Important news! Trustees Rehbein, Bixler, Toth, Harrison, and Hemphill ended 210 years of Missoula School traditions

An amazing fact (and incredibly sad) that msw just figured out this afternoon is that five trustees, Trustee *Rosemary Harrison, Trustee *Jenda Hemphill, Trustee Toni Rehbein, Trustee Scott Bixler, and Trustee Joe Toth with a little help from Trustees  Naomi Kimbell and David Merrill, ended decades of Missoula school traditions.

How did they do this?

In 2004, Trustees voted to close Rattlesnake Middle School, Prescott School, and Mt. Jumbo School.

Rattlesnake Middle School opened around 1981.  msw is not certain regarding this date, however, Missoula converted from a K-8 school system to an elementary and middle school model for grade school level students around 1981.

Therefore the list goes like this -

Rattlesnake Middle School  - opened in 1981 in the mid Rattlesnake Valley

Prescott School - opened approximately 1892 in the lower Rattlesnake Valley

Mt. Jumbo School opened in 1979 in East Missoula

The 2004 school closures ended each school's in which they served Missoula's students in their respective Missoula neighborhood.

Rattlesnake Middle School - 23 years - (2004-1981)

Prescott School - ~112 years - (2004-1892)

Mt. Jumbo School - 25 years - (2004 - 1979)

In 2004 the five trustees mentioned above, Harrison, Hemphill, Rehbein, Bixler, and Toth, in addition to Kimbell and Merrill, ended 160 years of Missoula school traditions.

In 2005, Trustees Harrison, Hemphill, Rehbein, Bixler, and Toth voted to SELL Roosevelt School which was built in 1955 in a sweetheart sale ending 50 years of Missoula schools tradition. 

Altogether, Trustees Harrison, Hemphill, Rehbein, Bixler, and Toth ended an approximate total of  210 years of Missoula school traditions.

What is sad about this is that the closures did not save money, most likely cost the district millions of dollars over the years in addition to closing a neighborhood school for thousands of Missoula children.

*Trustees Harrison and Hemphill both voted to close Emma Dickinson in the Orchard Homes area also. (msw is almost sure of this, however, not entirely positive.)  Did one or both of these trustees vote to also close Roosevelt School?

How did the closures cost the district millions?

Here is how -

•  the resulting costs of renovations to other schools,
• busing the children out of their neighborhoods,
• the resulting costs of students and families choosing to go to schools outside of the district,
• the resulting cost of losing students to the private schools which subsequently leased our public school buildings after their closures,
• the resulting costs due to selling our public school,
• the astronomical costs of three additions (with a 1.9 million price tag for the Hawthorne addition),
• the high cost of building two modulars,
• the cost of taking care of vandalism in the closed schools, etc.etc.etc..
• the re-opening of the school when and if trustees decide to open the school

The above illustrates that the best way to deal with enrollment declines, which are a part of the normal ebb and flow of school enrollment trends, is to just ride out the ups and downs without taking the drastic action of closing a school.

As the enrollment is now trending upward and our schools are all most likely at capacity, Missoula school trustees need to re-open not only the above schools, but others such as Emma Dickinson, Jefferson, and Whittier.  NOW IS THE TIME FOR REOPENING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS.

Because Roosevelt School was sold the only way to return it to the district is to develop a sinking fund and buy the school back when and if the private school sells the property as the school district as the right of first refusal, however, not at the price at which we sold the school.