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

MCPS gives 13 percent raise to Superintendent Apostle

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).