Prescott School gym has been neglected

These pictures were taken during a Walk Through at Prescott School on September 18, 2025. One can see the damage in these photos and can get an even better view of the damage on the video. This damage is unacceptable for our Prescott School and for any school in this district. 

 https://youtube.com/shorts/ZOQRpUA8UXc?is=O0glzxFe5ky_s4fT 

Click on the link above to watch a YOUTUBE video showing the neglect of the gym floor and perhaps the roof.

Former Prescott School student shares wonderful memories of Prescott in the late 1990's/early 2000's

 

Below is an email sent to the MCPS school district sent to the Facebook page, "Save Prescott School. It is a must read! Such wonderful memories about the Carnival and the poetry class with Sheryl Noethe, etc. Katie Gregory feels the same way many of us do  - we must save Prescott School!

TO: MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OFFICIALS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES

FROM: Jeanne Joscelyn, Prescott School Missoula advocate

RE: Comment in praise of Prescott School with a picture from a former student, Katie Gregory

 DATE: June 30, 2026

 Dear Missoula County Public Schools officials and Trustees,

 Please read this great post on the Facebook page of “Save Prescott School”.

 The sentiments below expressed by Katie Gregory are typical of most students that attended Prescott School throughout the 135 years of the school. Prescott School has been one of most popular schools if not the most popular school (and some students’ favorite school), within the MCPS school district. (This is before the Missoula International School inappropriately leased the school for about 20 years.) Many people would like Prescott School to be reopened as a school for public school children as was intended when it was built.

 Thank you!

 Below is the post -

(I had permission from Katie to share this with the district.)

 Katie Gregory

Prescott Elementary is a huge part of my family's history. My mother went here, my siblings went here, and I was lucky enough to walk those same halls. Even though it was only 4th and 5th grade, I have so many fond memories of this school.

I loved the awesome hallway library, playing tetherball, and trading Pokémon cards on the playground. In the winter, we spent all our time racing down the epic sledding hill. It breaks my heart to hear that the building is sitting vacant today.

Does anyone else remember the annual Carnival Night? It was the absolute best! Getting to whip-cream someone in the face, doing musical chairs to win a cake, and running from classmates so you wouldn’t get thrown into the carnival "jail." Those nights, along with the outdoor challenges to win ribbons, are things I will never forget.

And who could forget the legendary 5th-grade all-night sleepover before we moved up to Rattlesnake Middle School? They would lay the gym mats all over the floor for us, and the school band would literally play all night long while we stayed up!

I wanted to share this photo from around 1999/2000 to remind everyone of the magic that happened inside those classrooms. This was taken during a poetry workshop with the amazing Sheryl Noethe (pictured in the back left with glasses), who taught us language through poetry and sign language! On this day, she brought in a guest musician to jam on the guitar and inspire our writing.

 

 

Prescott School Missoula Advocates - Principal Ideas for Prescott School Missoula Advocates

 

Prescott School Missoula Advocates 

Principal Ideas for Prescott School Missoula Advocates

**The main purpose of Prescott School Missoula Advocates (PSMA) is to encourage and work toward the re-opening of Prescott School in Missoula, a public-school serving Missoula since 1892.

**PSMA strongly discourages the use of this school or any of the other Missoula schools for housing or any other purposes. Our schools were paid for and built for the public-school children of Missoula.

**Maintenance of Prescott School has been neglected. Due to the lack of maintenance of Prescott School for approximately 20 years, PSMA is advocating for the past negligence to be corrected, bringing Prescott School to 2004 levels or even better. (The private school which was leasing Prescott School for many years was in breach of contract in maintenance of the school and grounds.)

**Keeping Prescott School in good condition, both inside and outside, is important. A school which is well maintained can re-open more quickly. PSMA is against planned obsolescence.

**We encourage the district to keep the historical nature of the building intact. Keeping the original design without renovation would be optimal. Basic maintenance is important, leaving the charm of the original classrooms intact.

**Prescott School could be open to both public-school students from the Rattlesnake and public-school students from other over-crowded schools – a practice that was implemented by MCPS in the past.

**The grades to be housed in Prescott School do not need to be decided before the basic maintenance is completed – many grades have been housed in Prescott throughout the years.

