enrollment remains consistent and we have not observed any drastic declines as our 5-year average enrollment is 581 students. One major change that will affect K-8 enrollment is the transfer of 49 students from the East End and Hilldale Hutterite Colony Schools back to the Havre school district.

The district employs up to 111 staff members, with 55 certified teachers and 56 classified/support personnel when fully staffed. Currently, we are still seeking five certified teachers to join us with three elementary and two seven-12 openings.

Breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge for every student attending our schools through Montana's school nutrition program and the Community Eligibility Provision [CEP].

The district operates seven bus routes daily, logging in excess of 75,000 miles each year, with the longest route running a round trip distance of 103 miles each day. We are excited to finally get our Bookmobile out into our community to extend library, learning, and literacy materials for students and families. What for upcoming Bookmobile schedules in the various communities across the district. We are excited to put into service our new extracurricular bus and look forward to getting it on the road for fall athletic events.

Fall athletics begin Friday, August 16, 2024 with cross country, football, and volleyball available for high school students. Junior high practice for cross country, football and basketball will begin Wednesday, Aug. 21.

Pre-registration for junior and senior high students will occur Aug. 12-14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Pre-registration for K-6 students is open daily from Aug. 12-16.

Two major topics of emphasis this year will be cell phone use and daily attendance. The district's "electronic/cell phone" policy is not new and has been in place for the past seven years. Consistent enforcement will be our focus across all grade levels. We remind students and parents, "Students may not use cell phones, pagers, or other electronic signaling devices during classes unless such use is under the direction of certified staff for educational purposes. Unauthorized possession or use of these devices is grounds for confiscation. Repeated unauthorized use will result in disciplinary action."

The district is also committed to promoting and encouraging regular school attendance across all grade levels. We maintain a common concept, "Miss School, Miss Out". One of the state's criteria to evaluate Rocky Boy Schools is to measure annual attendance of all students; the state's annual attendance measurement is 95%.

Questions can be directed to the following: Voyd St. Pierre, superintendent 406-395-4291; Krystal Four Souls, seven-12 principal intern 406-395-4270, or Stephanie McKnight, PreK-6 principal 460-395-4474.