Montana State Tax document shows that former MCPS Trustee (and Board Chair) Toni Rehbein was the president of Missoula International School - Also shows Martha Newell as vice president

1998 MIS Montana Corporation Document with the names of Toni Rehbein and Martha Newell

October 2025, 

Since the beginning of the closure in lease in 2004, the Missoula County Public Schools has not rrestored our public school to the rightful benefiicaries. The MCPS school district has had many MCPS Superintendents follow the corrupt superintendent, Jim Clark. They also, by continuing the lease to Missoula International School are therefore just as corrupt. Additionally, there have been many MCPS maintenance directors after that of Gary Botchek, that are also equally corrupt by the very fact that they will not take care of the Prescott School building, in fact, abondoning our valuable resourse and beloved school. This is my first update to this blog post. Unfortunately, this is what I and many others have had to endure for about 25 years. I really do think that Missoula County Public Schools is one of the most corrupt school districts in the nation.

Missoula International School Montana Corporation documents from 1998 show that former Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees Chairwoman Toni Rehbein had served as the President of Missoula International School shortly before being elected to the MCPS Board in May of 2004.

Rehbein did not reveal the information above during the 2004 election cycle but finally fessed up to her prior ties to MIS only AFTER she had advocated for the lease at her first MCPS Board Meeting in May of 2004.

Additionally, one can also observe in the above photo of a MIS  Montana Corporation document that Martha Newell served as Vice President of Missoula International School during the same year.

It is difficult not to notice the address of Martha Newell - the 900 block of  Taylor - only a couple of blocks from Prescott School.

As Martha Newell's home is so close to Prescott School it does make one wonder if there were actions taken behind the scenes by Martha Newell in order to help secure the lease of Prescott School to the Missoula International School in 2004. 

Of interest - Martha Newell is the partner of the former mayor of Missoula, Mike Kadas.

Of consequence is that there are more MIS Montana Corporation documents AFTER 1998 with the names of Toni Rehbein and Martha Newell (and, by the way, one or more with the name of Julie Lennox with Toni Rehbein - the long-time headmaster of Missoula International School).

Prescott School Missoula is of the opinion that more people need to know that former Missoula County Public Schools Trustee (and Board Chair) was the president (and vice president) of Missoula International School shortly before she was elected to the MCPS Board. 

For the reason mentioned, that is that more Missoula citizens need to know about Trustee Rehbein's ties to MIS,  PSM looked into how this post can remain at the top of the blog while still posting new posts. In the article, "How to Set a Post Always on Top in Blogger" the explanation states that one needs to set the date of the post to a future date. Changing a blog's date to one that has yet to come keeps the blog post at the top of that page, at least until the date you set passes. PSM has set the date at 7/11/20. It was originally published on 8/16/14. 

UPDATE: February 2026

I submitted a letter to the editor to the Missoulian which was printed in the Februay 3, 2026 edition. The letter is regarding Prescott School news. I mentioned this blog in the letter. I would like to say to anyone that comes to this blog as a result of the letter (or not) that I believe this is one of the most important posts on this blog. It reveals that Toni Rehbein, before running for the Board of MCPS was the hightest officer of Missoula International School! This is important as she was most likly the instigator of the MIS/Prescott School lease, or at least one of them. Please keep  this mind when going past Prescott School. Think of Toni Rehbein. And one sees the name of Martha Newell. Think of her, too as she was and I believe still is a close neighbor to Prescott School. Thank you!

I would like to encourage more people to start a blog and write about their experiences with Missoula County Public Schools. 
I'm sure there are a lot of good things going on in our schools , however, our family experienced a horrific school closure fraught with corruption in 2004 and I believe that MCPS corruption still permeates MCPS to this day. PSM was also witness to much that went on during the sale of Roosevelt School to St. Josephs School in 2005. Many of the same people or people that are connected to the same people that were involved with the closures are still making important (and in PSM's opinion corrupt) facility and program decisions negatively impacting Missoulians lives.

Post title and content edited - December 16, 2015

Edited also in October of 2025

Main points from June 26, 2008 Missoula Independent article on lease extension of Prescott School to Missoula International School

The following statements are from a Missoula Independent article written in June (June 26, 2008) by Patrick Klemz during the lease renewal discussions of Prescott School by the private spanish emersion school, Missoula International School.

   June 26, 2008News» Features

   Getting schooled

     The renewal of an MCPS building lease angers residents

        by Patrick Klem

• "Jeanne Joscelyn wants to keep abandoned neighborhood school buildings like the Rattlesnake’s Prescott Middle School available for future MCPS use."(This was the caption for the picture of Jeanne on the Prescott School grounds.)

Here is how the article starts - 

'Jeanne Joscelyn and Ross Best are like conversational pad thai.' 

The article goes on to say - 

The pair’s message, however, is one in the same. Joscelyn and Best serve as the mouthpiece for what’s informally known as “the Opposition,” a group of Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) district residents highly critical of the board of trustees for its practice of leasing closed school buildings to private competition. The Opposition’s latest battles focus on Prescott, a Rattlesnake neighborhood middle school closed in 2004 and leased out to the Missoula International School that same year for less than $1 per square foot.' 

"One year remains on the International School’s five-year lease, but the MCPS board is already talking renewal. The topic first came up during a June 10 public meeting of the trustees, but a lack of quorum prevented the vote. With MCPS still working on a building appraisal, Opponents complain that trying to rush ahead a lease renegotiation now would be irresponsible,"

“You are trustees—entrusted with public school buildings. Your behavior has not been worthy of trust,” Best railed at the last board meeting. “It has, in fact, been disgraceful and this is shaping up to be one more disgraceful action.”