**Re-opening the lower level of the school can be done first.  Gradually add upper-level classrooms when ready to be used. Housing some students that are currently being bused (which is many!) out of the Rattlesnake would be optimal. A smaller school offers a better education. (“Dollars & Sense, The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools”, 2002)

**Some maintenance can be done at a slower pace than others and could be done after the opening of the school.

**PSMA encourages using a positive approach on areas that are more costly such as heating systems and roof issues, in contrast to a negative approach which disincentivizes looking at a myriad of possibilities. There are sure to be more efficient alternatives to the higher cost items or fixing rather than replacing.  Additionally, there could be grants, either state, local, or federal.

**PSMA believes that volunteers could be an integral part of the maintenance needs of our schools as time and ability permits. One area could be grounds maintenance.  Other maintenance needs (both inside and outside) could be approved and overseen by the district.

**PSMA would like to keep tabs on enrollment trends.

**PSMA would like to collect old classroom pictures to be displayed in the school, on a web page, and perhaps on social media.                                                                                    Continued page 2 ------------à

**PSMA reminds the district and others that Prescott School was and is still a much-beloved school, so dear to many students, teachers, families, and the neighbor’s hearts.

 **Prescott School has been an important public school since 1892; Its history is important to the Rattlesnake area and to the entire city of Missoula and needs to continue into the current century!

** Prescott School Missoula Advocates would like to get on the same page with other entities/groups/neighborhood councils, that pertain to the future of Prescott School. PSMA’s reason for existing is advocating for the reopening of Prescott School. Again, PSMA is against using Prescott School for housing or other ideas.

** Thank you for supporting one of Missoula’s greatest assets – Prescott School! **Thank you to all the proponents of neighborhood schools!

Please contact the Missoula school district and let them know that we must keep Prescott School as a school, as it has been for more than a century (outside of the 20-year inappropriate private school lease)! We must not let a private school determine the fate of yet another public school (St. Joseph’s at Roosevelt School)! We need Prescott School for many reasons (many students are bused to other schools).  Maintaining our existing assets is a wiser use of our limited financial resources instead of building another school. Other neighborhood schools need reopening as well. Rattlesnake taxpayers are sending millions to MCPS.  A complete look at the spending will reveal where cuts can be made. Thank you!

Email addresses: micahhill@mcps.mt.us (Superintendent), publiccomment@mcps.mt.us (Board of Trustees, Missoula County Public Schools)  and mailing address:

Missoula County Public Schools, 990 South Ave. W.  Building A, Missoula, MT 59801 Attn: Superintendent Hill and Board of Trustees, Missoula County Public Schools

 

Contact info for Prescott School Missoula Advocates – text 406-303-0703

**For past Prescott School information see – prescottschoolmissoula.blogspot.com and for      more recent information see – Saveprescottschool on Facebook.

This draft was written in July of 2025 by Jeanne Joscelyn, Prescott School Missoula Advocate.

Main points from June 26, 2008 Missoula Independent article on lease extension of Prescott School to Missoula International School

The following statements are from a Missoula Independent article written in June (June 26, 2008) by Patrick Klemz during the lease renewal discussions of Prescott School by the private spanish emersion school, Missoula International School.

   June 26, 2008News» Features

   Getting schooled

     The renewal of an MCPS building lease angers residents

        by Patrick Klem

• "Jeanne Joscelyn wants to keep abandoned neighborhood school buildings like the Rattlesnake’s Prescott Middle School available for future MCPS use."(This was the caption for the picture of Jeanne on the Prescott School grounds.)

Here is how the article starts - 

'Jeanne Joscelyn and Ross Best are like conversational pad thai.' 

The article goes on to say - 

The pair’s message, however, is one in the same. Joscelyn and Best serve as the mouthpiece for what’s informally known as “the Opposition,” a group of Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) district residents highly critical of the board of trustees for its practice of leasing closed school buildings to private competition. The Opposition’s latest battles focus on Prescott, a Rattlesnake neighborhood middle school closed in 2004 and leased out to the Missoula International School that same year for less than $1 per square foot.' 

"One year remains on the International School’s five-year lease, but the MCPS board is already talking renewal. The topic first came up during a June 10 public meeting of the trustees, but a lack of quorum prevented the vote. With MCPS still working on a building appraisal, Opponents complain that trying to rush ahead a lease renegotiation now would be irresponsible,"

“You are trustees—entrusted with public school buildings. Your behavior has not been worthy of trust,” Best railed at the last board meeting. “It has, in fact, been disgraceful and this is shaping up to be one more disgraceful action.”

