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ALEXANDER TATARKA
Mark Halgren, an administrator at Belgrade School District, will retire at the end of June after 39 years working in education.
He spent most of his time in education at Belgrade School District – 32 years. Asked why he’s been there so long, said Halgren: “Belgrade’s a good school system and a community that supports families, so it was a good place to raise our family. I also worked with some incredible educators, so being on a great team made it worthwhile.”
Halgren said he finds the majority of Belgrade parents to be “hard-working folks who care about their kids.”
“When I see students become good citizens, hard workers, and contributing to their communities, that is the best,” Halgren said. “Anytime a person puts in the work to overcome challenges, it is inspirational. I had a former student contact me who is now in education. He told me of his memories of me as a principal and how much I interacted with the kids, which meant a lot.”
From the beginning of his career in the 1980s to the early 90s, Halgren served as a teacher in Cut Bank and Polson and a principal in Charlo. He was the principal of Heck/Quaw Elementary in Belgrade from 1992-2000. Halgren served as principal of Ridge View Elementary School from 20002012.
“This year’s seniors were in kindergarten
at Ridge View during my last year as a principal,” Halgren said.
Since 2012, he’s been the curriculum director at Belgrade School District.
Asked why he stayed in education for so long, said Halgren: “It’s a profession where you can make a difference in the lives of kids. You can’t beat that.”
As to why he got into education in the first place, Halgren fell in love with teaching while serving as a volunteer English teacher to Chinese people in Taiwan and Seattle.
Asked whether he would recommend a career in education, Halgren said, “It’s a great profession, but very challenging to support oneself in the current economy.”
There are several accomplishments Halgren’s particularly proud of at Belgrade School District, he indicated. One is being the longest serving administrator there.
Another accomplishment of his was the expansion of professional development and professional learning opportunities for teachers. The end of the teacher workday every Friday has been set aside for that work.
Halgren also instituted instructional coaches at the K-4 levels at Belgrade School District. These instructional coaches are master teachers tasked with supporting teachers who teach the core subjects. They track achievement data and present professional development and coach individual teachers to help them improve their craft.
“This is a very impactful innovation and I’m proud to have finally seen this implemented,” Halgren said.
Halgren also expanded services to students who are English language
learners, to gifted and talented students, and to families in transition.
Asked for examples of some life lessons he’s learned during his time as an administrator, Halgren said he’s learned there are always two sides to every story.
“Learning just doesn’t occur in the classroom – there are opportunities everywhere,” Halgren added.
Halgren said he’s also proud to have helped the district survive the challenges that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There have been plenty of highs and lows, but it’s been a great opportunity to work with some of the best people in the world,” Halgren said.
Halgren expressed gratitude to his wife of 40 years, Tracey, who he said has been his “tireless supporter.”
The couple has four sons and a daughter, all of whom graduated from Belgrade High Schools. Halgren indicated he’s proud that his children voted in every election.
The couple’s children and grandchildren are spread out among Montana, Utah and South Carolina, and none are in Belgrade.
“Unfortunately, they can’t afford to live here, so we have lots of travel plans to visit our soon-to-be 26 grandkids – eight girls and 18 boys,” Halgren said. “We can still all be sad that none of them will be suiting up for the Panthers.”
Halgren and his wife also hope to explore more of Montana – there are a lot of places they haven’t been yet, he said.
“We love to camp and hike,” Halgren said. “I also enjoy woodworking, writing and doing anything with my hands. My retirement gift to myself was a smoker, and I’m going to cook some things I can’t resist.”
GRADUATING CLASS OF 2024
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Tunes won’t stop anytime soon for member of Exit 288
Todd Rosenberger will be calling it quits this year as Manhattan Public Schools’ band director and music instructor after more than two decades with the district.
“He’s built a heck of a program, and he is a wonderful human — kids love him, parents love him, his colleagues love him,” said Brian Ayers, superintendent for Manhattan Public Schools. “I can tell you, too, that ever since it was it kind of leaked out that he was retiring, I’ve had a steady stream of people through the door wanting to make sure that our band program continues to thrive. People are pretty sad to see him go, but they want to make sure that the leadership in this district preserves what he’s built.”
As the lead guitarist for Exit 288 and a grandfather intent imparting musical skills to his family’s little ones, Rosenberger will continue to perform and teach to some degree for the foreseeable future. He’ll also be doing some music recording with his son, a banker who used to be the bass player for Exit 288.
Rosenberger plans to begin teaching his granddaughter piano in the near future.