Joscelyn and Best suspect interested parties wanted to get the deal sewn up before the July retirement of Superintendent Jim Clark, a proponent of dispensing schools deemed as excess. But the superintendent says the June 10 agenda item intended to conditionally approve the lease and then let MCPS iron out details later in the year when the appraisal is finished. 

The Opposition came together during the similar Roosevelt School controversy, in which MCPS came under fire for the 2005 sale of another closed school to a Catholic education foundation after it had passed on a separate and higher offer.

Trying to avoid a similar result, Opponents began tracking the paperwork on Prescott back before its board-ordered closure.

The Opponents are concerned that selling schools like Prescott leaves the district standing short should it one day need more classroom space. The idea of public support for the privatization of local education also doesn’t sit well with many residents. UM mathematician David Patterson, a critic of the 2004 Prescott deal, points out that cheap leases don’t make fiscal sense when one takes into account the amount districts lose when students defect to private schools.

“There’s no rocket science here,” Patterson says.            “Doing nice things for private schools

is not a part of the public interest.”

District records show the current contract on Prescott costs the International School about half as much per square foot as Walla Walla University’s lease of the nearby Mount Jumbo School.

“We recognize the current base price is low based on the market value,” says Missoula International School trustee Matt Lunder. “The problem with their argument is that it assumes if the board voted to not extend our lease that the Missoula International School would say ‘Shucks, lets just send all of our kids to public school.’ We would just go somewhere else.” (blogger's note- Matt Lunder lived on Van Buren, just a couple of blocks from Prescott School. The enrolling of neighborhood children was a concern of some responsible MCPS Trustees during the 2004 lease discussions.)

Yet, Opposition members’ beef goes deeper still. They allege MCPS’s long-standing trend of favorable treatment toward the private school is a direct result of special interest engineering—something Best calls “rigged transactions.”

Joscelyn points to one person in particular: former International School board president and current MCPS chair Toni Rehbein. Though Rehbein recused herself from both the 2004 lease vote and the June 10 renewal item, she advocated extending the International School a new lease at various meetings and once queried publicly whether the lessee would go for purchasing Prescott outright.

The Opposition argues the ethical problems speak for themselves, though the situation does not technically constitute a violation of office. According to county attorneys, only official action can be cited as a conflict of interest under Montana code.

“When I was involved in the Missoula International School, my daughter was

in preschool,” Rehbein says. “I don’t have any personal interest in it at all.” (psm blogger - See MIS documents on lead blog post at beginning of blog to see the disingenuousness of this statement)

'One International School report from 2000 shows Rehein’s name circled numerous times and tagged with the commentary, “To whom is Toni Rehbein loyal?”

“The facts don’t support that. It’s not character assassination—we have documents,” Joscelyn responds. “This is just the truth.”

Where are the people who closed Prescott School and then leased it to the private Missoula International School?

Where are the people who were responsible for closing our most treasured Prescott School?
Remember - the people, the Missoula County Public Schools Trustees, are by name:

Board Chairwoman - Rosemary Harrison
Trustee Jenda Hemphill(aka Jenda Cummings) later Board Chairwoman
Trustee Toni Rehbein (aka Toni Smartt) and later Board Chairwoman
Trustee Scott Bixler
Trustee Joe Toth

The above Trustees voted in the July, 2004 MCPS Board Meeting. This meeting was the SECOND vote on the Prescott School closure issue.

The Missoula County Public Schools Trustees who voted on March 24, the first vote, to close the school were)(only a 48 day process!)

Rosemary Harrison (see above)
Jenda Hemphill (see above)
Naomi Kimbell (aka Naomi DeMarinis)
and
David Merrill

Trustees who did not vote for the closure were: Suzette Dussault, Colleen Rogers, and Carol Bellin.

As one can see only four MCPS Trustees can radically transform  a neighborhood, a school district, and the city as a whole. It is quite apparent that there needs to be a tweaking of the process of school closures and also for school sales.

To get back to the topic on where the Trustees who voted for the closure of Prescott School are today -

Without too much research I believe that most of the people listed are still in Missoula. Rosemary Harrison is now a realtor, Scott Bixler was and still is I believe, working for the Forest Service, Joe Toth was and still is, I believe, working as a fireman. Jenda Hemphill, I have heard, unfortunately, has a disease, which I won't mention here. Naomi Kimbell, I believe is writing like her father did before her. And, I will have to see if I can find out where David Merrill works. Later: In 2006, PSM received, perhaps from Merrill himself a sticker with the following wording, "Global Warming Solution.org and in smaller letters, "be a part of it". Other than this connection I do not know David Merrill's work history.

Montana State Tax document shows that former MCPS Trustee (and Board Chair) Toni Rehbein was the president of Missoula International School  - Also shows Martha Newell as vice president

The point is that all of these people are now leading their own lives away from their past school board duties and none are taking responsibility for the troubles which they have caused. None are being held accountable for our crowded schools, for the busing of half of our school children due to the school closures for which they voted, for all the increased infrastructure building, etc. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to be cautious and NOT to have closed the schools, not to have sold a school, and not to have leased a school to a private school? Yes, but politics got in the way.