Joscelyn and Best suspect interested parties wanted to get the deal sewn up before the July retirement of Superintendent Jim Clark, a proponent of dispensing schools deemed as excess. But the superintendent says the June 10 agenda item intended to conditionally approve the lease and then let MCPS iron out details later in the year when the appraisal is finished. 

The Opposition came together during the similar Roosevelt School controversy, in which MCPS came under fire for the 2005 sale of another closed school to a Catholic education foundation after it had passed on a separate and higher offer.

Trying to avoid a similar result, Opponents began tracking the paperwork on Prescott back before its board-ordered closure.

The Opponents are concerned that selling schools like Prescott leaves the district standing short should it one day need more classroom space. The idea of public support for the privatization of local education also doesn’t sit well with many residents. UM mathematician David Patterson, a critic of the 2004 Prescott deal, points out that cheap leases don’t make fiscal sense when one takes into account the amount districts lose when students defect to private schools.

“There’s no rocket science here,” Patterson says.            “Doing nice things for private schools

is not a part of the public interest.”

District records show the current contract on Prescott costs the International School about half as much per square foot as Walla Walla University’s lease of the nearby Mount Jumbo School.

“We recognize the current base price is low based on the market value,” says Missoula International School trustee Matt Lunder. “The problem with their argument is that it assumes if the board voted to not extend our lease that the Missoula International School would say ‘Shucks, lets just send all of our kids to public school.’ We would just go somewhere else.” (blogger's note- Matt Lunder lived on Van Buren, just a couple of blocks from Prescott School. The enrolling of neighborhood children was a concern of some responsible MCPS Trustees during the 2004 lease discussions.)

Yet, Opposition members’ beef goes deeper still. They allege MCPS’s long-standing trend of favorable treatment toward the private school is a direct result of special interest engineering—something Best calls “rigged transactions.”

Joscelyn points to one person in particular: former International School board president and current MCPS chair Toni Rehbein. Though Rehbein recused herself from both the 2004 lease vote and the June 10 renewal item, she advocated extending the International School a new lease at various meetings and once queried publicly whether the lessee would go for purchasing Prescott outright.

The Opposition argues the ethical problems speak for themselves, though the situation does not technically constitute a violation of office. According to county attorneys, only official action can be cited as a conflict of interest under Montana code.

“When I was involved in the Missoula International School, my daughter was

in preschool,” Rehbein says. “I don’t have any personal interest in it at all.” (psm blogger - See MIS documents on lead blog post at beginning of blog to see the disingenuousness of this statement)

'One International School report from 2000 shows Rehein’s name circled numerous times and tagged with the commentary, “To whom is Toni Rehbein loyal?”

“The facts don’t support that. It’s not character assassination—we have documents,” Joscelyn responds. “This is just the truth.”

Where are the people who closed Prescott School and then leased it to the private Missoula International School?

Where are the people who were responsible for closing our most treasured Prescott School?
Remember - the people, the Missoula County Public Schools Trustees, are by name:

Board Chairwoman - Rosemary Harrison
Trustee Jenda Hemphill(aka Jenda Cummings) later Board Chairwoman
Trustee Toni Rehbein (aka Toni Smartt) and later Board Chairwoman
Trustee Scott Bixler
Trustee Joe Toth

The above Trustees voted in the July, 2004 MCPS Board Meeting. This meeting was the SECOND vote on the Prescott School closure issue.

The Missoula County Public Schools Trustees who voted on March 24, the first vote, to close the school were)(only a 48 day process!)

Rosemary Harrison (see above)
Jenda Hemphill (see above)
Naomi Kimbell (aka Naomi DeMarinis)
and
David Merrill

Trustees who did not vote for the closure were: Suzette Dussault, Colleen Rogers, and Carol Bellin.

As one can see only four MCPS Trustees can radically transform  a neighborhood, a school district, and the city as a whole. It is quite apparent that there needs to be a tweaking of the process of school closures and also for school sales.

