Missoula Citizen was told that Franklin School was one of the best built schools in Missoula and did not need to be demolished.

In my conversation with a fellow Missoula citizen I learned that others believe that Franklin School was one of the best built schools in Missoula.

I agree as a family member and I walked around Franklin School before the demolition and found that the foundation of Franklin was in quite good shape. There were a few minor stress fractures, however, these could be easily fixed. Additionally, one of the fractures that was larger than the others was on the older section of the building and was causing a little bit of damage to the bricks above the fracture. This, too, could be fixed without too much trouble or expense.

One of the reasons that a neighbor suggested for the demolition was that a city official had friends in the building industry and that because the city was running out of money for building projects the powers that be decided to use the schools bonding capacity to put his/her building friends to work.

I have no knowledge of this but would not be surprised if this were true.
Edited on 6-13-17

Missoula Citizen: Home Resouces did not get a chance to remove valuable materials from Franklin School befor the demolition.

Missoulians visit with each other about many issues, I was talking today with a fellow Missoulian about the issue of the Franklin School demolition.

Here were a few things she shared with me:

Home Resources on Russell Street was not allowed enough time to remove a lot of valuable materials in Franklin School before its demolition. They were allowed to remove some long beams, however, after the beams were removed the school district did not allow any further removal of items by this recycling of building materials business. Home Resources, as far as I know has a good reputation in Missoula and I cannot think why the school district would not allow them to remove ALL of the valuable and historic materials.

Is Miller Creek the only area of Cold Springs "roots"? What about the 39th Street and the South Hills area?

Growing up in Missoula I attended 5 schools, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Paxson, Cold Springs, and Meadow Hill. I attended Cold Springs School in 4th and 5th grade. Our family lived on Virginia Drive off 39th Street. This was in the early 60's. The children at Cold Springs at that time came from the neighborhood around Cold Springs, as in my case, in addition to the Miller Creek area. To say that Cold Springs will return to its roots by relocating to Miller Creek is not totally true. For decades the children in the South Hills area and the 39th Street area attended Cold Springs. What about the children who live in these areas? Are they not important to MCPS? Do they deserve to have their school closed and then have to be bused for miles up Miller Creek? Absolutely not! What needs to happen is for there to be a moratorium on this whole idea of a school up Miller Creek. Obviously MCPS got caught in another facility disaster of their own making. Many Missoulians would be interested to know that when the subdivision was beginning to be built in the Maloney Ranch area the developers wrote a letter to former superintendent Clark and offered the school district 5 acres for a school free of charge. Neither Clark nor another MCPS official took up the offer. And now we are all suffering due to Clark's mismanagement of our school facilities (not only for this fiasco but many others).

"Future Shock" is here in Missoula courtesy of Missoula County Public Schools

I thought that I'd post a few thoughts about a subject that was shared with me by a Missoula friend (a fellow long-time Missoulian) who attended Franklin for all 8 grades (!) in addition to graduating Hellgate High.

When my friend was in high school - as I just mentioned - at Hellgate - a school from which her grandfather graduated in 1929 when it was named Missoula County High School!! - her elective English class read the book "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler.
We, in Missoula, as are people worldwide, experiencing "Future Shock" just as Toffler had predicted in his 1970 book. Future Shock is here and it is effecting how our schools are operating and have been operating for some time.

I would like to apply the ideas in the book Future Shock to the demolishing of Franklin School in addition to making huge renovations to the A.J. Gibson school building - Lowell School - on the north side. Such radical changes to our traditional school buildings has been extremely stressful to many people -  most likely for long-time Missoulians. My friend, the Franklin School alum, is saddened by this as are many others who have talked to me, some Franklin alumni.

Here's some quotes from 'Future Shock" that may explain our dismay of these changes to our beloved schools -

The introduction of Future Shock in a compact classic book states:

"Many people have trouble coping with change - particularly when it comes too fast. Since changes in our rapidly advancing society are both common and sudden, many of us are experiencing great stress."

"Alvin Toffler's phrase "future shock" has become a classic byword to describe this inner turmoil." 

And when one applies the concept of future shock to our buildings which would include school buildings Toffler writes -

     "We live in a throw-away, one-time-use society, which, in turn, spawns a throw-away mentality.

 EVEN OUR BUILDINGS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING TORN DOWN AND REBUILT"

The demolition and rebuilding of Franklin School, which according to this writer, appears to be in good shape (Note: as in many Missoula schools Franklin had additions throughout the years), is just another symptom of future shock in our wonderful(and getting less so with ill-advised changes) city of Missoula.

Additionally, with the school bond passed in November 2105 there will be the closure of Cold Springs school in the 39th St. area to add to our already 4-5 closed schools.

Written by Missoula school watchdog on June 9 and 10th, 2016, Friday and Saturday.

edited - September 2, 2016

Why didn't the Franklin principal want pictures taken of the school before demolition?

Yesterday, June 9th, Thursday, 2016  Missoula schools watchdog attempted to take pictures of the inside of Franklin School. It ended with a police visit and then a breakfast at Ruby's Café with a friend.

The day before, on the 8th, Wednesday, a friend of mine talked to the secretary at Franklin and explained that I would like to take pictures of her in her childhood classrooms at Franklin. The secretary said that it would be no problem and that the best time to take pictures would be Friday morning after 8:30 a.m. as things were going to be removed at a fast pace.

My friend and I agreed to meet at Franklin School at 8:30 on Friday as per the secretary.

