'Take care of all the future Bitterrooters': Stevensville celebrates new charter school

About 60 second-graders counted down from 10 at the top of their lungs on Friday before student Siann Nelson used medical scissors to cut the ribbon marking the beginning of the Stevensville Health and Science Academy — the newest approved public charter school in the Bitterroot Valley.

Stevensville’s charter was one of two new public charter schools approved by the Board of Public Education this year. This is the smallest batch of new charters approved in Montana after the 2025 Legislature instated a cap on the funds towards starting new public charters.

Stevensville’s Health Sciences Academy is slated to provide hands-on medical experience for kids interested in pursuing a career in medicine and was designed through a partnership with Bitterroot Health.

The charter plans to help students receive dual-enrollment credits with the University of Montana and assist students working towards a certification as either a certified medical assistant or a certified nursing assistant.

One of the hopes behind the charter is training more health care professionals to help fill the need in the Bitterroot Valley. Bitterroot Health is the largest employer in the valley, CEO John Bishop said in remarks to the staff and students present.

Stevensville Public School Superintendent Jon Konen reflected about his own future retirement in his remarks — “who’s going to take care of me?”

“They’re right here in front of us.”

Konen said the district is remodeling one of their existing high school classrooms to look more like a medical lab for classes in the charter, with students able to take classes on campus and shadowing professionals in the field.

The new logo for the charter, designed by Nelson and voted on by a majority of staff members, was unveiled at the event and cake was given to students to celebrate.

Brittany Leatham-Olney with Bitterroot Health said she got the idea for the program thinking about her own education in Arizona, where through a similar program she graduated with a nursing license out of high school.

“It turned into the greatest thing,” Leatham-Olney said. “We supply all the future nurses for Bitterroot Health and take care of all the future Bitterrooters.”

Sophomore Reagan Johnstone said she’s always known she wanted to work in health care, and as a track and field runner she experiences the benefits of physical therapy. She’s excited to join the program and “fast track” some of her education.

“It's just such a better way to get yourself out there and just start early,” she said.