November 3, 2013 Missoulian article on the - "Booming student population pushes need for MCPS long-range facilities plan"

Read the Missoulian article - link below - to read about the increase in enrollment, all of which was predicted by Dr. Larry Swanson in his demographic studies which was shared with MCPS.

MCPS did not need to close schools in 2004. MCPS officials were given information that the student population would increase. There will always be peaks and valleys.

Dr. Swanson has said in meetings that threre will always be fluctuations in enrollment due to the baby boomers, their chlden (echo boomers), and their grandchildren (echo echo grandchildren).

Swanson has said in MCPS meetings that MCPS does not need to overreact to all of this. The best policy is to "ride it out".

Prescott School Missoula shared this Missoulian article on the original published date, however, decided to re-share it in light of conversations of the use of Prescott School on the KGVO "Talk Back" program.

psm believes that people need to know that our closed schools, like Prescott, will and already are in demand as enrollment rises.

psm believes it is best to reopen the closed schools instead of "reinventing the wheel", that is close more of our neighborhood schools and build expensive new schools.

Booming student population pushes need for MCPS long-range facilities plan

4-30 -14

Leadership in Missoula's Neighborhood Councils NEED to Look out for the perservation of our neighborhood Schools!

This Saturday many of the neighbors were working on landscaping along Van Buren.

Prescott School Missoula was in the neighborhood for other business and stopped briefly to visit with some of the people involved in this work. psm was explaining concerns about the loss of our neighborhood school due to a lease to a private school.

psm was handing the people a sheet of information regarding psm's concerns with Prescott School. At this location was a member of the Lower Rattlesnake Neighborhood Council.  psm has visited with this man a few times during the last 10 years (!) regarding psm's concerns with the Prescott/MIS lease. This member of the Lower Rattlesnake NEIGHBORHOOD Council was NOT interested in psm's sheet of information and stated that he did not have any reservations with the lease. Others in this group said that they appreciated the information on this topic.

If a person is to serve on a neighborhood council he/she has an obligation to look into ALL problems going on within the neighborhood. WE IN THE RATTLESNAKE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM WITHIN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WITH THE LOSS OF THE USE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL. And this man will not even take the sheet of information and read it.

In the opinion of psm, this man is letting down the people of the Rattlesnake with his lack of leadership on the Lower Rattlesnake Neighborhood Council. He needs to step down so that some one else can serve in his place that will advocate,(or at least not obstruct), for one of the most important aspects of a neighborhood, its neighborhood school. To not do so is show disloyalty to the neighborhood just as the majority of the members on the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees.

When you advocate for a school which is occupied by a private school you get the Missoula police talking to you

Prescott School Missoula must be doing something right. Whenever psm is in the Prescott School neighborhood, a police man pulls up and wants to talk.

The police in Missoula have all been very nice to Prescott School Missoula. They state that Missoula International School has called them, most likely Julie Lennox, headmaster of MIS, and that psm is causing some sort of consternation for them.

What Missoula International School is saying by their actions is that they want to be left alone without any opposition to enjoy what is one of Missoula's almost hidden treasures, Prescott School.

Prescott School is not, however, hidden for psm. Prescott School is on psm's mind very often.  psm thinks of the scandal and the hijacking of our treasured neighborhood school by nefarious school board members.  

Prescott School has served Rattlesnake children for MORE THAN A CENTURY! Prescott School was BUILT FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN.

 Missoula International School, however, contrary to what its leaders say in meetings and in letters is not taking very good care of the Prescott building. See You Tube video for pictures of the overgrown knapweed on the playground and the lack of grass due to lack of watering. It is not a win-win lease as MIS wants  you to believe either. See page on top of this blog, "MIS' Sweetheart Lease".

Anyway, to get back to the Missoula police talking to psm every time psm is in the neighborhood. MIS is actually trying to scare psm away from the premises and to discourage psn's visits to the Prescott School neighborhood.