To get back to the topic on where the Trustees who voted for the closure of Prescott School are today -

Without too much research I believe that most of the people listed are still in Missoula. Rosemary Harrison is now a realtor, Scott Bixler was and still is I believe, working for the Forest Service, Joe Toth was and still is, I believe, working as a fireman. Jenda Hemphill, I have heard, unfortunately, has a disease, which I won't mention here. Naomi Kimbell, I believe is writing like her father did before her. And, I will have to see if I can find out where David Merrill works. Later: In 2006, PSM received, perhaps from Merrill himself a sticker with the following wording, "Global Warming Solution.org and in smaller letters, "be a part of it". Other than this connection I do not know David Merrill's work history.

Montana State Tax document shows that former MCPS Trustee (and Board Chair) Toni Rehbein was the president of Missoula International School  - Also shows Martha Newell as vice president

The point is that all of these people are now leading their own lives away from their past school board duties and none are taking responsibility for the troubles which they have caused. None are being held accountable for our crowded schools, for the busing of half of our school children due to the school closures for which they voted, for all the increased infrastructure building, etc. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to be cautious and NOT to have closed the schools, not to have sold a school, and not to have leased a school to a private school? Yes, but politics got in the way.

And politics is still in the way - One of the above Trustees was voted out of office, and soon after helped to start the Missoula Education Foundation. This foundation works closely with the school district. All the better to be close to MCPS business, including being part of the bond committee) and to manipulate outcomes of decision making. This Trustee also has children and grandchildren - so is his/her hands in school business affecting her grandchildren. Do they attend a school with the International Baccalaureate program is instituted by MCPS for example? PSM saw Harrison at the opening of the IB program at Lewis an Clark School. She was hugging a young man who could have been her son. Again, was her grandchild a student at Lewis and Clark School? Was the IB program pushed by Harrison with the idea that her grandchild could attend this school?

All things to consider so that lessons can be learned for future decisions.

edited on April 25, 2026 additions in blue 

Pain Regarding Our Beloved Prescott School - A Note from the Heart

This post is different from most of the posts by Prescott
School Missoula. 

In the eight years since the closure of three schools in 2004 and the leasing of Prescott School to Missoula International School there have been so many decisions by Missoula County Public Schools Trustees that have not been in the best interests of Prescott School.

At times it seems to be almost tortuous to witness the tragic misuse of Prescott School by MCPand MIS.

The latest painful experience occurred yesterday when psm realized that the school district approved remodeling of Prescott School by Missoula International School and the playground.

Only ONE person in the district approved these changes. THERE WAS NO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. THERE WAS NO MCPS TRUSTEE DISCUSSION. THERE WAS NO OTHER  MCPS ADMINISTRATION INVOLVEMENT. 

SCOTT REED, THE DIRECTOR OF MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS GAVE MIS PERMISSION THE GO AHEAD WITH THEIR PLANS TO MAKE RADICAL CHANGES TO OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL!

The pain continues as I watch my favorite school being used to give as a gift by disloyal MCPS Trustees to their friends in Missoula International School.  Every decision favoring MIS is like a stab in the back.  Decisions are usually made behind the back's of the public and are never in the best interest's of the public school children. The remodeling decisions are only to benefit Missoula International School.

IT IS PAINFUL TO SEE PRESCOTT SO ABUSED BY MCPS TRUSTEES!

A lease of a public school is not supposed to be a permanent arrangement. A lease is normally put in place so that the school earns money from a tenant temporarily using the building UNTIL the school district needs it again. 

Therefore, changes need to be very minor to none at all so that MCPS students can easily attend a leased school the following school year. 

Prescott School could be used by students in other areas of Missoula. As an example of this type of flexibility within the district in the past is when 4th graders from Lewis and Clark were bused in the '60's to Lincoln School. Lincoln School had been leased to the Forest Service the year prior to it's use by the school district. (Prescott School Missoula found this information in a history booklet of Rattlesnake Schools published by the Rattlesnake PTA in the 1980's and hopes to share with readers as soon as time permits). 

The above example of how a lease of a public school is supposed to work - always in the best interests of the district. This was a beneficial arrangement for the entire district and it's students; this writer knows the joy the Lewis and Clark students experienced at Lincoln School as she was one of these students. 

Leases of MCPS schools need to be on a short term basis, for instance only a year or at the most two years so that MCPS can step into the space when it is needed as discussed in the previous paragraph.

MCPS has not understood the purpose of a lease for many of its properties.  This could be a whole separate blog post in the future!

Thank you for bearing with psm as I share my emotions with the readers on this blog post.

