Monday, September 15, 2014

MCPS gives 13 percent raise to Superintendent Apostle - January 16th, 2013 Missoulian article


Click on the link above to read a January 16,th, 2013 Missoulian article reporting on the raise given to Superintendent Apostle by the MCPS Board of Trustees.
A quote from the article states:
A divided Missoula County Public Schools board approved a 13 percent pay raise for Superintendent Alex Apostle at a special meeting on Monday.The board voted 6-4 in favor of the new three-year contract, which retroactively boosts Apostle’s salary from $155,000 to $175,000 this school year. It also provides raises to $185,000 in 2013-14 and $200,000 in 2014-15. And it increases the district’s contribution to Apostle’s tax-sheltered annuity and allows him to cash in unused vacation and personal days.
Missoula citizens were livid when the news broke.  A Hellgate student started a petition which garnered about 2,000 signatures. This petition was online and was signed by many Missoulians from all walks of life. The petition asked that the Superintendent return the raise amount or even donate it back to the schools for supplies. Apostle did not return the money nor donate it.

The February 2013 MCPS Board Meeting was held in the Sentinel High School gym and was filled with approximately 500 people, most very unhappy with the raise. 

Missoula school board names new member | KTVQ.com | Q2 | Billings, Montana

Missoula school board names new member | KTVQ.com | Q2 | Billings, Montana



Click on the link above to read a short clip about Trustee Nancy Pickhardt's replacement who was appointed to the MCPS Board of Trustees in October of 2010.

Nancy Pickhardt resigns from Missoula school board, cites 'distraction' - Missoulian article from the August 26, 2010 edition

Nancy Pickhardt resigns from Missoula school board, cites 'distraction'

Click on the link above to read about the resignation of MCPS Trustee Nancy Pickhardt from the school Board in 2010.
A quote from the article states:
"Pickhardt has been the center of controversy since the Missoulian reported Aug. 4 that she left an obscenity-laced message on the answering machine of a school board critic."
Another quote from the article states:
 "The message was a personal attack against a man who wrote a letter to the editor of the Missoulian pointedly critical of the board for giving MCPS Superintendent Alex Apostle a nearly $15,000 raise and a new contract with expanded benefits. The message also singled out the man's wife, a retired MCPS schoolteacher."
 Another quote from the article states:
  It ends: "I will miss the work and the people. For me, it has always been about helping the students and our public schools (be) the very best they can be."
missoula school watchdog - If Pickhardt really wanted to help students "be the very best they can be" then why did she vote to lease Prescott School to Missoula International School, a private school? Public school children are forced out of their neighborhoods in the Rattlesnake Valley. In the meantime Missoula International School is flourishing in one of Missoulians favorite public schools.  

HIstory of who served and when on the MCPS Board of Trustees - missoula school watchdog sharing Missouian posts of past Trustee election information

missoula school watchdog is researching past school board elections. And the many blog posts just added to the blog reflect this study! 
msw hopes that people will be interested in some of the election information although some is a little dated.
msw is interested in who has been making our school decisions and in what year did these decision-makers serve. 
Happy clicking!

Missoula County Public Schools trustees to fill opening on board

Missoula County Public Schools trustees to fill opening on board

Missoula attorney Duerk appointed as MCPS trustee

Missoula attorney Duerk appointed as MCPS trustee

MCPS superintendent raise: Do not re-elect school board - August 5, 2010 Letter to the editor of the Missoulian

MCPS superintendent raise: Do not re-elect school board

Click on the link above to read a letter to the Missoulian regarding MCPS salaries.
Louise Jones' letter to the editor addresses the 20% raise to Superintendent Apostle in 2010. 