“Learning a musical instrument is the greatest brain development situation you can put your kid in, and that’s why now I want to really concentrate on my grandkids, give them everything that I can,” Rosenberger said.
He’s seen first-hand how musical training can enhance a child’s life.
“In talking to other teachers in the school, they say, ‘All my top students are your band kids, they’re all my greatest achieving kids,’” Rosenberger said. “I’ve graduated engineers, medical students.”
Rosenberger now teaches band classes for
grades six through 12, which comes out to seven bands, including concert, pep, and jazz. He also teaches four levels of guitar and four levels of music technology at the district. He’s built one of the most respected band programs in Montana, according to Ayers.
“You know, we’re a Class B school, but we routinely get invited to Class AA music events,” Ayers said. “Some of the most respected people — music directors in larger districts — have nothing but respect and praise for him and what he does and what he has built here. I even had a couple band directors tell me they considered coming out here, because they wanted to be a part of what he’s built.”
Manhattan Public Schools’ pep band, which some people have nicknamed “Montana’s Most Dangerous Band,” has become admired across the state. The group uses innovative musical arrangements that allow for the inclusion of vocalists and a small rock band in its performances, and rock and pop music are part of its repertoire.
Although winning awards and having great performances are worthy goals, the primary target for Rosenberger — and the legacy he wants to leave behind — has more to do with building skills students will use for the rest of their lives.
However, some of his students have gone on to achieve great things in the music world. One of his students at Manhattan Public Schools became a composer who wrote a French horn solo that debuted professionally in Brazil. In another case, a student Rosenberger had at Northwest College became a stage manager for Doobie Brothers and has worked with Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani. Yet another former Northwest College student of Rosenberger’s went on to perform with The Manhattan Transfer, a famous vocal ensemble.
“I never set out to build more musicians, really, it’s just that this is my world, and I want to share it with everybody, and we’re gonna work on life skills and we’re going to play music and get great
at it at the same time,” Rosenberger said. “But when you leave me, you’re going to have more tools in your toolbox for anything that you do.”
TODD ROSENBERGER
He tries to instill in students the importance of teamwork — the desire to excel as an indispensable part of a whole. To use a musical metaphor, each person is like a single note in a great composition, or an instrument/voice in an ensemble. Taking away any of those notes or parts lessens the whole, Rosenberger indicated.
“I tell them, you are part of something bigger than yourself whether you want to be or not,” he said. “Whether you choose it or not, it’s already chosen you, so this is how we figure it out in a band circumstance. Everybody has an important job to do, everybody’s important. It’s like a baseball team or if everybody is first string — there are no bench sitters, and so you have a responsibility to other people.”
Playing music solo or in a group involves a lot of self-assessment and problem solving, Rosenberger said.
“Every single moment of every single day they’re playing, they have to analyze themselves and say, ‘OK, this didn’t work; how do I fix that?’” he said. “And I’m there as a resource, I’m telling them all of the tricks I know how to fix all of the common problems.”
CONTINUED on page 42
A lifelong Manhattan resident will be entering a new life chapter after having devoted 26 years of service to the local school district as a teacher and coach.
Brad Ballantyne, who serves as a social studies teacher and athletic director, will retire this year.
“I feel very blessed to have been able to go to school in Manhattan and teach here my entire career,” Ballantyne said. “The most positive aspect about my tenure in Manhattan is all of the relationships with students and colleagues.”
Ballantyne graduated from Manhattan Public Schools in 1992, started coaching at Manhattan High School in 1994, and began his teaching career at the district in 1998.
“I think the reason he stuck around is the same reason why so many people want to be here,” said Brian Ayers, superintendent of Manhattan Public Schools. “I mean Manhattan is just a tight-knit community. It’s a community where the families care about each other, take care of each other, it’s a safe community, and the school is a reflection of
Sean Batura BELGRADE NEWS
Manhattan Public Schools’ long-serving technology teacher will be retiring this year.
Steve Whitney logged 24 years at Manhattan Public Schools out of a 26-year teaching career. During his early years in education, he taught kindergarten through eighth grade technology. He now teaches fifth through eighth grade.
the community.”
Ballantyne had stepped away from coaching boys basketball for a while but was urged to take on the role of girls basketball coach in recent years, according to Ayers. Like other district staff who take on additional duties, Ballantyne responded to a need of the school community and didn’t do it out of self interest, Ayers indicated.
“It’s just what they do, and it’s who they are as people – they definitely want no spotlight whatsoever,” Ayers said.