And politics is still in the way - One of the above Trustees was voted out of office, and soon after helped to start the Missoula Education Foundation. This foundation works closely with the school district. All the better to be close to MCPS business, including being part of the bond committee) and to manipulate outcomes of decision making. This Trustee also has children and grandchildren - so is his/her hands in school business affecting her grandchildren. Do they attend a school with the International Baccalaureate program is instituted by MCPS for example? PSM saw Harrison at the opening of the IB program at Lewis an Clark School. She was hugging a young man who could have been her son. Again, was her grandchild a student at Lewis and Clark School? Was the IB program pushed by Harrison with the idea that her grandchild could attend this school?

All things to consider so that lessons can be learned for future decisions.

edited on April 25, 2026 additions in blue 

TONI REHBEIN - not popular in Missoula!

Before the February 2013 MCPS Board Meeting to address the unpopular raise for Superintendent Alex Apostle there was a scheduled protest against the raise. People lined up and entered the Sentinel High School on the gym side of the high school.  

Some people chose to picket in front of the high school before entering the building to attend the meeting.

One picketer chose to single out former MCPS Board Chairwoman Toni Rehbein. As one can see Prescott School Missoula is not the only one that has negative feelings for Rehbein. Take a look at the picture -





"NO MORE Rehbein"

The sign on the left states, "NO MORE Rehbein"

 The middle  sign reads "Cost of IB - loss of sections, Increase Class Size, and Locked Computer Labs",  and the sign on the right says,  "SHOW SOME Respect to Real Educators!"

Picture of Missoula International School 1998 state document showing Toni Rehbein as President!!

Below is a picture taken of a Missoula International School state document (Montana Corporation Annual Report) dated April 13, 1998. The arrow is pointing to the name of Toni Rehbein and reveals that she was serving during this year as President of Missoula International School. The address listed for Rehbein is 123 W. Hillcrest Dr., Missoula, MT 59803.

Missoula International School 1998 State Document - Toni Rehbein - President

This document is very important as it highlights what is going on at Prescott School in relation to the lease to Missoula International School. Rehbein was very high in the leadership of Missoula International School, serving as President for 2 years and Vice President for one year. (The documents for the other years showing Rehbein's leadership position are forthcoming on future blog posts.) 

Rehbein was elected in 2004 to the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees and served as Chairwoman of the Board for a time before stepping down in 2013.

 Did the private school vote, both the Catholic and MIS, help Rehbein win the election in 2004 (in addition to her running mates, Scott Bixler, and Joe Toth?  Prescott School Missoula - YES!  These 3 Trustees, psm believes, Rehbein, Bixler, and Toth, were NOT challenged in elections subsequent to 2004, with the exception of the 2013 election when Bixler and Toth were ousted (yeah!). Rehbein chose not to run in 2013.

Prescott School Missoula maintains that Rehbein, along with other DISLOYAL MCPS officials, are using Prescott School to help Missoula International School with its facility needs which is totally corrupt for several reasons.

Our Rattlesnake Valley PUBLIC SCHOOL students are denied the availability to attend their neighborhood public school facility.

AND - Missoula County Public Schools is NOT supposed to be assisting private schools!!

This lease is costing taxpayers accumulatively (for a decade) millions of dollars! This lease is NOT a revenue producer!

The Prescott School property is not being properly maintained to district standards despite what MIS says and some district officials say.

ETC....

Booming student population pushes need for MCPS long-range facilities plan - Missoulian article in November 2, 2013 edition written by Betsy Cohen

Click on the link below to read an article by Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen in the November 3rd edition reporting on the overcrowding of Missoula County Public Schools such as Rattlesnake School, just up the road from Prescott School.

The school district has been disloyal and negligent in actions taken which affect our Rattlesnake Valley students.

They have closed and sold Lincoln School (1986?) so that it is not available for handling the overflow from Rattlesnake School.

MCPS Trustees then closed Prescott School (2004) and subsequently leased it (also 2004) to a private school Missoula International School.

Citizens, including a math professor at the University of Montana, have figured that the losses to the district have been in the hundreds of thousands and now after 9 years of the Prescott School/MIS lease the loses must be in the millions of dollars.

This is all due to the state funding formula which attaches approximately $5,000 to each student.

So when a student decides to attend a private school the district loses that $5,000.  It is significant when a Missoula student decides to home school or attend a private school. It is even more significant and downright disloyal on the part of MCPS trustees and administrators when the student ATTENDS A PRIVATE SCHOOL WHICH IS HOUSED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL which is the case of Missoula International School School students at Prescott School.

Another example of disloyalty by MCPS Trustees is the sale of Roosevelt School to St. Joseph's School in 2005. The enrollment of St. Joseph's School grew almost every year since the lease was approved around 1998 (not exactly sure of the year) and especially after the sale in 2005.

Families will surely take into consideration the school facility when deciding on a school including a private school and perhaps more so if a school is private. In each of the cases mentioned the public school was a HUGE UPGRADE IN THE PRIVATE SCHOOL'S PREVIOUS FACILITY/FACILITIES!!

The above cannot be overemphasized. The reason why these private schools pursue the public facility is to improve their school so as to attract additional students (which by the way come from the pool of children which attend MCPS).

Prescott School Missoula went before the Board for most every discussion of the leasing of Prescott School and before that for every attempt at closure.  Along with others, psm mentioned the upcoming enrollment increase, that of the echo echo boom children (the grandchildren of the baby boomers).

This future increase of students throughout the district was substantiated by work done by Dr. Larry Swanson and others. Dr. Swanson had contributed many hours free of charge to the district before 2004 and in 2009 he was contracted to do a comprehensive study for the distinct. (See tab above on this blog).

