School's Out? A February 18th, 1999 Missoula Independent article on the closing of Roosevelt and Emma Dickinson Schools

Click on the link below to read a pretty long - but GREAT article on the closing of two other Missoula schools, Roosevelt and Emma Dickinson.

School's Out?

psm has had people relay that the process of closing these schools was horrendous and a very stressful experience.

All school closures are stressful and for what? So there can be a program or two or some administrators get a higher salary.

The pitting of programs and school buildings is not a valid comparison; it is not an apples to apples comparison. It is an apples to oranges comparison and need not occur!

There is a couple of paragraphs in this article where one can read that a Missoula council person weighed in the issue.

A school board member stated that the council person was infringing in school board business. Not so, according to the council person - a school closure effects the entire city in many different areas (this is paraphrasing - perhaps psm will get a chance to provide quotes from the article soon).

What the council person said was so true!! There are so many negative ramifications to closing a school and the true cost is never made available. When Prescott, Mt. Jumbo, and Rattlesnake Middle Schools were in the process of being closed a citizen requested that the city government get involved, however, psm believes that no one from the city weighed in the issue, unfortunately.

psm recommends this article by the Missoula Independent.

MCPS elementary levy passes; Kendall, Newbold elected trustees

Click on the link below to read about the newly elected Trustees to the MCPS Board.

MCPS elementary levy passes; Kendall, Newbold elected trustees

Playground constructed by MIssoula International School was approved at a 2010 F&O Meeting by THREE elementary MCPS Board members -TWO of them MIS PARENTS at one time!!!

Prescott School Missoula came across some documents regarding the playground changes to Prescott School proposed by Missoula International School in 2010 and decided to go ahead and share them today.

The newer playground equipment on the Prescott School playground by the berm were constructed by Missoula International School was approved by the MCPS Board process. (Later came the more prominent playground additions). 

Two Trustees were Missoula International School parents at one time and another Trustee voted to close Prescott and lease it to Missoula International School!

Which three Missoula County Public Schools Trustees were at the Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 Finance and Operations Committee Meeting and supported this projected change by a private school lessee to the the playground of a public school - Prescott? 

From the minutes of the meeting we see that the only elementary MCPS Trustees present at this meeting were Trustees Rehbein, Duerk, and Bixler.

Trustee Toni Rehbein, as one can read from the many posts on the Prescott School Missoula website, is a parent of a daughter who once attended MIS and, importantly, Toni was an officer of MIS for three years serving as the president and vice president (according to state records).

Trustee Adam Duerk is the parent of twins who once attended Missoula International School.

Trustee Scott Bixler, has for many years supported the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School. Bixler voted to close Prescott School as well as Rattlesnake Middle School and Mt. Jumbo School in East Missoula in 2004. Subsequently, Bixler voted for the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School in 2004.

Bixler always voted for lease extensions of Prescott School to MIS - once in 2009 and another in 2011.

A sentence in the minutes under the heading of "Direction" reads:

"The Committee supports the Administration's recommendation that Trustees approve the request by Missoula International Schools for the posted improvements to the Prescott playground at the September 14th Board meeting on the consent agenda."

At the September 14th, 2010 MCPS Board Meeting the quite radical changes to the Prescott School playground were approved on the consent agenda (which is a number of items compiled in one vote) - in other words - with NO discussion by the Board. Additionally, any MCPS Trustee who voted for the consent agenda  is also responsible for the approval of the playground changes. This would have included TONI REHBEIN (if she was present - psm can't remember as of this posting, however, who was mostly likely present at this meeting - psm will check the Board minutes at a later date), who regularly abstains from Prescott School/MIS lease votes (however, supports the lease in Board discussions).


Therefore - as readers can see - the playground changes and additions on one of our public school playgrounds were approved at the Finance and Operations Committee Meeting by TWO FORMER MISSOULA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENTS (!!!) along with a Trustee who voted for the closure of Prescott and the lease of Prescott to Missoula International School. And all Trustees, psm believes, voted for the Consent Agenda, therefore, the MIS playground changes.

The corruption never ends!

Note: psm plans to post pictures of the playground at a later date.

  

Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent, Business Manager, and Trustees DISLOYAL TO PRESCOTT SCHOOL!!

DISLOYAL MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OFFICIALS


THE ABOVE IS A PICTURE OF DISLOYAL SCHOOL OFFICIALS AT A MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS SCHOOL BOARD MEETING IN MARCH OF 2014.