I arrived with camera in tow at the correct time, just a little early. As I wanted to get started taking pictures I decided to go ahead into the school even though my Franklin friend had not arrived. I went to the desk and explained to a secretary, perhaps not the woman that my friend had talked to yesterday as she was perhaps the woman that was on the phone, however, the woman I talked to said to go ahead and that she was sure that it would be OK to go ahead and begin taking pictures.  I gave her my business card with Joscelyn Photography and my phone number on it. There, I had my bases all covered. Or did I?

Only a minute or so after my camera was clicking off pictures of this priceless and historic school soon to be demolished I heard a woman say, "I am asking you to leave, You have to leave." Oh, Oh, The woman, the principal to which I talked shortly before the bond was passed when I took up Superintendent Thane's suggestion to go into the schools and see what is planned for each one. The suggestion by Thane to visit our schools was aired on the radio on KGVO's Talk Back morning show.  One day I was driving on Johnson Street near Franklin School and decided to take Thane up and stop in to Franklin.

As I knew that each school had a 21st Century School plan for the bond I went to the desk to see if there was a flyer on the plans for Franklin. As I did not see one asked the secretary where I could get the flyer for Franklin's plans. She came out and gave me a flyer and we stood and discussed the changes which were also posted on a wall. The most important aspect of the new plans were that FRANKLIN SCHOOL WAS SLATED TO BE DEMOLISHED!! As I cursorily walked down one hall with many old class pictures and saw the absolutely beautiful wood work and the beautiful and historic architecture I was so saddened by the thought that this school could be demolished.

I conveyed this opinion, that of the school being so wonderful,  to the principal. She did not agree and said that MCPS needed to implement the 21st Century type of schools and that this demolition was "For the Kids".  My thoughts were at the time that how could demolishing a perfectly good school really be good for the kids.  Thinking of this beautiful building, serving our Missoula children since 1916,  was going to be the victim of a wrecking ball. was almost too much to bare.  I wondered if other Franklin employees thought as the principal did asking the nearby janitor and the secretary what they thought of MCPS plans. Not remembering the exact words to these employees it appeared that they were for the demolition.

While discussing the plans with the principal she was continually looking and typing something into the cell phone. I thought it was rather rude for her to be using her cell phone during our conversation. Additionally, she did not seem to  take my reservations for the demolition seriously, stating again that it was, "for the kids". 

As I left the building I was upset at what I heard about the plans for the  school as it they broke my heart, as I've stated,  going to the extreme action of demolition. As I sometimes do, unfortunately, I expressed my anguish in a louder than normal voice and unfortunately, as I also sometimes do inserted an inappropriate word - as of this writing I have forgotten the exact wording of my comments but take full responsibility for them and realize that I need to work on controlling my emotions when upset. However, oftentimes escalating tensions occur  when plans such as demolishing a cherished asset that is such an integral part of a neighborhood and it's heritage are ill-advised and the consequences not thoroughly thought out.

In the attempt to finish this post but also thinking that I may add/edit/delete some parts at a later date I must quickly end this post. OK - so I've added a little historical perspective to my one visit to Franklin prior to going to take some inside pictures (Oh - and Superintendent Thane did call and ask me to call him back which I did not do as I couldn't really think of anything that I could say that would make a difference one way or another (I'm assuming he called about my Franklin visit) but mostly because I didn't get around to it. I also was thinking that I would schedule a meeting with Thane but again did not have time for that. So it was mostly a time issue for my not getting back to the superintendent.

So, anyway I was basically kicked out of Franklin School by the principal. I did not leave immediately as my thought process was that I had a right to be in the public building as I  was a taxpayer thus having helped to pay for it and it's upkeep. I thought of calling an attorney. By this time my friend had come to join me in my ill-fated picture taking  project. She came at the right time and guided me outside so we could talk about the situation. Soon after the policeman came as requested by the principal, and told me that the principal had a right to kick me out. So I left with my friend and met her over at Ruby's diner, a long time Missoula restaurant, to help me get grounded which it did over with a cup of coffee, some eggs, hash browns, and toast. Thanks go to my Missoula friend, who truth be told rescued me from a bad situation, and good old Ruby's diner to help me get back to my normal self after my latest rendezvous with MCPS insanity.

P.S. My friend goes to Ruby's when she needs to feel connected to the "old" Missoula. She said we were sure to see someone we knew there. Sure enough, there was my husband's Uncle Herb, going to his car. My friend also knew who Herb was as they used to go the same old church. There really are pockets of the old Missoula out there for which I'm so thankful.

Posted on June 10, Friday, 2016 and I see lots of mistakes which I'll get to later -  Bye - for now! Thanks for reading!  Missoula school watchdog written by a baby boomer Missoula girl! (You can't take Missoula out of this Missoula girl - ha!)

GOING - GOING - GONE RIP FRANKLIN SCHOOL

Missoula school watchdog is sick about the loss of the Franklin School building which has been at this location for decades. The school building was first opened in 1916 and just celebrated its 100th birthday.
Was it really much of a celebration? Wouldn't it be like a person celebrating their 100th birthday and saying, "Oh, you just turned 100 years old. You are too old and we need to build a new you - good bye."

Missoula will forever lament the soon to be demolished Franklin School building.

RIP - the first Franklin School in Missoula.

Research Talking Points on Small Schools

Research Talking Points on Small Schools

This link was featured for this blog post, however, the article did not transfer to the blog.
I decided to keep it on the site and plan to return later and see if I can get it to transfer.
My apologies for the technical problems.