All of the free and professional work by Dr. Swanson was brushed aside, at the peril of MCPS children and Missoula taxpayers, by the Trustees at this time.

The Trustees whom voted for the 2004 north side closures were: Chairwoman Rosemary Harrison, Trustees Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell, and David Merrill.

The Trustees whom voted for the 2004 north side closures in the second vote brought on by an open meeting lawsuit against the district by Molly Moody and Allan Oines, were: Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell (who later became MIS's executive director - see multiple posts of this blog!), Toni Rehbein, Scott Bixler, and Joe Toth. Trustee Carol Bellin was the lone dissenter.

The Trustees whom voted for the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School are: Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell, Joe Toth, and Scott Bixler. Toni Rehbein recused herself from the vote (See multiple posts on the connections Toni Rehbein has with MIS), and Carol Bellin voted against the lease.

Trustees whom voted for the lease extension in 2009: Scott Bixler, Joe Toth, Joseph Knapp, and others (psm needs to look into the documents for information on other votes).

Trustees whom voted for the Prescott School/MIS lease in 2011: Scott Bixler, Shelly Wills, Joseph Knapp, and Michael Smith.

psm will correct the voting information if any is found to be incorrect and or incomplete.

All of these MCPS Trustees have shown disloyalty to the district by assisting a private school - when their loyalties are by law supposed  to be ONLY to MCPS.

The picture for this article shows a modular at Rattlesnake School.

The article states that for the first time Rattlesnake students are being sent to Paxson.

MIS has received sweat heart leases for 9 years (see blog tab titled "MIS sweartheart lease" 

MIS has been negligent in the care of the playground and perhaps other areas of the school.(See You Tube video)

 MCPS has done maintenance on Prescott School at the district's expense, going against the lease agreement which stipulates that MIS is responsible for repair and maintenance. (See You Tube video)

psm is quite sure  based on past experience that there have been other favors to MIS form the MCPS school district.

Going forward - MCPS needs to let MIS know that the lease will be terminated at the end of this school year(there is surprisingly an opt out clause in the lease - which has not been included for MCPS in past leases). 

THEN MCPS NEEDS TO REOPEN PRESCOTT SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN.

How much more proof is there that WE NEED PRESCOTT SCHOOL!!

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

Toni Rehbein smiling - Prescott School crying

Toni Rehbein -

She is smiling - 

 

Prescott School in Missoula is crying.

 

 

 

Good riddance Toni Rehbein.  Please do not come near a Missoula public school again.

 

 

 

Rehbein proud of tenure on MCPS Board of Trustees - Missoulian article on front page of the May 5, 2012 edition

Click on the link below to read about how Chairwoman Toni Rehbein views her years on the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees.

Isn't a little (psm means a lot) strange that neither Rehbein nor the Missoulian mentioned one of the most controversial aspects of Rehbein's tenure on the Board - that is the Prescott School/Missoula International School lease?




Rehbein proud of tenure on MCPS Board of Trustees


Below read Prescott School Missoula's initial reaction to the article -  

The conflict on the Board which is mentioned in the beginning of the article stems from a couple of trustees and administers who wished to go against the public's wishes time and time again so that if anyone stood up to them there was he** to pay.  So Toni, Joe, and Scott were elected, and things went smoother for the few trustees because there were fewer trustees to fight for the public's good.

If there were ever to be an investigation into all the wrongs committed by Toni Rehbein psm sure there would be a long list.

As psm is short of time psm will mention what I believe to be the most egregious of her travesties she has inflicted on Missoulians.  That is the lease of Prescott School to the Missoula International School. 

The most important item on the agenda of her first Board Meeting in May of 2004 was the lease Prescott/MIS lease issue.  Right off the bat, Rehbein stated that the lease needed to be rushed.  And that we needed to take advantage of the "bird  in the hand" (paraphrasing). She wished to offer a friendly amendment  to expedite the process.

 Why is the above important?  Something which Rehbein failed to mention in her first MCPS Board meeting - Rehbein was the president for two years and vice president for one year (thus an officer of Missoula International School shortly before running for the MCPS Board of Trustees.

 

She did not vote for the lease in June of 2004, however, she continued to advocate for the lease throughout her time on the Board. She once queried the MIS people during a meeting if they would be interested in leasing Prescott School with an option to buy.  She also advocated for an appraisal of Prescott as the district had so many other price tags on other projects. 

 

Due to this conflict of interest issue (the lawyer says that it isn't one - only that it appears to be) Missoulians are subsidizing what has become an elite private school.  MIS had 33 children enrolled in the school in 2004 - now it has 186(this is according to a citizen who spoke before the Board in a public comment - he called MIS to inquire into the MIS enrollment)!  Loses to the district have been estimated to be in the $500,000 range PER YEAR and most certainly are that amount with the latest MIS enrollment figure. 

The Prescott School/Missoula International School in addition to the selling of Roosevelt have been the sorry and tragic legacy of one of the most corrupt trustees ever to serve on the Board of MIssoula County Public Schools, Toni Rehbein.  I could spend many more hours listing the harm Rehbein has done to Missoula, however, will end with one more - adding the International Baccalaureate Program (it just so happens that MIS is an IB school!!). This most certainly helps her friends at MIS doesn't it as the MIS children can now continue their IB studies at Hellgate High School - courtesy of the Missoula taxpayers!

 This initial reaction to the article was written shortly after the papers were off the press in addition to having only a short window of time in which to write. Due to the rushed response there were quite a few typographical errors.  I may go back and fix them or I may decide not to as they signify the raw emotion behind the words.  (NOTE: psm did edit this post on May 21, 2013.)

