This post highlights an email written on June 17, 2024, to MCPS maintenance director, Burley McWilliams and the Superintendent regarding the maintenance of Prescott School mainly on the outside of the building. Our family had been working on the landscaping for about a year at this point. In this letter we are asking for information on the sprinkler system on the playground.
The previous renters, Missoula International School, did not take care of the premises, both inside and out.
Poor maintenance is the key problem at this time and has always been since 2004, the year that Prescott School was first leased to MIS, but especially now as the district is not seeing the value of Prescott School as an assset to the district, which does not make sense for many reasons.
Thank you for reading this email which was sent to:
Burley McWilliams, Micah Hill, and public comment,
Hello Burley!
Thank you very much for arranging the painting at Prescott School! The south side of the school looks so much better! The peeling paint was quite a blight. One neighbor told me that she was very happy about the upgrade and I’m sure there are many more happy neighbors!
We also appreciated the painting over of the graffiti on the north side of the building!
With the better weather our family has been working on the front of the grounds with mowing, weed eating, and planting flowers in the planter box. Additionally, a volunteer has been doing great work weed eating the area by the swings and the bushes around the play area. She has been a big help. And I think others will join her as the summer progresses.
We also are glad that the district mowed the playground about a week ago (maybe this was Brandon who I met last summer who was such a help picking up the lawn bags!). With all the rain and the mowing, the area is looking better than it has for a long time!
We were wondering if you had some ideas on what could be next for the summer maintenance or perhaps even some inside maintenance.
We understand that you are short on help, however, there are things that need to be done that may not be too expensive.
One idea we and some neighbors had was to continue working on the area where a sprinkler system was installed last summer. Is the contractor responsible for the sprinkler installation finished with his end of the project? Or maybe the district employees were doing this project? The filling of the trenches and the leveling of the soil need to be done as people could be hurt walking and running on the grounds, perhaps twisting an ankle, etc. With the sprinkler system completed children could safely play sports and other activities on the field. We would be happy to help with this work, along with others, I’m sure.
With the weather cooperating (hopefully!) I think there will be more volunteer help.
Is there any way we can get access to the outside front faucet for watering the flowers that we planted. Last year we hauled water, however, using a faucet would be a lot easier. We would really like a faucet turnkey handle and would use it responsibly. Perhaps Brandon could help us with this?
Also, we recently purchased a power washer for use on our property. And we would really like to use it to clean off the asphalt around the Prescott School building. We could also use the pressure washer to spray off the bricks on the bottom of the building walls which have mold growing on them. We will need access, i.e. a turnkey handle, to a faucet for these chores, also.
With our, other citizens, and your ideas we could get Prescott School back to the well-maintained school it once was prior to the lease to a private school, which, unfortunately, did not take good care of the building or grounds. And then hopefully discussions of reopening the school can take place😊.
Thank you again for your help!
Jeanne Joscelyn, 1335 Clarkia, Missoula, MT 59802 jeannejoscelyn@hotmail.com 406-303-0703 cell
Hello Burley!
Thank you very much for arranging the painting at Prescott School! The south side of the school looks so much better! The peeling paint was quite a blight. One neighbor told me that she was very happy about the upgrade and I’m sure there are many more happy neighbors!
We also appreciated the painting over of the graffiti on the north side of the building!
With the better weather our family has been working on the front of the grounds with mowing, weed eating, and planting flowers in the planter box. Additionally, a volunteer has been doing great work weed eating the area by the swings and the bushes around the play area. She has been a big help. And I think others will join her as the summer progresses.
We also are glad that the district mowed the playground about a week ago (maybe this was Brandon who I met last summer who was such a help picking up the lawn bags!). With all the rain and the mowing, the area is looking better than it has for a long time!
We were wondering if you had some ideas on what could be next for the summer maintenance or perhaps even some inside maintenance.
We understand that you are short on help, however, there are things that need to be done that may not be too expensive.
One idea we and some neighbors had was to continue working on the area where a sprinkler system was installed last summer. Is the contractor responsible for the sprinkler installation finished with his end of the project? Or maybe the district employees were doing this project? The filling of the trenches and the leveling of the soil need to be done as people could be hurt walking and running on the grounds, perhaps twisting an ankle, etc. With the sprinkler system completed children could safely play sports and other activities on the field. We would be happy to help with this work, along with others, I’m sure.
With the weather cooperating (hopefully!) I think there will be more volunteer help.
Is there any way we can get access to the outside front faucet for watering the flowers that we planted. Last year we hauled water, however, using a faucet would be a lot easier. We would really like a faucet turnkey handle and would use it responsibly. Perhaps Brandon could help us with this?
Also, we recently purchased a power washer for use on our property. And we would really like to use it to clean off the asphalt around the Prescott School building. We could also use the pressure washer to spray off the bricks on the bottom of the building walls which have mold growing on them. We will need access, i.e. a turnkey handle, to a faucet for these chores, also.
With our, other citizens, and your ideas we could get Prescott School back to the well-maintained school it once was prior to the lease to a private school, which, unfortunately, did not take good care of the building or grounds. And then hopefully discussions of reopening the school can take place😊.
Thank you again for your help!
Jeanne Joscelyn, 1335 Clarkia, Missoula, MT 59802 jeannejoscelyn@hotmail.com 406-303-0703 cell