MIS officials know that psm would not hurt a child. After all, psm has raised three sons and now has a granddaughter, loves kids, and is working hard so that the public school children in the Rattlesnake have a neighborhood school to attend.


MIS will call the police when psm is using the First Amendment rights to picket. MIS will call the police when psm is filming the traffic patterns in the area. This also is a right of all Americans. People cannot expect to have the right of privacy while riding in cars ( remember, psm is not filming children, just vehicles - the people in the vehicles do not show up well in the videos as the windows are darkened in most vehicles now days).

The goal of any filming is to illustrate with pictures the ASTRONOMICAL growth of MIS. A police man in one of psm's many visits with these nice public servants, did inform me that taking pictures of the children is not a good idea. (At one point psm was taking a picture of the playground to illustrate the huge numbers of MIS children, however, it was NEVER to single out the children, just to let people who were to view the picture the mushrooming growth of the lessee, MIS. For that reason psm will not use that picture.)

The vehicles turning onto Elm Street to go to Prescott (MIS) are huge in numbers!!! psm phoned the district and encouraged Superintendent Apostle to get down to the intersection of Elm Street and Van Buren and see what is happening to this school district as a result of this lease. psm is quite sure Apostle has not done this (or any other Trustee or administrator).

psm has counted about 85 cars a day streaming onto Elm Street and then taking a left into Prescott School. 85 vehicles streaming into Prescott every day. Each child within those vehicles taking away funds from MCPS (the number of children over 33 - the 2004 enrollment figure - students is the concern here).  2011 estimates of the loses to the district were in the $500,000 range by a math expert and now the loss is higher due to increase in MIS enrollment of about 40-50 more students. A woman from MIS during a church service talk which psm listened to stated that MIS enrollment is now at 190 !!! - which includes preschool is assume)

Our neighborhood school is being occupied by a private school and because of this children in the Rattlesnake wait to catch a bus to go to go to Rattlesnake School. Children in the Rattlesnake wait to catch a bus to go to Washington Middle School. Children in the Rattlesnake NEVER get to attend Prescott School. This has got to stop!

Yes, Missoulians, you are being taken for a very, very expensive ride by Superintendent Apostle and his gang of not-so-merry men and women.

And psm, as stated above, psm does not mind having friendly chats with our great Missoula police men.

edited 4-29-2014

Toni Rehbein (formerly Toni Smartt) former MIS officer and then MCPS Board Chair in a double-dipping scenario while employed with Missoula County Public Schools

ARTICLE TWO –  SUNDAY - APRIL 22^ND, 1990

Below is another article pertaining to the April 14, 1990 article in the Missoulian covering the issue of the conflict of interest in the previous article.  The first Missoulian article on this issue was dated April 14th, 1990. 

“School official to abide by attorney’s ruling”

By Gary Jahrig of the Missoulian

 

Quotes from the April 22, 1990 article follow:

'A Missoula School District 1 administrator says she will follow an attorney’s recommendation in clearing up a financial conflict of interest  she has with an organization that hires her to conduct addiction awareness workshops:'

“I’m absolutely interested in doing whatever he says,” said Toni Smartt, who coordinates district 1’s drug and alcohol program as well as its middle school system.  “I had no idea it was not OK. I’m going to stop immediately.”

and -

 

'Smartt said Friday she has also resigned her seat on the board of directors of Community Care, Inc., a non-profit organization that works with schools and other organizations to educate young people in the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse.'

and -

 

'Deputy Missoula County Attorney Mike Sehestedt, who serves as the school district’s lawyer, told Superintendent Jake Block last week that Smartt’s contract work with Community Care conflicts with her school district duties.'

and -

'The $23,700 payment has allowed Community Care to conduct six workshops since September, said Kay Hoag, Community Care administrator. '

and -

'Hoag said 28 payments in “varying amounts” were mad5 to about 10 people, including Smartt, to conduct workshops.  She declined to say exactly how much money Community Care paid to Smartt, whose District 1 salary is $39,650 a year.'

