Pony Posts: Some great areas for Havre Public Schools

In this month's installment of Pony Posts, I would like to touch base on a few areas that Havre Public Schools is excelling in. First, a report came out at the end of November from the Office of Public Instruction that talks about declining enrollment across our state. The state is using a six-year trend to examine enrollment throughout the state. In the past six years student enrollment across the state has dropped from 148,198 students to 145, 650 students. These figures look at total public-school enrollment. While in Havre, our enrollment numbers continue to trend upward. This past month, Havre Public Schools was up 37 students from a year ago at this same time of the school year. District enrollment sits currently at 1,816 students which is up 56 students from five years ago during the same time frame.

Katie Marcenko, who is our IEFA/Title VI Coordinator, has been hard at work in all the buildings. Havre Public Schools will be moving forward with Native American bracelets and bookmarks regarding reading incentives in all elementary schools for the month of December. On December 13th, students at Havre Middle School will be working on Ribbon Skirts, which is a great activity that incorporates culture. Students at Lincoln McKinley will have chance to participate in Traditional Native American Games, which brings in a history related focus. At Havre High School students will be able to participate in a college workshop that targets application within the scholarship process.

Havre Public Schools has assembled a Mental Health Team that is aimed at providing our students with additional counseling support in all buildings. Starting this month, students K-12 will have access to these additional supports Monday through Thursday.

Throughout our state, the need for additional counseling support has increased yearly, since the COVID-19 Pandemic. Havre Public Schools is committed to providing our students with these additional resources.

Sincerely,

Superintendent Brian Gum

Havre Public Schools