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
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