As the girls’ basketball coach, Ballantyne helped take the team to divisionals – a feat that hadn’t happened in more than five years, according to Ayers.
Ayers described Ballantyne as “a strong teacher.”
Ballantyne’s late parents also worked for Manhattan Public Schools. His mother was a secretary and his father was in maintenance.
“They were wonderful human beings – they were just kind of what you expect from Manhattan;
just down-to-earth, blue-collar, just kind, caring and just loved Manhattan,” Ayers said. “I mean, they loved Manhattan schools, the community of Manhattan, and were involved in a lot of different areas throughout the community.”
Ayers said he’s sad to see Ballantyne go, as the district will be “losing a teacher with just tremendous institutional knowledge.”
“But I know he’s really looking forward to retirement, and I know he loves Manhattan Public Schools,” Ayers said.
“I was honored to be part of the school district,” Whitney said. “Manhattan is full of amazing students, and the school staff is talented and caring across the entire district.”
Whitney also has served as a golf coach for the school district.
It is evident Whitney loves teaching and his students, according to Brian Ayers, superintendent for Manhattan Public Schools.
“He’s just a genuinely nice person like most people in this community and who work here,” Ayers said.
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CONTINUED from page 34
Putting solutions to use on stage in front of an audience — or before a panel of judges who know the craft of music through-andthrough — takes courage, he added.
“It’s kind of a high-pressure thing,” Rosenberger said. “Being a musician is one of the most courageous things you could ever be, and I didn’t coin that phrase, but it’s true; you’re putting yourself out there — it’s hard to sing or play an instrument in front of somebody, because you’re revealing a level of yourself and putting it out there.”
It’s very rewarding to see students take such risks and become “different human beings,” he said.
“They’re all walking a little taller, they smile a little bit more,” Rosenberger said. “Confidence is there, and that’s what I love to see about teaching kids.”
Rosenberger also is a professional bass guitarist. He played drums in high school and trained on various low brass instruments such as tuba and bass trombone. Studying music in
college and being a music teacher by training makes him familiar with a lot of other instruments as well.
“It’s fun when you get a kid to a level that they play better than you on something that’s maybe a secondary instrument for me,” Rosenberger said.
Rosenberger graduated from Morningside College — now Morningside University — in Sioux City, Iowa, with a Bachelor of Music Education. Great influences on him there included Dr. Randy Kohlenberg and Dr. Robert Spring.
“Those two men are some of the most successful teachers in the university system — I would say in the United States — and I was just very fortunate to be at Morningside College at that time,” Rosenberger said.
Rosenberger uses teaching techniques every day that were imparted to him by Kohlenberg and Spring. And those pedagogical approaches will continue to be used after he retires.
“I’ve got several former students that are amazing teachers here in Montana,” Rosenberger said. “I’ve had a lot of students get
ahold of me, and they use catchphrases that I use or my method of practicing or learning or teaching, and they go, ‘I’m still using that 20 years later.’”
The teacher who especially gave him a passion for music when he was a child was Mrs. McGregor, of Jefferson, Iowa.
“I grew up on a farm In Iowa and fell in love with music because of some teachers that I had and decided that no matter what I did with my life, I was going to be heavily involved in music, so I just tried music school and basically have not looked back,” Rosenberger said.
Rosenberger and one of his cousins, a professional trombonist, probably gained a predilection or music from their grandmother, who worked as a freelance singer/guitarist during the Prohibition era, he said. In 1992, she had the pleasure of seeing Rosenberger perform with Willie Nelson in Wyoming.
“I would say for me, music has given me a life that I could have never imagined, and the people that I’ve met along the way, and thousands of students that I’ve taught along the way, are just as vitally important to me as meet-
ing James Hatfield or Buddy Rich or people like that,” Rosenberger said. “All of it together has just been a lifetime of awesome memories, and I never dreamed that music would open all of these doors for me. So that’s where I’m at. I still feel that way, I just still get goosebumps, because I just can’t believe I’ve had a great life in music — still going to have one.”
Asked what advice he would give to someone seeking a career in music, Rosenberger said it isn’t talent that makes musicians succeed greatly, but perseverance.
“Every great musician and great teacher will tell you that it’s all about sticking with it and persevering and working hard; there is no substitute for that,” Rosenberger said. “And if you do, then you’ll be the person that gets the life that you want out of it where others fail.... You’re going to be persistent, and you’re going to be the one that shows up. You’re gonna be on time, you’re gonna be prepared — those are the people that actually get out of the music industry what they want. And they get to that place where they can do music and have a life centered around the music.”