 

One last initial reaction:  GOOD RIDDANCE TONI REHBEIN!

P.S.  I will not be naive enough to believe we have not seen the last of Toni Rehbein.  At this moment she is most likely conniving with her friends in the Missoula Education Foundation - a graveyard of despised MCPS administrators.

 Edited on May 31, 2013 as mentioned above.

 

 

 

Toni Rehbein - formerly Toni Smartt - displayed questionable behavior while working for Misssoula County Public Schools in 1990

Did Toni Rehbein have a good record to stand on before being elected to the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees? Had she displayed ethical behavior in her previous employment with MCPS?

According to past Missoulian articles reporting on Toni Rehbein (formerly Toni Smartt), the answer to the above question is unclear.

The Missoulian reported on a potential conflict of interest problem concerning Toni Smartt in relation to two of her jobs connected to Missoula County Public Schools.

The April 14th, 1990 article was followed by another on April 20th,
(post regarding that article will be forthcoming) on the same issue. In both articles there isn't information on how the investigation ended and on any conclusive decisions.

There is reason to believe that after reading the information in the articles that if there was no intentional "double dipping", (which we do not know if there was or not) Toni Smartt (as mentioned above now Toni Rehbein), at the very least, needed to avoid the appearance of any impropriety and not work for or get a pay check from Community Care.


Missoulian article on April 14^th of 1990
The article titled is titled:
“A conflict of interest, (lower case letters as was printed in the Missoulian)

with a subtitle of -

"School official’s off-duty job raises legal question”

By Gary Jahrig and Michael Moore of the Missoulian

"Deputy Missoula County Attorney Mike Sehestedt, who acts as the school district’s attorney, delivered that message Thursday after investigating concerns raised about Smartt’s affiliation with Community Care, Inc."

"Community Care works with schools and community organizations to educate young people in the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse."

"Smartt, whose district salary is $39,650, coordinates District 1’s drug and alcohol programs, and also works as middle-school coordinator. The district’s drug and alcohol program is in part paid for by a federal grant that Smartt “monitors” according to Block."

"District 1 uses the federal money to contract with Community Care for workshops designed to help district employees recognize and deal with chemical abuse."

"Smartt’sconflict, according to Sehestedt, arises because Community Care sometimes hires her to run those workshops. Smartt also serves on Community Care’s board of directors."

"Dorothea Lambros, president of Community Care’s board, said Friday that she is not sure how much money Smartt is paid. Block said District 1 paid Community Care about $25,300 last year."

"The Code of Federal Regulations which governs use of grants, 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, as Community Care does. "

"“It appears to me that if an employee who administers a contract supported by federal funds has an interest in the corporation that receives the funds, and in fact receives money from that corporation, then you’ve got a conflict,” Sehestedt said."

"Block said that although he was not aware of any problem with the current arrangement, he would abide by any decision Sehestedt reached."

"“If it’s a problem …we are going to correct the problem,” Block said. “The only way I can see correcting it straight off, without being totally disruptive to the training program as we go on, is to say, Toni Smartt, you’re no longer part of the Community Care, Inc. board, “plain and simple.”"

"Sehestedt said he was less concerned by Smartt’s position on the board than with her contract relationship with Community Care."

"“I think it’s possible that she could still serve on the board, so long as she is not receiving remuneration for her service,” Sehestedt said. "

"Block said the matter would be taken up with Smartt next week when she returns to work after the District 1 spring break."

"“If that is a violation,” Block said, “I’m not going to place this district in a position of liability.”"

"Block said that when Smartt “moonlights in training in the area of drug awareness and addiction,” she does so on her own time."

"“When she is doing that kind of training she is on leave without pay from the school district because obviously we don’t have any double dipping going on,” Block said."

"Sehestedt said the conflict of interest exists regardless of whether Smartt is on her own time when she works for Community Care."

"Part of Smartt’s job description with District 1 calls for her to coordinate efforts with Community Care and represent the district on the organization’s board of directors."

"Contacted at home by the Missoulian, Smartt said she was unable to comment on the matter because she was unaware o f the conflict or Sehestedt’s recommendation."

"Lambros said Community Care will do nothing to endanger the grant, or the organization’s attempts to h help children."

"“We want to do the right thing,” she said. We don’t want to put anyone in a position of conflict. …We will resolve matters in a way that ensures that.”"

Prescott School is TOO SMALL (Rehbein) - Prescott School is TOO BIG (Apostle) - Prescott School is a PERFECT SIZE - (Prescott School Missoula)

Prescott School Missoula hears so many excuses for not re-opening Prescott School located at 1100 Harrison St. in the lower Rattlesnake Valley. In 2004 during the school closures psm(Prescott School Missoula)  heard even more excuses during the school closures. 

This is the tragedy of the situation in which Missoulians find themselves; with so many closed schools and so much busing.

If a few, even a couple, of MCPS Trustees think that neighborhood schools have no value and think it is best to bus our children out of their neighborhoods, citizens will hear the most outrageous and sad excuses for closing a school or not re-opening a school by these pro "attendance center*  Trustees. 

Unfortunately, many citizens buy into the many false excuses for closing and not re-opening a school put forward by these trustees, administrators, and some citizens. It if likely many citizens do not have all the facts and do not realize all the negative "tentacles" that reach out to a community as a result from closing a school.

psm would like to mention two such excuses in this post.