PICTURED ABOVE ARE (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) ARE:
HIGH SCHOOL TRUSTEE DEBBIE DUPREE, HIGH SCHOOL TRUSTEE MARCIA HOLLAND, HIGH SCHOOL TRUSTEE JIM SADLER, SUPERINTENDENT ALEX APOSTLE, TRUSTEE MICHAEL SMITH, AND BUSINESS MANAGER PAT MCHUGH.

Trustees Debbie Dupree and Marcia Holland being high school Trustees do not vote on elementary issues, however, they have never voiced their reservations on the Prescott School/MIS lease as far as psm knows.

 

High school Trustee Jim Sadler has ON MANY OCCASIONS VOICED HIS SUPPORT FOR THE LEASE - every time the issue comes before the MCPS Board of Trustees, Sadler voices his support.

 

Superintendent Alex Apostle always has supported the lease - could the support of this lease be one of the reasons why Apostle was hired for this job?

Trustee Michael Smith voted for the extension of the Prescot School/MIS lease in 2011. As mentioned in a prior post, Smith's wife works for ALPS, a business for which Trustee Rehbein's husband works (or worked). 

 

Pat McHugh has always supported the lease which is surprising to psm. One would think that a business manager would know that this lease is not financially viable for the MCPS school district.

All of the MCPS Trustees in the picture above voted for Superintendent Alex Apostle's controversial raise in 2012. High superintendent and administrative salaries jeopardize the stability of the school system which includes school buildings.

2014 MCPS School Board Trustee Elections

There are three seats up for election on the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees on May 6, 2014. Two seats are K-12 and represent both the Elementary and High School Districts and one seat represents the Swan Valley, Seeley Lake, Potomac, Sunset and Clinton areas on the High School Board (and votes only on high school issues). The following individuals have filed to run for the open seats in the May 6 election.

School Board - Trustee Elections

 

High School District (Swan Valley, Seeley Lake, Potomac, Sunset, Clinton)

§ Debbie Dupree, P.O. Box 88, Seeley Lake, MT 59868

§ Frank Gruden, 15510 Kendall Creek Road, Clinton, MT 59825

§ Roy Handley, 19770 Schwartz Creek Road, Clinton, MT 59825

Elementary K-12

§ John Fletcher, 655 Evans Ave., Missoula, MT 59801

§ Rob Gibbons, 437 Connell Ave., Missoula, MT 59801

§ Heidi Kendall, 4021 Heritage Way, MT 59802

§ Jennifer Newbold, 3228 Cummins Way, Missoula, MT 59802

§ Molly Stockdale, 2519 Blackthorn Drive, Missoula, MT 59803

§ Scott Todd, 119 Mount Ave., Missoula, NT 59801

§ Jack Wade, 1805 Traynor Dr., Missoula, MT 59802

§ Shelly Wills, 3032 Queen Street, Missoula, MT 59801

Prescott School Missoula does not know most of the candidates that have filed to run for a seat on the MCPS Board of Trustees. psm has lost faith in the school board election process for many reasons. Here are a few:

-There is only slightly more than a month to get to know the names of the candidates and to familiarize oneself for which position they are running... i.e. a one year term, a three year term, elementary/high school or just high school, etc.

-There is no contact information in the Missoulian newspaper and just an address on the MCPS district website.

-There is not enough time to to contact the candidates to see where they stand on the issues and to state your concerns.

-Very few people vote in the school board elections, therefore, it is easier to get a candidate elected which may be unpopular. For instance, if the teachers union endorses a candidate this person has an advantage, whether or not he/she is liked by the majority of the public.  School Board elections need to take place in November along with other issues and positions.

Prescott School Missoula, therefore, cannot endorse any of the candidates.

However, psm would FOR SURE NOT like the two candidates  below on the Board as they have NOT been Prescott friendly in their past terms-

 

Shelly Wills - not a loyal MCPS trustee - voted for the last lease

Scott Todd - an administrative plant

 

NOT SURE ON THE FOLLOWING TWO CANDIDATES:

 

Jennifer Newbold - a Toni Rehbein plant - just learned this from a Missoulian blogger - husband works for ALPS (Toni Rehbein's husband works (worked?) for ALPS - (needs to be verified)

 

And it seemed that candidate Heidi Kendall did not listen to her constituents as closely as she needed on the infill issue when she served on the City Council. Infill may be good for some areas of the city, however, some citizens have had bad experiences with this planning tool.

Kendall's face book page shows that Tom Orr (ugh!) is endorsing her. Orr is a Prescott School foe as he denigrated Prescott many times while on the MCPS Board when he served a few years ago. Does this shed any negative light on the way Kendall would serve on the MCPS Board?  Would she listen to her constituents? Hard to tell at this point in time.

