HOT SPRINGS – After rejecting a proposed 202627 school calendar with 155 student days at its regular meeting last month, the Hot Springs School Board unanimously approved a new proposed calendar featuring 148 student days at its regular May meeting last week on Monday, May 11.
Compared to the current 2025-26 school calendar, next year’s calendar has seven fewer days of classroom time without any Friday classes, including during those weeks with Monday holidays including Labor Day (Sept. 7), President’s Day (Feb. 15) and Easter (March 29). Some Monday holidays this year will not be observed with no classes next year, including Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 18) and Memorial Day (May 31).
The lack of a Memorial Day holiday observance next year however is due to the fact that school will conclude prior to that date. This year, the final day of classes is not until next Friday, May 29, as Memorial Day is observed on Monday, May 25. Next year, the final day of classes will be held 10 days earlier on Wednesday, May 19, with Graduation on Saturday, May 15, which is a week earlier than it is being held this year.
The start of school next year will be the same week of August as it is this year, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, with 1:30 pm early dismissals planned for the entire week.
Also during last week’s school board meeting, several personnel changes were approved, including the hiring of Steve Helgeland as the new Secondary Principal, replacing Kain Klinkhammer who will move into the role as Superintendent next school year. Helgeland was the Menno School District Superintendent, which is position he held for just one year before recently resigning under a mutual release agreement, according to an article in the Yankton Press & Dakotan. Helgeland will receive a salary of $80,000 per year. It was pointed out by Klinkhammer at the meeting that Helgeland has also spent time in Grand Island, Neb., as well as Hill City and White River school districts in South Dakota.
In addition, Tanna White was hired to fill a new position created this year called Dean of Students, which also carries with it the responsibilities of the Activities Director through an annual $10,000 stipend. Her salary for Dean of Students will be $50,845.
White is the current FFA Advisor, as well as head volleyball coach. Also approved as part of the personnel actions of the May 11 meeting was accepting her resignation from her FFA position, for which the school is now recruiting. White plans to continue in her role as the volleyball head coach.
The need for a Dean of Students and AD stipend payment in the district was due to the budget cuts made by the board and the elimination of the Assistant Principal and Activities Director administrative positions. The Dean of Students contract is similar to a teacher salary, but with an additional two weeks.
Personnel actions also included hiring a pair of new teachers including Ashlee Glandt for high school English and middle school Social Studies, replacing Amanda Estep who had resigned earlier this year. Teresa Mazzocchio was also hired as a teacher in early childhood special education.
Resignations accepted included high school teachers Tyler Norton and Deborah Rohlf, along with elementary/kindergarten teacher Brooklyn Fauth.
During his report at the end of the meeting, Klinkhammer said he has been and will continue to be busy working towards filling multiple positions ahead of next year. He said, because of the number of openings, the district may not be able to offer all of the classes that they have in the past, which is making scheduling difficult as well.
Last week’s board meeting also included a pair of presentations, first from CO-OP Architecture of Rapid City, who is working with the district to analyze the infrastructural needs in the high school, middle school and Case Auditorium. The information presented, which included some options on how best to upgrade the bathroom facilities in three buildings, will help the board prioritize the needed capital improvement over the next few years.
The second presentation was provided by Business Manager Wendy Bilbruck who walked the board through the steps she took in developing the 202627 Preliminary Budget, which totals $10,043,695 and is 7.8% decrease from the final overall 202526 budget. Broke down further by funds, next year’s preliminary plans include a 5.4% decrease to the General Fund, a 9.8% decrease to the Capital Outlay Fund, and a 14.8% decrease to the Special Education Fund.
The remaining budget calendar will see further discussion about the preliminary budget at the district’s June 8 meeting next month followed by a public hearing on the final budget and budget adoption at the July 13 meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, the board also approved an offer of $14,000 for an individual to purchase a pair of small lots that the district was offering for sale that are located on the hill near the Pioneer Museum.