Such blatant disrespect by MCPS Board members toward Prescott School and other schools as well is so depressing and gut wrenching at times - psm is grateful for this blog as an outlet to express feelings.

New Child Start Inc. director wants Missoula children's mural art covered up

Citizens want mural at Whittier School to remain
Click the link above to read about the mural at Whittier School.

Prescott School Missoula is featuring this article as it illustrates the value which Missoulians place on their public schools, many which have housed our citizens for generations, such as Prescott and Whittier. As one will read, citizens were not happy with the lessee's plan to change the interior mural artwork which was created by students in the '70's.

In November of 2011, Scott Reed,the district's maintenance and operations Director, gave permission to  Missoula International School to make several renovations to Prescott School and the playground without any Board or public participaton. So one administrator has all the control regarding such issues? This is not the manner in which a public entity is supposed to do business. Something is not right at MCPS.

The attachment to keeping traditions which are inherent to a school building, in this case Whittier School,  can also be transferred to Prescott School. Both Prescott and Whittier are leased to other entities.  Just as citizens were upset with the thought of losing the mural, so to are citizens when the interior of the Prescott building is being re-constructed to suit the needs of the private school leasing it, Missoula International School.

Did the Head Start director have permission from Scott Reed to paint over the mural?  Did Scott Reed know about the plan to "whitewash" the mural?  psm wonders if School Reed had a role to play in this isue.

Something needs to be done about the transparency with which changes are taking place within our schools - the public has a right to know and participate in discussions about any proposed changes  to our school buildings, whether the schools are leased or not, before decisions are made final.

Some quotes from the above article follow: 

"The wizard of Whittier is getting whitewashed."
and -

"For more than 30 years, the giant purple magic-maker has stood sentry over the basketball court at the old Whittier School on Missoula's North Side."
and -

"The wizard, along with a few American Indians, a trapeze artist, a centaur with a devil's face, a human-saddled dinosaur and a giant snake were painted by the students at the school when it was filled with Missoula County Public Schools students in the late 1970s."
and -

"On Monday, those creatures and humans are getting a makeover.
Actually, it's a paint-over, and more than a few people are taking great exception to the decision by the director of the Head Start program - run as Child Start Inc. - to erase the second-floor murals, which run along the length of each side of the court."
and -

"The school's nighttime custodian even refused to do the job himself."
and -

"It's not like it's 100 years old or anything, but I don't think we should just cover up something semi-historic," said Spencer Bryant, who likes the murals."
and -

"There are numerous things on the mural that are inappropriate for 3- and 4-year-olds," said Skelton, who was hired to run the Head Start program last summer. Skelton left a similar position in Racine, Wis."
and -

"Wow, that is sad," said Jen Harrington, a Whittier student in the 1970s who worked on the project with her classmates more than 30 years ago. "That's a sad thing to hear."
and -

"It was around 1978 or 1979 - Harrington can't quite remember - that she and her Whittier classmates began painting the mural, a project involving the entire school back in the day when it was filled with first- through eighth-graders."
and -

"I still enjoy it," said Harrington, who now lives in Clinton. "It brings back memories."
and -

"Harrington said many of her classmates who still live in Missoula - including some on the North Side - will be irked when they find out about Skelton's plan."
and -

"The Head Start program has been run out of the building for 20 years. The building is still owned by the MCPS district, but leased.
Bryant will continue to clean the school, even though he considers the paint-over an injustice."
and -

"We just seem to live in a culture that likes to get rid of something old to replace it with something new," he said."

Rattlesnake Historic District and Prescott School

Prescott School is described in Missoula's Historic District Information

Click on the link above to read information on the lower Rattlesnake Historic District which includes information on Prescott School.

Prescott School, the current building built in 1950, is one of Missoula's oldest schools, if not the oldest.  Another school, the old Roosevelt School, now the administration building on 6th Street is also quite old, however, psm still believes Prescott School is older.
More research needs to be done on this topic. 

Later:  It appears that Whittier School is older than Prescott.  psm believes the Whittier School of today is the second Whittier.  psm is of the understanding that Whittier, the old Paxson, and Willard are the same design, thus triplets. Another set of  triplets is Prescott, Washington, and Jefferson.

One fact is clear - Prescott School is an important part of our Missoula heritage and needs to continue in it's traditional use as a public school.