Another reason to question if Kendall would support neighborhood schools, i.e. Prescott School (keep in mind that psm has not visited with Kendall on the Prescott School/MIS lease) is that in 2005 Kendall and other representatives from three private schools spoke in favor of a combined middle school in Prescott. This fact does not go in Kendall's favor as far as Prescott School is concerned (or any public school for that matter).

Voting information from www.mcps.mt.org (The Missoula County Public Schools website)

5-3-14
edited 5-12-14

Missoulian article dated April 14, 2014 - MCPS candidate Q&A: Newbold urges personalized learning, critical thinking skills

Click on the link below on a Missoulian article reporting on MCPS board candidate Jennifer Newbold.

MCPS candidate Q&A: Newbold urges personalized learning, critical thinking skills


A blogger, "MobyDick" on the Missoulian blog stated that a blogger who shares psm's views, "Fighting4Missoula", is overstating the dangers of leasing Prescott School to Missoula International School and is stating that any such concerns are a "conspiracy".

How would Prescott School Missoula respond to this blogger,  "MobyDick"?

The dangers of leasing a private school are many. A blog dedicated to Prescott School posts some of these dangers - the blog you are reading - Prescott School Missoula.

The only thing anyone needs to point out and that can be summarized in about one or two sentences - LOOK WHO NOW OWNS ROOSEVELT SCHOOL!!! AND THEN LOOK WHO IS ON THE BOARD AND ON THE PROPERTY STUDY COMMITTEE!! 

Enough said.

Prescott School News 2014 edition

Below is a copy of the latest "Prescott School News". Citizens are welcome and indeed encouraged to make copies and "spread the word" about what is going on with our wonderful Prescott School!

Prescott School News – 2014

Prescott School – Serving the Rattlesnake Valley since 1893 – We want our neighborhood school back!!

 Prescott School was built in the late 1893. The current Prescott School building was built in 1950-51 along with Jefferson and Washington Schools using a H.E. Kirkemo design. Tragically, in 2004, 4 of 7 MCPS Trustees voted to close Prescott along with Mt. Jumbo and Rattlesnake Middle Schools.  Only two months later Prescott was leased for 5 years to Missoula International School!  This procedure was fraught with corruption.   MCPS Trustee Naomi Kimbell voted for the closures (twice) and the lease.  She was hired only weeks later as Missoula International School’s executive director!  Another trustee, former Board Chair of MCPS - Toni Rehbein served as President and Vice President of Missoula International School and was elected shortly after to serve on the MCPS School Board.  In Rehbein’s first MCPS meeting (May 2004) she voiced support for the MIS/Prescott lease and has supported Missoula International School since then!  In 2004, trustees were warned that loses due to the lease could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars (Missoulian June 8, 2004).  In 2011, a math expert estimated that the district had lost $500,000 just in one year due to MIS enrollment increases (from 33 to 121 - and now at 161+!)and state funding formulas!  Over the years this lease has cost taxpayers millions of dollars! DISLOYAL SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIALS IGNORED THE WARNINGS AND APPROVED a 3 year lease extension in 2009 and another 5 YEAR extension in 2011 BRINGING THE LEASE EXPIRATION TO 2017!!  Update from 2012 Prescott School News – Unbelievably, instead of discussions to reopen Prescott, in the summer of 2012 a modular was built at Rattlesnake School at a cost of $250,000! MCPS ignored its own demographic report which predicted increases in enrollment! (Missoulian article 9-13-12). In the fall of 2013, the Missoulian reported that MCPS is sending elementary Rattlesnake students to Paxson – irresponsible when Prescott is so close! PRESCOTT SCHOOL WAS BUILT AND MAINTAINED FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS!  There are a myriad of possibilities for Prescott –  bring our 6^th, 7^th, and 8th graders back to the Valley, return Prescott to its K-8 configuration, etc!  We lost Lincoln School; let us also not lose Prescott School!!  Please write to the school district in support of reopening Prescott and against further leases or sale of Prescott School to Missoula International School (MIS). Request that Prescott be an ACTIVE member of the Property Studies Group and be included in any future MCPS plans Please write to the school district and let officials know your position of keeping Prescott School for public school students.  Prescott School is part of Missoula’s heritage!

 Contact the school district at: Missoula County Public Schools, 215 S. Sixth West, Misoula,MT 59801.Request that your letter be placed in an MCPS Board packet. For more information call Jeanne at 721-9027 and/or go to www.prescottschoolmissoula.blogspot.com.   Thank you!!