Letters
for Monday, June 9, 2008
Leasing undermines school
system
Prescott School is again in the cross hairs
of school officials.
Prescott's five-year lease to Missoula
International School, ratified in 2004, expires in 2009. An appraisal of
Prescott, not yet completed, was to also assist in determining a lease price if
the board decided to continue to lease rather than sell.
Therefore, it was surprising that a lease
extension was approved at a meeting last week, without a price, to be voted on
at the June 10 board meeting. About 400 people have signed a petition against a
sale and for a short-term lease of Prescott School. However, trustees have
proposed to lease until 2012.
The current lease valuation process was not
based on solid numbers and favored MIS with respect to term and price. Instead
of extending the lease now, school officials need to issue a new request for
proposal so as to procure the best price for the district.
I have nothing against private schools.
However, leasing to MIS has undermined the school system. Because of per-child
state funding we may have subsidized MIS $250,000 so far due to its growth and
low rent. Trustees may also be violating their oath of office, which insists on
loyalty to the district.
More troubling is if a trustee was a former
officer of MIS, as was Board Chairwoman Toni Rehbein, who held the positions of
president and vice president from 1998 to 2000. Rehbein abstained from voting
for the lease, although she did voice support for a lease to MIS before the
vote and extension or sale thereafter.
A responsible course of action is to offer a
one- or two-year lease (using a request for proposal) to a non-competing entity
until the district re-opens Prescott School for students or for other district
needs.
Jeanne Joscelyn, Missoula
