Helena School Board Moves Toward Nonprofit Takeover of Closed Hawthorne Elementary

The Helena School Board of Trustees unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding this week that could convert the shuttered Hawthorne Elementary at 430 Madison Ave. into a nonprofit-run community center, pushing the 105-year-old building closer to a second life after its closure emptied the Madison neighborhood last year.

The agreement authorizes Superintendent Rex Weltz and district staff to negotiate formal terms with a prospective nonprofit partner. The proposed project, currently known as the Hawthorne Community Center Helena, envisions the building as a shared-use hub that could include a tool library and a music and art studio. Weltz compared the concept to Bozeman's Emerson Center for Arts and Culture. "It's an arts place, it's an office space, it's for ballet, whatever," Weltz said. "It's a community use area which I think is highly valuable."

The board voted 6-1 to close Hawthorne in June 2025 after nearly three years of community debate, citing declining student enrollment, deferred maintenance costs and the need to sustain a balanced budget. Hawthorne needed about $4.6 million in deferred maintenance, part of a district-wide backlog totaling $100 million. The school was built in 1921 at 430 Madison Ave. and housed about 180 students and 27 staff members at the time of closure. Shuttering the building was projected to save Helena Public Schools roughly $1 million annually.

During the board meeting, the district declined to release a copy of the proposal, including the applicant's name, while the project is under review. A second closed district facility, the former May Butler administrative building at 55 S. Rodney St., drew no proposals before its own submission deadline this year.

The memorandum of understanding marks a shift from stalemate to momentum for the Madison Avenue property, but the hardest negotiations lie ahead. The board must still determine who absorbs ongoing maintenance and utility costs for the aging building, how community access will be governed and whether proposed uses genuinely reflect neighborhood needs.

"I'm excited that we're not going to sit on a building that's going to sit there and be dormant," Weltz said. "We want activity, and we want liveliness in the neighborhood."

District staff are expected to return to the board with concrete lease terms or transfer proposals once negotiations with the prospective nonprofit advance. How those questions are resolved will also set a precedent for how Helena Public Schools manages other closed properties as the district continues working through its broader financial reorganization.