This is a Missoula girl talking. In fact, this is a Cold Springs School girl talking. Having grown up in Missoula and having attended Cold Springs I know that to close Cold Springs would be so egregious as to border on criminal.
For Missoula County Public Schools to close the original Cold Springs School would be so unfair to the families, property owners, and children in the surrounding area of the school.
For me to have to say the "original Cold Springs School" is ridiculous in the first place. The MCPS school district in the bond plans of 2015 stated that a new Cold Springs School would be built in the Miller Creek area - thinking that the Miller Creek area was even remotely close to the present location of Cold Springs School. This, in my opinion, was to give a reason to build a new school and get rid of a school at the same time thinking voters would not want to vote on a new school while at the same time keeping another school open. This makes no sense unless one is aware of the politics of the whole idea of building a new school.
In 2004, our family experienced a tragedy brought on by nefarious officials of the Missoula school district with superintendent James Clark and Board Chair Rosemary Harrison at the helm.
Three schools in the northeast area of our city were closed - Rattlesnake Middle, Prescott, and Mount Jumbo schools.
Due to this action, I followed the school district quite closely in subsequent months/years.
Right after another action by Missoula school officials, the sale of the closed Roosevelt School, school officials spoke openly (closed discussions behind the scenes prior to this) about building a school in the Miller Creek area. In some discussions, a school board Trustee, Drake Lemm, voiced is strong desire to build this school.
Something very important to keep in mind and what I think is key to the proposed building of a Miller Creek School is that Lemm has property in the area. In fact, Drake Lemm is a contractor and has built (is building) a subdivision on a street named DJ Lane. Could the proposed new school and the closure of Cold Springs really be due to a school board member having a strong desire to have a school near his subdivision? My answer is yes, and most definitely yes.
Drake Lemm was not a conscientious school board member. One of the main reasons he likely ran for the MCPS seat was for his selfish needs. Lemm always voted or voiced his opinions on elementary property decisions (not having voting powers for elementary decisions as he was a high school Trustee) to close or sell an elementary building.
Again, the Missoula school officials need to keep Cold Springs School open. Already, I have heard that the new Miller Creek School is full and another school is being discussed to be built in this area. To keep Cold Springs open the new school would not be so crowded to begin it's debue.
By the way, the new school, when the bond was proposed, was to be named Cold Springs as discussed above. After the bond was passed, voila, a proposal to rename the proposed new Cold Springs School, was brought forward to the public and was renamed the Jeanette Rankin School.
In closing, just to remind people about the nefarious Trustee Drake Lemm - he built an addition to superintendent Clark's garage while on the Board. This action did not sit well with some Trustees and therefore he was turned into the County Attorney, who also nefariously let him off the hook. Google Drake Lemm and Superintendent Clark or the words - "school board shenanigans" along with the two names to read about this slippery action.
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