Integrated Strategic Action Plan and Our School Vision

Hellgate Elementary is the largest independent K-8 elementary school district in the state of Montana. In 1869, Hellgate Elementary began as a one-room school house to serve the educational needs of sixteen children who lived on farm land outside of Missoula. Today, the school district has grown to over 43 acres in size, has a student population of approximately 1,500 students, and employees over 200 people who work for the school district on a daily basis.

Over the past one hundred and fifty-five years, the Hellgate Elementary school community has worked to create a school district that has a unique and identifiable school culture.  The school district has developed a set of non-negotiable core values, beliefs, and traditions that have provided its students, parents, and community with a system of understanding and meaning as to what its local school district has stood for. As such, Hellgate Elementary has created a school district where school is a welcoming, friendly, and safe place, students are accepted for who they are, and students  are valued members of their school community. School decisions are made that are educationally defensible, socially acceptable, and fiscally responsible. Students are actively involved in their learning, motivated to continue learning, and prepared to be successful in whatever career path they choose. A school culture has been created where smaller, more intimate learning environments exist, the quality of instruction has become a constant quantity and time has become a variable quantity, and introduction and application of new learning concepts have been enhanced by a robust technological infrastructure.

The Hellgate Elementary Board of Trustees, after intense review, revision, and discussion, adopted a long-range vision and mission plan for Hellgate Elementary. The plan has been labeled the Integrated Strategic Action Plan. The plan sought to memorialize all that Hellgate Elementary has stood for in its past and wishes to be in its future. The document serves as the guiding force behind all district decision-making and educational initiatives for the next five years.

Please review the Integrated Strategic Action Plan document. The document will give you a view of Hellgate Elementary's benchmark goals and the philosophical framework that serves to make Hellgate Elementary one of Montana’s premiere public educational institutions.

Sincerely,

Molly Blakely, Ed.D.

Superintendent, Hellgate Elementary