In 2007, then Trustee Toni Rehbein, stated in a discussion during a school board meeting in which an appraisal of Prescott School was a topic, that Prescott School was TOO SMALL.

In a conversation about Prescott School with Superintendent Apostle earlier in this year at the administration building on 6th Street, when asked about re-opening Prescott School he stated that Prescott School was TOO BIG.

As one can see Trustees and administrators are reaching at every possible excuse to keep Prescott School closed.  These excuses are outlandish and reveal that there is really no valid or logical reasoning going on. 

MCPS district officials are concerned more about Missoula International School than they are about the very students in which they are charged to look after.

Prescott School Missoula's opinion and that of many others is that Prescott School is A PERFECT SIZE.

Many families, teachers, administrators at Prescott School have loved Prescott School for over a century precisely BECAUSE OF IT'S SIZE.  Prescott School offers a friendly and small environment conducive to effective learning for children of all ages. This small school tucked in at the bottom of Mt. Jumbo offers an idyllic setting for Missoula's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN and needs to return for use by its rightful owners.


* During the 2004 school closures psm is of the understanding that administrators were using the phrase "attendance centers" to describe the schools that were to become larger due to the north side students being bused to them.

Toni Rehbein, past MIS president and current MCPS Board Chair, pushes for disposing of Prescott School at a September 2007 Finance and Operations Meeting

Below are the comments of MCPS Chairwoman Toni Rehbein at a September 2007, Finance and Operations Meeting.

Prescott School Missoula is speechless at reading Rehbein's words about a priceless and popular neighborhood school. 

Prescott School Missoula would like to warn supporters of Prescott that their blood pressure may go up after reading Rehbein's comments below.

"Well, I agree with Rick.  I think it would be in our best interests to get an appraisal on that property so we know what kind of value we
are talking about.  We are looking at some hefty price tags you know whether, as Jim (Jim Clark) was saying, we stay in this building, or remodel, or build another school.  And given that we have Mt. Jumbo out in that neighborhood. And if a miracle ever occurred and we did see that kind of increase in enrollment, we got a building.  And I don't see how we would ever be able to afford to staff a building as small as Prescott with our current expenses.  So it doesn't seem like its a particularly necessary, or I'm not going to say that, a necessary asset right now, and if we could use those funds toward deferring costs that are going to serve more students, then I think it may be some thing that we may want to look into. Information never hurts. I'd like to have that information for discussion.

- For Rehbein to have the gall to state that the district would not have the funds to staff Prescott School is outrageous! Isn't a school building one of if not the most important part of a school system?!

- Rehbein is also stating that Mt. Jumbo School is in the neighborhood of the lower Rattlesnake area.  This is ridiculous.  Mt. Jumbo is approximately 2 miles away in E. Missoula. 

- Rattlesnake parents have always liked Mt. Jumbo School itself, however, have disliked their children traveling on the freeway to get there.  For that reason, many parents have driven their children from the Rattlesnake area to Mt. Jumbo School.

- Prescott School has served the Rattlesnake neighborhood for over a century.  MCPS has had the ability to fund Prescott School during difficult times in our country's history - there is no reason it couldn't now with record amounts of money flowing into the school district.

- Prescott School Missoula does not believe that Rehbein prefaced her remarks with the information that she served as president of MIS.

- The comment on a possible miracle if enrollment increased shows her lack of understanding of Missoula demographics.  For many years there was knowledge that MCPS enrollment WOULD increase due to the upcoming (now arrived) echo echo boom.  Rehbein, along with her other disloyal Trustee-mates, have IGNORED this information.  Dr. Larry Swanson has provided the district with demographic information for many years, as he worked for free prior to being commissioned to provide a comprehensive demographic study (which most Trustees still ignore).

- A "miracle" did occur and enrollment did increase Chairwoman Rehbein.  One cannot call the increase in enrollment a "miracle". The increase in enrollment was expected (see comment above).

- Enrollment increased so much since the comments above that Rattlesnake School was at capacity for the past three years

- The at capacity situation at Rattlesnake School resulted in the district's decision to build an expensive modular at Rattlesnake the summer of 2012 (instead of  re-opening Prescott School) which would have provided more classroom space for the projected future increase in enrollment.

- Prescott School Missoula has more to say on Rehbein's disloyal comments, however, psm must take a break in order to calm down after typing out Rehbein's obvious bias for Missoula International School - a school for which she served as president shortly before being elected to the MCPS Board of Trustees. 

Open Letter to Missoula International School staff, parents, students, and supporters

Dear Supporters of Missoula International School,

Prescott School Missoula would like for each Missoula International School supporter to ask himself/herself the following question:

Do I, as a MIS supporter, want to engage in an organization (MIS) that takes advantage of the Missoula County Public Schools beneficiaries; Missoula's public school children and Missoula taxpayers?  Do I want to be a part of a corrupt lease arrangement between MIS and MCPS?

As a MIS supporter, you can read the information on this blog and see for yourself that the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School is not a sound investment for the school district. It has never been a sound investment from the beginning of the lease in 2004. 

As a MIS supporter, you can read the information on this blog and see that the MIS/Prescott School lease is costing the school district approximately $500,000 per year (estimate by a math professor), now that MIS has grown to such a large extent.

As a MIS supporter, you can drive up to Rattlesnake School and see the new modular there on the playground.  It is because MIS is leasing Prescott School that the school district built this expensive modular.  You as a MIS supporter, have been a participant in an arrangement that has cost the district the expense of this modular (approximately $250,000) as well as the loses to the district just mentioned in the last paragraph.