One of Missoula's BIGGEST scandals with one of Missoula's SMALLEST SCHOOLS

The Missoula International School/Prescott School lease (since 2004) could very well be labeled-  

"One of Missoula's BIGGEST scandals with one of Missoula's SMALLEST schools". 

If one reads many of the posts on this little blog,
Prescott School Missoula, you will see why the above moniker fits perfectly what is going on at-  

Prescott School, a public school - for public school children - for over a century!

The 2004 school closures were devastating for students, teachers, and families

In 2004, at 1:00 in the morning of March 25, the Missoula County Public Schools School Board voted to close 3 schools in the northeast corner of our city. The schools were Mount Jumbo in East Missoula, Rattlesnake Middle School, and Prescott School in the Rattlesnake Valley. 

Our hearts were broken into a million pieces. There is nothing like a school closure, especially multiple school closures, to wreak havoc among a city and a school system.  There is nothing like a school closure to cause deep grief among students and their families. At these times, tears and more tears are the answer to help deal with the tragedy. Time may lessen the pain felt by a school closure, however, for many it will never completely go away.

During the school year, after their homes, students spend most of their lives in a school building. Every school has it's problems, some bigger than others, however, students are for the most part attached to their schools and show allegiance to them, and develop close knit relationships.  Additionally, school spirit can be wonderful experience for children.

The students have forged bonds with teachers and the other students. Some of these bonds are tighter than others, nevertheless they are bonds. The friendships have been cultivated over months and years.  These bonds are also nurtured as many children live in the neighborhood and attend a neighborhood school. Teachers have come to know many of their students and care for them.  Teachers may have taught some of their student's siblings and in rare cases. their mothers or fathers.  This is how is should be, close and caring relationships nurture learning and add to a good education. 

To end the relationships between students, the school building, the teachers, and the entire staff of a school requires rigorous and thoughtful study in addition to caution. This was not done in the morning of March 25, 2004 at 1:00 in the morning. 

Many Missoula County Public School students and their families as well as several teachers are still suffering the consequences of the tragic decision of four Trustees. Rosemary Harrison, Chairwoman of the Board, Jenda Hemphill, David Merrill, and Naomi Kimbell. Other Trustees who voted to close the 3 schools when there was a second closure vote due to violations of open meetings laws were: Toni Rehbein, Scott Bixler, and Joe Toth.

#6 - Naomi Kimbell: From Missoula County Public Schools Trustee to Executive Director of Missoula International School - Part 6 - Addedum

                           Part 6 - Addendum

Addendum:  Kimbell Leaves Missoula International School

1.  April 5, 2006 - Missoulian article titled, “Poverello Center names new director” - The article reports that former Naomi Kimbell was named the new executive director of Missoula’s Poverello Center.  It also states that Kimbell had been working as director of development when she took over as acting executive director and then was chosen for the permanent position. 

2.  October 7, 2006 - Missoulian article titled, “Board praises director as she leaves the post”, subtitled, “Kimbell to work on memoirs” – The article states, “The executive director of the Poverello Center will leave the job in December to go back to school.  Naomi Kimbell, who took the job on an acting basis last fall, will now turn her focus to creative writing…”   The article also states, “Kimbell is the daughter of respected novelist and short-story writer Rick DeMarinis and grew up on Wylie Avenue

with neighbors Richard Hugo and Jim Welch.” 


3.  November 26, 2006 - The Missoulian also ran an article covering the news of Naomi’s replacement for the executive director of the Poverello Center, reported by Tyler Christensen on.  The opening paragraph states, “For a relative newcomer to Missoula, Ellie Boldman Hill has already become a familiar and seemingly ubiquitous presence in the local volunteer community.”  The article continues, “Now that she’s been named executive director of the Poverello Center, she hopes to make clear her steadfast commitment to both the community and to a nonprofit that’s struggled to find a long-term leader.  Hill will replace departing director Naomi Kimbell, who resigned to pursue a writing career, starting with a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Montana.  Kimbell led the nonprofit for a little over a year following the October 2005 departure of Joe Bischof, who ran the Poverello for three years.”

*Note:   The April 5^th article reports that Kimbell spent much of her career at the YWCA.  One wonders why it skips over the fact that she served as a trustee on the MCPS school board and that she was subsequently hired as the executive director of the Missoula International School. 

