Mena School District

Hello everyone, I am Jessica Johnson. I am very excited to be joining the Mena School family as a Kindergarten teacher at Louise Durham. I am coming with 15 years of experience teaching in early childhood, 5 of those in Kindergarten. I am a proud mom of 5 amazing kids, 3 of which will be joining me at Mena. We are all excited to see what this new journey brings this school year.

Congratulations to 2025 Mena High School graduate Elijah Smith on scoring a 36 super score on his ACT.

New employee orientation was held on Wednesday in the Mena High School Library. The district wide open house is Thursday, August 7th. The first day of school is Wednesday, August 13th.

Bearcat Basketball hosted a team camp on Wednesday in the Union Bank Center.

You can read about the 2025 Mena Bearcats in the latest edition of Hooten's Arkansas Football. You won't find this cover but you will find the magazine at James' Super Save Foods and the Mena Wal Mart Supercenter.
https://www.facebook.com/HootensArkansasFootball

Teams from Booneville, Waldron, Mansfield, DeQueen, Dierks and Cossatot were at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium on Tuesday participating in the Mena Jr. High Team Camp.

Sr. Pictures are being taken in the MHS safe room today and Wednesday.

Hi everyone! I’m Natalie Smith. I am originally from Louisiana. I was a teacher there for 3 years before my husband and I moved here to Mena. I'm so excited and look forward to starting this new journey teaching at Holly Harshman Elementary!

Hey everyone! I’m Jennifer Philpot. My husband, Clay, and I have lived here our whole lives and together we have five kids. I’ve been with the Mena School District for four years now as part of the Louise Durham family. I’m looking forward to another fantastic year as I continue my journey as a 1st grade teacher, and I’m very excited to meet my next class of students!

Hi, I’m Amy Montgomery, Assistant Principal at Mena
Middle School. With 24 years of experience in education,
I’ve had the privilege of serving as a classroom teacher,
instructional facilitator, curriculum director, Mena High
School assistant principal/AE director, and novice
teacher mentor. I’m a proud mom of two, Luke, a 2022
MHS graduate, and Avery, a rising junior at MHS. I’m
excited to join the Mena Middle School community and
look forward to serving our students, staff, and families.
It’s a great day to be a Bearcat again!

Hi everyone! I am thrilled to begin my 4th year of teaching as part of the 2nd grade team at Louise Durham Elementary! My husband, Chet, and I are proud Mena natives, and we love calling this beautiful community home. We have a sweet 10-month-old daughter, Lynlee, and enjoy spending time outdoors—especially riding horses or gathering with family. I’m so excited to be joining the Mena Public Schools team and can’t wait for a fantastic year ahead!

Mrs. Krystal Titsworth and MK Poo-ai are attending the National Technology Student Association Conference. MK finished 1st in Promotional Design at the State Competition to qualify.

Hello, everyone! My husband Adam and I are Mena natives and we have four kids - Macy, Maddox, Makenzie and Myles. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education from SAU and this will be my first year teaching kindergarten. I’m so excited to meet my students and see how they learn and grow this year!!

Welcome Liliana Roberts to the team at HHE! I graduated from Southern Arkansas University in 2020 with my Bachelor’s in Elementary Education. I will be entering my 6th year of teaching and I can’t wait to see what this new school year brings at the Mena School District.

Mena School Counselors are attending the Arkansas School Counselors Association Conference this week at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Guin Nash enjoyed a stack of pancakes at the Skyline Cafe for meeting her accelerated reading goal at Holly Harshman Elementary.

Welcome Kloey Eakin to the team at Louise Durham Elementary. This will be my second year teaching Kindergarten, and I am excited to be a part of the Mena School District. I look forward to starting this year!

Mena High School rising senior Mallori Brotherton is the daughter of Greg Brotherton and Christy Thrailkill. Mallori was a delegate to the American Legion Auxiliary Arkansas Girls State 2025 and was sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. Mallori was elected by her peers to be a District Court Judge. “I would like to thank the American Legion Auxiliary for allowing me to attend Girls State 2025. All throughout the week I was able to make new friends, learn new things, and see new places. I will forever cherish the memories that I was able to make and the friends I made while doing so! I hope to one day have an opportunity to use some of the knowledge I learned during my time away because I didn’t just learn more about the government, I learned more about myself as well. Once again, thank you so much to the American Legion Auxiliary and the other sponsors that helped make this possible for my classmates and I. I will forever be grateful!!” - Mallori Brotherton

WE have the rest of the yearbooks in!!! IF we owe you a yearbook- please come & pick it up anytime at Holly Harshman Elementary: Summer Hours 🌞 MONDAY-THURSDAY 7:00am~5:00pm Or give us a call ☎️ to set up a time! and…. we ordered a FEW extra 📚if you didn’t order one the first round!!

The Jr. Ladycats spent Monday and Tuesday at the Morrilton Team Basketball Camp.