Problems with Missoula International School/ Prescott School Lease

Note:  This document was first worked on in 2009, however, the information contained herein is still relevant today.



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Problems with MIS/Prescott School Lease

                                             2004

There are serious problems with the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School; these problems began with the earliest discussions in school district meetings and have continued throughout the years of the lease.

Continuing to lease Prescott School to MIS is not in the public’s interest.

Problems with 2004 Lease

From June 2004 Minutes

- Trustees did not see the lease until the board packet was given to them, in other words it was not available to them at the Finance and Operations Committee Meeting.  (Trustee Carol Bellin)

 -The school district was not given an opt out clause, however the Missoula International School was given an opt-out clause under 6 and labeled as a,b, c, d. (Trustee Carol Bellin)  Bruce Moyer states in the minutes,

Bruce Moyer:  “OK, OK, Then in terms of the out-clauses, they are rather specific, they are also under 6 and labeled as a,b,c,d.  So I, but there is not a general out-clause for the district under (inaudible – go back and transcribe) for these specific clauses.  That was the sense that I had from the board in the Finance and Operations Committee Meeting.  Therefore, there is no general out-clause.  For example, if the board should decide that Prescott may be used for sole purposes of the district that would have to wait at the option of Missoula International School until after the 5^th year of the lease.”

     Trustee Bellin: “However throughout the committee meetings I also have had some concerns about it not being understandable to me about why we would allow the flexibility for the lessee and not provide the same flexibility for our district.”

- Trustees thought that if the extra space was needed, Mount Jumbo (Mount Jumbo School in East Missoula) would be available.(Trustee Jenda Hemphill)  Mount Jumbo is quite a distance from Rattlesnake School, therefore it made sense to have the option of the availability of Prescott School as noted in the minutes by Rattlesnake resident  Jeanne  Joscelyn:

               “And I heard Jenda say that we could use Mt. Jumbo for any increase in room that we might need, in case there is an increase in enrollment.  I would, if this closure goes through, I would just propose that Prescott stay open and use that school for that reason, because most of the people that are in this area, in this school area, do come from the Rattlesnake.  So Prescott would be much more convenient. “

- The decision was rushed to accommodate the needs of the Missoula International School.  A quote in the minutes from citizen Teresa Jacobs describes this rush -

“So one of the, I would agree with those who say let’s take more time with this.  I know that there’s been a desire to accommodate the requests of the director you know to have an answer from the school board before their school year ends on the 15^th or something similar to ours but I also would just say can’t we take more time and maybe make a counter proposal.”  And comments from the minutes by math professor, “Let us take the time to do an economic analysis and to look at alternatives that don’t compete with the public schools.”  And, “What’s the rush?”

 -The price for the 5 year lease was ridiculously low.  A math professor, David Patterson, later chairman of the math department at the UM, did the analysis for the price of the lease and found it irresponsible.  The price of the lease would not cover the loses that would accrue due to MCPS students enrolling in MIS due to new location at Prescott School.  Quotes from the minutes by David Patterson follow. 

“I strongly caution against rushing into an agreement to lease Prescott to the Missoula International School.  My concern is that the proposal will cost our public schools more in the long run than it gains, perhaps substantially more.  The proposed rent is so low that it amounts to a subsidy of a private school.  It would take the loss of only a small number of students to offset the revenue gained.  This proposal could in fact end up costing the district far more than it gains.”

 - And from citizen Kathy Pierandozzi,

“I’m not sure if you’re aware of it but homes in lower Rattlesnake for a two bedroom house and I’m not talking about a large home; I’m talking about a 800 square foot home, rent between $750.00 to $900.00 a month. So if we go ahead and rent Prescott School for $20,000 that’s about $1,600 a month.  I think that we could do better than that.  Nothing against the International School but I think that it’s an insult to the taxpayers after you just closed 3 schools that you would go ahead and rent this school for such an inexpensive cost.”   

Note -- psm will edit the typing for ease of reading at a later date and apologized for any confusion caused by the results of cutting and pasting a Word document to Blogger.