Helena community members, school administrators swap roles in Trading Places

Trading Places brought Helena community members and Helena Public Schools administrators together for a day of role-swaps on March 5, 2026, organized by the Helena Education Foundation. The Foundation described the event as bi-annual and long-running; participants spent the morning inside schools and switched venues for the second part of the day before gathering for a casual reception.

The Foundation framed the exercise as a structured mix of observation and exchange designed to strengthen community-school relationships. Trading Places pairs an administrator with a business, governmental or nonprofit community member, and the Helena Education Foundation said it “facilitates ongoing collaboration” where possible following the event. The schedule for March 5 followed the Foundation’s standard format: morning in the schools, afternoon in community venues, and an end-of-day reception.

Helena Education Foundation materials outline the event goals in clear language: “Trading Places provides a bi-annual opportunity for learning and collaboration among school administrations and Helena’s business, governmental and nonprofit community.” The Foundation also noted value for participants unfamiliar with classroom settings: “Participants who haven’t been in a classroom for years have a chance to see the exciting and innovative changes in Helena schools.”

A business participant who took part in Trading Places distilled one immediate takeaway and a concrete outreach plan: “Trading Places fosters relationships. I’m working on bringing together a few technology companies to work with schools to prepare students for a different job landscape for when they graduate.”

The Trading Places exercise aligns with Helena Public Schools’ stated guiding principles and governance roles found in district policy. The district’s guiding-principles text includes goals that “Each student enters school healthy and learns about and practices a healthy lifestyle,” and that “Each student has access to personalized learning and to qualified, caring adults.” District governance language emphasizes that the Board and Superintendent relationship “is based on mutual respect for the complementary roles of each entity” and that the Board’s role shall be to “define the mission and vision for the District;” “provide stewardship of the fiscal resources in relation to the mission of the District;” and “advocate for students and quality public education.”

Separate district personnel updates published on the Helena Schools site note leadership moves within the district, including: “Former Bryant Principal Erin Maxwell is the new Assistant Principal at Helena Middle School,” that “Lona Carter has stepped into the combined role of special education/student services director,” and that Warren Elementary’s principal role will be filled by Abby Kuhl. Additional staff notes cite Erin Hunt and Eric Peterson in new assistant principal and leadership roles.

Local airtime followed the event: a Yahoo aggregation listed the top-story headline “Community members trade places with Helena Public Schools administrators,” attributing the item to KXLH MTN News. For event information or records of participant pairings and schools visited, the Helena Education Foundation can be reached at 406-443-2545 or by mail at Post Office Box 792, Helena MT 59624. The Foundation confirmed it will continue to pursue follow-up collaborations where possible after the March 5, 2026 Trading Places event.