*Note # 2:  The October article states that Kimbell grew up in the Rattlesnake Valley, but later chose to close two schools in the area, showing no loyalty to the neighborhood in which she grew up.

$209,000 Modular indicates district needs Prescott School - Open Prescott for $116,000 or less per year

Can there be any doubt that MCPS needs Prescott School?  And that the lease of Prescott to Missoula International School is costing the district even more money than the loss already projected by citizens? (The district continues to deny reality and say that this lease is a revenue producer.)

The recent building of a modular at Rattlesnake School is the icing on the cake when it comes to evidence that Prescott School is needed for our public school students.  Of course, many citizens already knew that Prescott was needed, however, now the Trustees and administrators were finally faced with having to do something at Rattlesnake School to deal with the overcrowding due to increased enrollment.

In the packet of the Finance and Operations Committee Meeting of March 21, 2012, one can read that the school district estimated that modulars at Rattlesnake School and  Lowell School would cost $120,000 and $180,000 each. "The estimated cost is $120,000 -$180,000 each."

Remember, that a math professor sent an email to the school district last July (2011) in which he estimated the loss of funds to the school district in just one year by leasing Prescott School to the Missoula International School was $500,000.  To open Prescott School would cost the district approximately a fifth of the estimated loss caused by the lease for one year.  Let's see .... psm (Prescott School Missoula)  thinks it makes not only fiscal sense but it makes sense in so many other ways (think of many benefits of a neighborhood school) to open Prescott School when the lease is up in 2017. Until then, MCPS can hire paraeducators to deal with any overcrowding issues at Rattlesnake School as has been done in recent years according the Principal Seidensticker.

On the May 15th, 2012 Special Meeting Agenda there are figures from the entities that submitted a bid for the modular projects.

The low bid was $417,147(Serius Construction) and the high bid was $467,062 from Lower Construction.  If you divide $417, 147 by 2 you  get $208,574.  In other words the district underestimated the modular costs by approximately $88,574 - $28,574.  This is the difference between the district's estimate and the low bidder. This discrepancy would be even more stark if you consider the high bidder.

In 2003 when the district closed Prescott School district officials stated that the savings would be $116,000/year.  The $116,000 figure may be slightly different today, however, it is quite clear that the re-opening of Prescott School is not cost prohibitive and is more desirable and beneficial for our students than building a modular, especially in the long run.

The $116,000 cost of operating Prescott in 2003 was in part due to hiring a part-time principal.  When the school was re-opened after the school board election it was decided that the principal at Mount Jumbo School would share principal responsibilities with Prescott in order to save money. Therefore, the cost of opening Prescott School could  now be even lower than the $116,000.  Strangely, the principal, Cindy Christensen was re-hired after the re-opening. Additionally, the parents decided to help with the library to help save money. This position was also replaced. 

What exactly would be recent figures of re-opening Prescott School?  What did the $116,000 include back in 2003 in addition to  the costs mentioned above?  Could the costs be lower, or even much lower, than $116,000? The costs would mainly be for utilities and lower salaried employees, as teachers would re-locate from other schools. There are many factors that would need to be analyzed. We need these figures, open to all, so that we can do what is in the best interests of our children, and that is, according to Prescott School Missoula to re-open Prescott School.

A cost comparison, in other words, a cost/benefit analysis of all the options available to the district was not done when the district was discussing the over-crowding at Rattlesnake School as far as psm knows.  To not study the costs in more detail which would include the costs of re-opening Prescott School was a breach of trust by our administrators and our Trustees.  Once again, our Trustees are favoring a private school over our public school children. 

The Transitioning of Missoula’s Central Neighborhoods

In the August 18, 2007 issue of the Missoulian an article reporting the resignation of MCPS Superintendent Clark, Clark states:

“At the same time, the location of those children is changing.  For a school district that has many of its elementary school buildings concentrated in the center of town, that raises issues of building new schools closer to developing areas like Maloney Ranch.”

