Click on the link below to read an article by Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen in the November 3rd edition reporting on the overcrowding of Missoula County Public Schools such as Rattlesnake School, just up the road from Prescott School.
The school district has been disloyal and negligent in actions taken which affect our Rattlesnake Valley students.
They have closed and sold Lincoln School (1986?) so that it is not available for handling the overflow from Rattlesnake School.
MCPS Trustees then closed Prescott School (2004) and subsequently leased it (also 2004) to a private school Missoula International School.
Citizens, including a math professor at the University of Montana, have figured that the losses to the district have been in the hundreds of thousands and now after 9 years of the Prescott School/MIS lease the loses must be in the millions of dollars.
This is all due to the state funding formula which attaches approximately $5,000 to each student.
So when a student decides to attend a private school the district loses that $5,000. It is significant when a Missoula student decides to home school or attend a private school. It is even more significant and downright disloyal on the part of MCPS trustees and administrators when the student ATTENDS A PRIVATE SCHOOL WHICH IS HOUSED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL which is the case of Missoula International School School students at Prescott School.
Another example of disloyalty by MCPS Trustees is the sale of Roosevelt School to St. Joseph's School in 2005. The enrollment of St. Joseph's School grew almost every year since the lease was approved around 1998 (not exactly sure of the year) and especially after the sale in 2005.
Families will surely take into consideration the school facility when deciding on a school including a private school and perhaps more so if a school is private. In each of the cases mentioned the public school was a HUGE UPGRADE IN THE PRIVATE SCHOOL'S PREVIOUS FACILITY/FACILITIES!!
The above cannot be overemphasized. The reason why these private schools pursue the public facility is to improve their school so as to attract additional students (which by the way come from the pool of children which attend MCPS).
Prescott School Missoula went before the Board for most every discussion of the leasing of Prescott School and before that for every attempt at closure. Along with others, psm mentioned the upcoming enrollment increase, that of the echo echo boom children (the grandchildren of the baby boomers).
This future increase of students throughout the district was substantiated by work done by Dr. Larry Swanson and others. Dr. Swanson had contributed many hours free of charge to the district before 2004 and in 2009 he was contracted to do a comprehensive study for the distinct. (See tab above on this blog).
All of the free and professional work by Dr. Swanson was brushed aside, at the peril of MCPS children and Missoula taxpayers, by the Trustees at this time.
The Trustees whom voted for the 2004 north side closures were: Chairwoman Rosemary Harrison, Trustees Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell, and David Merrill.
The Trustees whom voted for the 2004 north side closures in the second vote brought on by an open meeting lawsuit against the district by Molly Moody and Allan Oines, were: Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell (who later became MIS's executive director - see multiple posts of this blog!), Toni Rehbein, Scott Bixler, and Joe Toth. Trustee Carol Bellin was the lone dissenter.
The Trustees whom voted for the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School are: Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, Naomi Kimbell, Joe Toth, and Scott Bixler. Toni Rehbein recused herself from the vote (See multiple posts on the connections Toni Rehbein has with MIS), and Carol Bellin voted against the lease.
Trustees whom voted for the lease extension in 2009: Scott Bixler, Joe Toth, Joseph Knapp, and others (psm needs to look into the documents for information on other votes).
Trustees whom voted for the Prescott School/MIS lease in 2011: Scott Bixler, Shelly Wills, Joseph Knapp, and Michael Smith.
psm will correct the voting information if any is found to be incorrect and or incomplete.
All of these MCPS Trustees have shown disloyalty to the district by assisting a private school - when their loyalties are by law supposed to be ONLY to MCPS.
The picture for this article shows a modular at Rattlesnake School.
The article states that for the first time Rattlesnake students are being sent to Paxson.
MIS has received sweat heart leases for 9 years (see blog tab titled "MIS sweartheart lease"
MIS has been negligent in the care of the playground and perhaps other areas of the school.(See You Tube video)
MCPS has done maintenance on Prescott School at the district's expense, going against the lease agreement which stipulates that MIS is responsible for repair and maintenance. (See You Tube video)
psm is quite sure based on past experience that there have been other favors to MIS form the MCPS school district.
Going forward - MCPS needs to let MIS know that the lease will be terminated at the end of this school year(there is surprisingly an opt out clause in the lease - which has not been included for MCPS in past leases).
THEN MCPS NEEDS TO REOPEN PRESCOTT SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN.
How much more proof is there that WE NEED PRESCOTT SCHOOL!!
Booming student population pushes need for MCPS long-range facilities plan
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