This modular was built only a year after MCPS Trustees approved another lease extension (2011) for a 5 year term of Prescott School to MIS.

 

These Trustees had the responsibility to keep track of enrollment at Rattlesnake School and enrollment trends in general available to them in their own demographic report, however, they ignored pertinent information.

Prescott School Missoula is attempting to sound the alarm on how the current and past MCPS Trustees approving this lease have been and continue to be engaged in corrupt behavior.

MIS supporters:  The lease of Prescott School was approved in 2004 and in subsequent years by disloyal MCPS Trustees. Leasing a public school to a private school is the improper use of the public school. These disloyal Trustees were NOT looking out for the best interests of their constituents.

In fact, as psm has brought up in an older post - the decision to close Prescott School could certainly have been made in order to make Prescott available for the lease of MIS. The time line suggests this. History with another public school/private school transaction also suggests this.

MIS supporters:  Please read about the ties of MCPS Board Chairwoman Toni Rehbein, a past former Board Chair of YOUR school shortly before being elected to the MCPS Board of Trustees.
Rehbein voted to close Prescott, however, she abstained from the vote to lease Prescott School to MIS after another Trustee abstained.  However, Rehbein has supported the lease throughout the years, going so far as to suggest that MIS might wasnt to lease Prescott with an option to buy!

MIS supporters:  Please read the information on how past MCPS Board of Trustees member Naomi Kimbell in 2004 voted to close Prescott (and Rattlesnake Middle School and Mount Jumbo School), voted to lease Prescott School to MIS, and then was subsequently hired by your school for the position of executive director only about a month after her votes.  This scenario has never been investigated.

MIS supporters: The leadership of your school is involved in what psm believes and describes in one of the blog posts - "One of the biggest scandals in Missoula involving one of Missoula's smallest schools".

MIS supporters:  You need to find another location so that the corrupt reputation of the MCPS School Board does not continue to rub off on you.

Just because the MCPS Trustees and perhaps the MIS leadership state that the lease is a revenue producer, does not make it so.  District officials are ignoring the facts. A math professor warned the school district in 2004 of potential massive loses due to this lease (see an older post for the letter to the editor in the June 8, 2004 Missoulian)

It is the opinion of Prescott School Missoula that current MCPS Trustees need to resign from their positions as Trustees of Missoula County Public Schools as they are unfit to lead and have not, in many people's minds, followed the constitution of Montana. (See older post recommending the resignation of ALL MCPS Trustees because of their malfeasance regarding this lease.)

We do not want a Roosevelt School repeat!!  We do not want any more sweetheart sales of our treasured public school buildings. Trustees Rehbein, Bixler, Toth (still serving on the MCPS Board), Harrison, and Hemphill voted to sell Roosevelt School to the Catholic Schools after the private school leased Roosevelt. 

Consequently, many of our our public schools are at capacity.
Expensive additions have needed to be added to three of our schools (Franklin, Lewis and Clark and Hawthorne) and two expensive modulars have been built (Rattlesnake - as mentioned above- and Lowell) have been built due to the lease (Prescott) and sale (Roosevelt) since providing private schools two of our priceless public schools.

Missoula International School supporters, again, heed the advice given above and begin a search for another location for your school, a school building which is not subsidized by Missoula taxpayers.

Prescott School belongs to the children in this neighborhood and to Missoula taxpayers, not to private schools.  All of Missoula's One public schools were built and maintained for public school students. Additionally, one can read the demographic report (link on top of home page) to see that we need Prescott School for the Rattlesnake children.

Sincerely,

Prescott School Missoula
a public school - for Missoula's public school
children - for over a century

New West article from 2006 regarding a lawsuit against MCPS in the sale of Roosevelt School

Occasionally, Prescott School Missoula is compelled to include news about Roosevelt School.

Three of the five Trustees that voted to sell Roosevelt continue to serve on the MCPS School Board. These Trustees are: Board Chairwoman Toni Rehbein, Trustee Scott Bixler, and Trustee Joe Toth. The other two Trustees that voted to sell Roosevelt are former Board Chairwoman Rosemary Harrison and Trustee and fomer Board Chairwoman Jenda Hemphill (she became Board Chairwoman after Harrison was voted out of office in 2005).
                                               ****
 Quotes from the New West article follow:

"Good Schools Missoula, Inc., a new organization advocating for quality schools in Missoula County, has filed a lawsuit against the Missoula County Public School District and several of its School Board trustees. The group claims the trustees are individually liable for the financial discrepancies resulting from the breach of their fidiciary duties in the lease and sale of Roosevelt School."

and -

"What we're doing is trying to hold the school trustees accountable for selling Roosevelt School below its market value," Funsch said. "(The district) didn't even accept the highest offer for Roosevelt Public School."

and -

"The group also stated that the sale of Roosevelt School will increase property taxes, a reduction in opportunities for children who attend school in District 1, increased classroom congestion and reduced resources. Increased class sizes, children having to be bussed to distant facilities, traffic increases and increased workload for teachers are also negative impacts listed within group's lawsuit."

                                             ****

What happened with the loss of Roosevelt School is similar to what is happening at Prescott School. The Catholic Schools were leasing Roosevelt School at a reduced rate and subsequently was sold at a reduced rate - thus the term "sweetheart sale".

Prescott School is now being leased and has been leased at reduced rates - thus also taking advantage of a sweetheart lease deal.

Additionally, one has to account for the massive loses due to MCPS children attending our leased and now sold (in the case of Roosevelt School) treasured neighborhood public school buildings that are now occupied by private schools.  See prior posts regarding a math professors warning and page titled "MIS Sweetheart Lease" at the top of the home page.