According to Dr. Swanson, however, who spoke at a MCPS meeting in 2004, it is preferable for central neighborhood schools to remain open/available and flexible as these neighborhoods are in transition.  The following is a partial transcript of Dr. Swanson’s presentation:

“So the question becomes where are all these folks going to live, all these 20 and 30 year olds?  They’re primarily going to live in homes that these folks (referring to retirees) steadily move out of.   One of the things we don’t completely understand is that housing stock transitions.  And so we look all around these neighborhoods and we’ve got 3 and 4 and 5 bedroom homes.  As people move (this column to the right-[the retirees]) they’re less likely to stay in that home forever, particularly if alternatives are presented to them. So you’re going to see an explosion in multi-family, townhouses, apartments, etc.  To the degree that Missoula does that well and there are good examples and bad examples, will determine how quickly these older folks either stay in those homes or move out to transition the housing stock." 

"So all these folks (the 20 to 30 year olds) won’t move out to the edge of town.  They will simply move back in as the housing stock transitions because its cheaper to buy existing square footage than it is to build square footage, if anybody’s been through that market before.  It’s more expensive to build than it is to buy.  So that’s one of the things we’ve got to consider in all this. So that’s going to happen.”

The above transcription illustrates that the central neighborhoods in our city are transitioning toward young families.  Despite the sale of Roosevelt School in 2005 at the present time Missoula has many available schools to re-open (Mount Jumbo, Prescott, Emma Dickenson, Jefferson and even Whittier) for the student population before building new schools at this time.  This information also validates keeping Hellgate High School open.

Note:  This document was created in approximately 2008, however, the information within it is more pertinent today than ever before. The need to open our closed schools is becoming more clear due to the change in our neighborhood demographics. (July 2012)

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. 

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

                                      Part 5  - Post 2004     

22. February 22, 2005 – A letter from Missoula International School signed by Naomi Kimbell (no date) stamped received by MCPS Superintendent’s office on February 22, 2005.  A quote from the letter states,

“It has come to our attention that Prescott may be considered an excess building to the school district.  If this is the case, Missoula International School may be interested in purchasing the building and we would like to discuss this possibility with you.  Please let us know if you would like to arrange a time to talk.   Thank you, we look forward to hearing from you.”  The letter is signed Naomi Kimbell, Executive Director, Missoula International School! 

Trustee Bellin “urged the district to review all buildings and make an analysis in a proactive manner.”

**Note:  Naomi Kimbell is now advocating for the sale of the school, for which she was responsible only months before as a MCPS trustee. If there had been a long term analysis of MCPS properties when Kimbell had served as a Trustee she would not have had to inquire about "excess properties!"

23.  March 29, 2005 - MCPS Finance and Operations Meeting - Agenda Item:  Letter from Missoula International School Regarding Prescott.  Background Information (listed under agenda item):  Discussion of a letter from Missoula International School expressing interest in purchasing Prescott.  Trustees discussed selling Prescott School to Missoula International School with Naomi representing MIS at the meeting.  No action was taken at this time.

*Note:   Not only did Naomi Kimbell gain employment by the private school which benefited from her votes on closure and leasing while serving as a trustee on the school board, she was now making a pitch for the SALE of this school.  This letter was written approximately 7 months after Kimbell resigned from the board and only 9 months after the lease was signed, indicating that the real intent of the private school was to permanently reside in Prescott School.  Additionally,  as as mentioned above, if the district had had a 20 year facility plan before the closures then Kimbell would have known the status of district buildings without having to ask the board at this time.

24.  March 31, 2005 - e-mail from citizen Jeanne Joscelyn to Superintendent Jim Clark regarding the March 29, 2005 Finance and Operations Meeting.  Joscelyn stated that she had not heard of Prescott School being termed an “excess building” in the many meetings that she had attended.  Nor had she observed this issue in writing and asked the Superintendent where this had been discussed.  The issue of excess school buildings had not come before the Finance and Operations Committee or the Board as a whole.  The Superintendent Clark never did respond to Joscelyn’s email!

Conclusion:  The legality of Naomi Kimbell’s actions in this public servant/private school issue has not been investigated; at the very least, just the appearance of wrongdoing by a board member(s) needs to be avoided so as to assure the public that the governance of their schools is in good hands, especially when it involves the valuable facilities of the district. 

Could the school closure decision in 2004 have been tilted toward closure based on future employment given to a trustee with a private entity involved in the closure/lease issue?   Since this issue, and other factors, such as the lack of a long term facilities plan and a professional demographic study, has not been resolved, there is a need for a moratorium on any future land lease or sale transactions in regard to Prescott School.

(reminder: this document was written in 2009 during lease extension discussions)