A quote from the letter states: 
"These are the folks who unanimously supported the 20 percent raise (including benefits) of Alex Apostle: Scott Bixler, Adam Duerk, Debbie Dupree, Shelly Wills, Marcia Holland, Joseph Knapp, Drake Lemm, Nancy Pickhardt, Toni Rehbein, James Sadler and Joe Toth."
Right on Louise! 
Louise speaks for many Missoulians who were also outraged about the raise given to Superintendent Apostle in January of 2013.
The Trustees that voted for the raise in 2013 were -  
Debbie Dupree, Shelly Wills, Marcia Holland, Joseph Knapp, Drake Lemm, and James Sadler and Toni Rehbein. (Was Scott Todd on the Board?)
This list is not complete - need to work on it.  Note - Scott Bixler and Joe Toth are not on the 2013 list. 
Adam Duerk did not vote on the superintendent raise in 2013 as he had resigned before the vote or was in the process of resigning. This means that only six elementary trustees voted - if they were all present.
If Bixler and Toth did not vote for the 2013 raise for Apostle it would have been the FIRST time that they hadn't (quite sure on this).

MCPS gives 13 percent raise to Superintendent Apostle

MCPS gives 13 percent raise to Superintendent Apostle

Missoula superintendent: Money better spent on a superstar

Missoula superintendent: Money better spent on a superstar

MCPS board to review 10 trustee applicants from the March 5, 2009 MIssoulian

MCPS board to review 10 trustee applicantsPosted on March 5

Click on the link above to read a Missoulian article from March 5, 2009. 
10 people interviewed to replace the Board position open after the resignation of Jenda Hemphill in January of 2009. 

Missoula school board seeks replacement

Missoula school board seeks replacement

Hemphill leaves MCPS Board of Trustees citing health reasons - MIssoulian article published on February 3, 2009

Hemphill leaves MCPS Board of Trustees citing health reasons



Missoula School Watchdog is working on a list of Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees throughout the past few years. 



And it is becoming quite a chore, especially if one has lost track. 



It becomes more of a task as several Trustees have resigned. About nine or so Trustees have resigned in the past 10 years.



msw wished good health to former MCPS Trustee Jenda Hemphill.



It is my understanding that Joseph Knapp was appointed to fill out Jenda's term which expired in May of 2009.

What I have learned in 6 weeks on the MCPS school board - Missoulian guest column from the April 21, 2013 edition

What I have learned in 6 weeks on the MCPS school board



Click on the link above to read a guest column by Scott Todd.

MCPS Board of Trustees candidate Wade withdraws from race - Missoulian clip - 2014

MCPS Board of Trustees candidate Wade withdraws from race



Click on the link above to read a clip from the Missoulian on candidate Jack Wade withdrawing from the school board race in 2014.

High School graduation rates: Stress skills and knowledge - a Larry Foust letter to the MIssoulian on January 27, 2013

High School graduation rates: Stress skills and knowledge


Click on the link above to read a letter to the editor on education by Larry Foust.

Monday, September 8, 2014

KGVO Talk Back Program - Fall 2015 levy will be bigger than expected!!

Today, September 8, 2014, I was listening to KGVO's Talk Back program, ("Western Montana's only live interactive talk show"- the hosts words). The co-hosts for this program are long-time radio announcer Peter Christian and Jon King, the producer of the show.

Jon and Peter were discussing the costs of the city's eminent domain lawsuit. The mayor of the city decided several month's ago to attempt to gain ownership of Missoula's water system by using eminent domain. The city estimated the cost of this process to be about $500,000. It is now estimated to be higher than that a cost of about $1,000,000!

So - Peter spoke about his conversation with Hatton Littman regarding the increase in leveling (sending children from their neighborhood school to another school which is not so crowded.)

Peter also mentioned that Littman said that the BOND PLANNED TO GO BEFORE THE VOTERS NEXT FALL WILL BE BIGGER THAN FIRST THOUGHT!!

Oh, to hold those people accountable that closed our schools in 2004, sold a school (to a private school) in 2005, and leased schools (to a private school and a college). What a lot of money they would need to pay us taxpayers for their needless and expensive actions.

These school officials DID NOT HEED DR. LARRY SWANSON'S ADVISE IN 2004-2005 REGARDING THE UPCOMING INCREASE IN SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DUE TO THE BABY BOOMERS GRANDCHILDREN ENTERING THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.