Sehestedt made his conflict of interest recommendation based on the Code of Federal Regulation, which states that employees of a grant recipient, in this case the school district, are not to have “financial or other “interest “in a firm that receives grant money such as Community Care does.'

and -

'Block said the district also has asked the state Office of Public Instruction, which administers federal grant money District 1 receives, to rule on the legality of Smartt’s dual role.'

and -

'“School District 1 can go ahead with the scheduled program with Community Care, but she can’t be paid by the corporation for participating in a grant-funded program, ‘Sehestedt said. '

and -
 

'Smartt said the conflict of interest ruling came as

a surprise to her.'

and -

“I haven’t been secretive, I just plain didn’t know,” she said.  “If a mistake was made, it was made in innocence and ignorance.”

PSM - Yeah right - does anyone really believe she didn't know what she was doing wasn't a little shady?!

INSET material from the above Missoulian article dated April 22, 1990:

Sign the Petition - "Reopen Prescott School for Public School Children" Go to www.ipetitions.com to sign!

There are a couple of petitions beginning to be circulated having to do with the reopening of Prescott School for public school children.

Prescott School Missoula, however, has been wanting to get an online version of a petition for this very important issue for quite awhile.

Now there is an official online version of a petition for the reopening of Prescott School!!

Prescott School Missoula is excited about this latest activity for advocating for our favorite neighborhood school - Prescott School.

Sign the Petition  - "Reopen Prescott School for Public School Children!"  Go to www.ipetitions.com

Please also SPREAD THE WORD about the petition!! Either sign the electronic version at www.ipetitions or sign the paper version if someone comes to your door or if you see one in public somewhere!

Viva Prescott School!

Nancy Pickhardt, who voted for the Prescott/MIS lease, resigns from Missoula school board, cites 'distraction'- Missoulian article - August 26, 2010

Click on the link below to read a Missoulian article by Jamie Kelly published on August 26, 2010 regarding the resignation of MCPS Trustee Nancy Pickhardt. The previous blog post explains that Trustee Nancy Pickhardt left an inapporpriate message on a citizen's message machine.


Nancy Pickhardt resigns from Missoula school board, cites 'distraction'


Pickhardt voted for the lease of Prescott School to the Missoula International School. Besides being out of line in her personal behavior towards her constituents, Pickhardt also was another DISLOYAL MCPS TRUSTEE. psm believes that former Board Chairwoman Toni Rehbein is the person who recruited Pickhardt.


It was well known that Pickhardt had many inappropriate displays of anger before her election to the MCPS Board of Trustees.

Missoula school trustee Pickhardt, who voted for the Prescott/MIS lease leaves profane message for critic of pay raise - Missoulian article published on August 4, 2010

Click on the link below to read a Missoulian article published on August 4, 2010 regarding a profane message left on a citizen's answering machine.

Trustee Nancy Pickhardt voted for the lease extension for three years and a possible five  years more of Prescott School to Missoula International School in 2009.

Missoula County Public Schools Trustees have serious character issues and this is just one example. We know that Trustee Toni Rehbein did some double dipping when working for the district in 1990. (See prior post on this issue). We also know that Rehbein has used her position as a MCPS Trustee to promote the lease of Prescott School to her former school of which she was an officer for three years (See prior posts and page post).

These are just two examples of unethical and DISLOYAL people on the MCPS Board of Trustees making decisions with our facilities.

As one can see, our school facilities are not in good hands.

Missoula school trustee Pickhardt leaves profane message for critic of pay raise

Prescott School Missoula extends symathies to the family and friends of Michel Jo Colville, avalanche victim near Prescott School

Michel Colville and her husband Fred Allendorf lived in the 1400 block of Harrison near Prescott School at the base of Mount Jumbo in Missoula. Prescott School's address is 1100 Harrison.

As mentioned in the heading for this post, Prescott School Missoula extends sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Michel Colville.

Her obituary can be read by clicking the link below.

Michel Jo Colville