Many believe that neither the Catholic School system nor MIS could lease nor could have bought (in the case of Roosevelt) comparable facilities at the price MCPS has/had given them had they gone into private sector real estate. 

The lawsuit went to the Supreme Court, however, the Court ruled  only on procedures, not the merits of the complaint. The Court did not rule in favor of Good Schools Missoula.

The link to the article on the Good Schools Missoula/Catholic Schools lawsuit is below -

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/missoula_organization_wants_roosevelt_school_sale_voided_school_board_trust/

A shocking sight at Prescott School today as Missoula International School begins a new school year

Today, September 4th, 2012, Prescott School Missoula observed the first day of school for Missoula International School, a private school leasing Prescott School in the lower Rattlesnake.

psm (Prescott School Missoula) is actually still in shock over the scene observed as cars kept rolling onto Harrison Street loaded with one or more children along with a parent or two.  Many cars turned up Briar Street off of Van Buren Street and even more cars turned up Elm Street also off Van Buren Street. 

Cars were lined up on both sides of the street for blocks

Observations took place between approximately 8:15 - 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.  There were so many cars pulling into the school there needed to be three people from MIS acting as crossing guards to advise the parents on where to park. One crossing guard was at the Elm Street/Harrison Street intersection (Head of School, Julie Lennox), another at the other end of the school, at the Briar Street/Harrison Street intersection and another in the middle of these streets.  At each intersection and in the middle of the block there had to be signs telling which age groups went where.



There were signs directing cars where to go.

The cars began pulling into Elm and Briar Streets at about 8:15 and DID NOT STOP until 9:00 or longer.  It was a steady stream of cars for approximately an hour.  Along the perimeter of the school, every parking spot was taken. Cars had to park next to the sidewalks of neighbors.  If psm were a neighbor I would not like so many cars pulling up next to my house every day.

There were so many cars that parents had to park them on both sides of Harrison Street for an entire block down to the intersection 
with Locust Street and continued onto Locust. The same was happening on the north side of the school with cars lining Harrison down to Willow Street.

Some parents and children were riding their bikes to school.
The bike racks had several bikes in it - approximately 15 or so. psm reminds readers that a concerned citizen in 2004 wondered if the lease would effect the Rattlesnake School population. 


This most assuredly has happened as witnessed by the number of bike riders, the number of cars with MIS stickers on the bumpers in the Rattlesnake, and conversations with people in the Rattlesnake about neighbors enrolling in MIS.


A similar scene had been observed a couple of years ago, however, this year it has grown quite substantially.

To a person unaware of the consequences to the district this scene may not have been troublesome or so shocking.

To citizens that understand the financial and social implications of leasing a public school to a private school, the scene was frightening and infuriating at the same time.  For a school board to allow the scene described above to happen in the first place is absolutely criminal.  If the loses to the district caused by this lease were charged to every school board member that voted to extend this lease they most certainly would have voted against the extension. 

psm reminds citizens that a math professor wrote a letter to every school board member and the superintendent before the vote on the lease extension of Prescott School in 2011, stating that after looking at the substantial gain in enrollment after the lease of Prescott School in 2004 until 2010 the estimated loss to the district had evolved into $500,000 a year.  This same math professor warned the district about the dangers of the lease in 2004, however, as in 2011, MCPS trustees and superintendent ignored the statements to the peril of every property tax payer in Missoula.

After witnessing the massive amount of people, both students and parents, of the private school this morning I am convinced that there is no way this is not drastically effecting the bottom line of MCPS's budget.

psm urges citizens to come down to 1100 Harrison Street between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00 a. m. on a school day and witness what your corrupt school board has allowed to happen in our public school system.  The outright disloyalty gives this Missoula County taxpayer and Prescott School advocate a huge sense of betrayal by MCPS Trustees. psm recommends that they also drive up the road to Rattlesnake School and observe the new expensive modular. There were no discussions, at least none that were documented, of re-opening Prescott School prior to building the modular.

Every school board member as well needs to also come down to Prescott School between the above hours and see what a travesty they have caused for our school system. 

The people most responsible for this fiasco and tragedy all rolled into one gigantic mistake are:  Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell, Scott Bixler, Joe Toth, former and current superintendents, Jim Clark and Alex Apostle and most of all the former Missoula International School president, TONI REHBEIN, THE  CURRENT CHAIRWOMAN OF THE MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 

Prescott is not the first school Rehbein has used to give to private schools. She along with Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Scott Bixler, and Joe Toth voted to sell Roosevelt to the private school, St. Joseph's School, a Catholic School, in 2005.

It is Prescott School Missoula's opinion that the trustees and superintendents listed above are some of the most disloyal and dangerous trustees in MCPS history.  After what psm saw today at Prescott School this opinion will most surely not change with time, but will only make it stronger. 

psm has been a Prescott School advocate for many years, since two sons attended this wonderful school which has served our citizens for over a century.  It was because psm cares so deeply for this school, as many others do as well, that today's observations took place. 

psm did take pictures of the enormous amount of traffic and the signs posted in the street in order to document the scene.  psm has been advised that it is best not to take pictures of children in order to deflect any problems that may arise by doing so. psm understands this and is taking extra precautions to avoid taking pictures of people. 

psm would like to report that a police man came to my door today as the MIS administration complained of my presence. psm will attempt not be intimidated by MIS administrators whom do not seem to wish this travesty to be filmed.