Helena High School’s principal has decided to step down after 35 years in public education, but retirement isn’t in his immediate plans.
Steve Thennis, 58, is busy until the end of the month helping the school navigate through challenges following levy failures in May, alongside assisting the newly appointed principal, Brian Kessler, with the transition.
Thennis expressed missing the interactions with students, already feeling the absence as he sat at his desk covered in papers.
Helena High Principal Steve Thennis hugs a graduate during the graduation ceremony on June 1 at Carroll College. The school graduated 205 seniors from its class of 2024.
Thennis wasn’t caught off guard by his retirement, as his family and some staff at the school were already aware, given his wife’s retirement from education last year.
