#4 - Naomi Kimbell: From Missoula County Public Schools Trustee to Executive Director of Missoula International School

                                           Part 4                  

16.  July 20, 2004 - Missoulian article written by Daryl Gadbow about the lease of Prescott School to the Missoula International School titled, “Private school leases Prescott. Missoula International plans to add fourth and fifth grades.”  The article was written one and one-half months after the lease was signed on June 9, 2004. 

Note #1:  Missoula International School was able to immediately expand to two more grade levels as a result of leasing Prescott School.  The increase in MIS enrollment is of significant importance to MCPS as these students are from the same school boundaries as MCPS - in other words - for every student that does not attend MCPS and attends MIS the school district loses thousands of dollars - approximately $4,000 to $5,000 per student.  As pointed out by a nearby resident of Prescott School, just the school itself is a selling point for MIS. 

17.  August 3, 2004 - Missoulian article written by Betsy Cohen titled, “MCPS trustee resigns; Kimbell says new job could cause conflict of interest.”  The article discusses Kimbell accepting a new job as executive director of Missoula International School and that Kimbell thought it was best to resign from the MCPS school board for conflict of interest reasons.  Key quotes from the article state, “While on the board Kimbell was part of the decision- making process to close Prescott and also to rent it to the Missoula International School.” and “Her resignation takes effect August 12^th, two days after the board finalizes the 2004-2005 budget at its August 10^th Meeting.”  Kimbell is also quoted as saying, “Given that Missoula International School is an independent school, sometimes their interests are different from public schools.  If I’m going to be a leader in public schools and in my new job, at some point both roles would come into conflict.  My interest is in being fair to both.”

Note # 1: This is the first article that broke the news about an astounding aspect of the Prescott School/Missoula International School lease.  Prior to this article, the general public was unaware about a relationship between Naomi Kimbell and Missoula International School. Only by going back to view Kimbell's comments throughout the process, one can see that Kimbell supported MIS all along in addition to her voting to close Prescott (twice) and to vote for the lease to Missoula International School.

Note # 2: Kimbell's statements are secondary to the real issue at hand. There is no statement in the article about the possibility or even the need for an investigation into a possible job for a vote scenario.

18.  August 10, 2004 - monthly MCPS School Board Meeting - Board accepts resignation of K-12 Trustee Naomi Kimbell and Declare Her Position on the Board Vacant - Kimbell receives glowing reports and thank yous from many board members who joined her in voting for the school closures and for the Prescott School-Missoula International School lease.  Kimbell also received flowers from the board and a hug from Superintendent Jim Clark.  Quotes from the minutes from pro-closure trustees include:  From Trustee Jenda Hemphill, “Your integrity and honesty and no doubt that you were putting the children first (wording of minutes). Most open-minded board member on this board.  You helped us in some rough places.”  And from Board Chairwoman, Rosemary Harrison,

“An ethical, wonderful person.”  

19.  September 8, 2004 - Missoulian article by Betsy Cohen titled “MCPS board to select replacement trustee”.  The article states, “Trustees will meet to discuss and review the five candidates who wish to fill out the term of Naomi Kimbell, who resigned in August, citing potential conflicts between her new job as director of a Missoula private school and her trustee position.”   The article lists the 5 citizens; Thomas Orr, Eric Waeckerlin, Marlene Hutchins, Loren Meyer, and Heidi Davis.

20.  September 9, 2004 - MCPS Special Board Meeting - Thomas Orr was voted by the board to fill the vacant seat left by Kimbell’s resignation. The board packet included a variety of letters from the applicants, a resume, responses from the applicants to a series of questions adopted by the board, and five letters of endorsement for applicant Marlene Hutchins.

21.  September 10, 2004 - Missoulian article by Vince Devlin – “Attorney appointed despite opposition to pop contract.”  The article states, “Orr – who called the sweetener used in soda pop “a poison” – was chosen from 5 applicants to fill out the term of Naomi Kimbell.  Kimbell resigned in August after being named director of a private school in Missoula.”  The article also states, “Trustee Scott Bixler delivered a ringing endorsement for Waeckerlin, his nephew by marriage, then recused himself from voting.”  Thomas Orr was sworn in at the September 2004 Board meeting.