eagnews.org/montana-school-district-no-elementary-math-books-but-superintendent-gets-45k-raise/
It appears, that unlike in the past a website needs to be copied and pasted into the search bar of google or other browser. It used to be that all one had to do is click on the link - does anyone know what is going on here?
The above link is for information regarding the lack of math textbooks while at the same time former Superintendent Alex Apostle was in the process of getting a $45,000 raise!!
Hope the link works! I've been having trouble sharing information from other forums. Unfortunately!
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
One can go to the link below to watch a video of Newstalk KGVO's video on an open phones day. That is when the hosts, Peter Christian and Jon King take calls on any topic. This is a great forum to get out a person's opinion.
In the middle of the show, there was a discussion on the International Baccalaureate program, both pro, and con.
https://www.facebook.com/newstalkkgvo/videos/1683921114988609/
Monday, June 4, 2018
Missoulian letter to the editior - "Demolition of Willard School" in the June 4, 2018 issue
http://missoulian.com/opinion/letters/demolition-of-willard-school/article_72e55acd-e3ec-57e0-898c-fc3c80970f93.html
Click on the link above to read a letter to the editor regarding the demolition of a Missoula icon, Willard School.
As a long-time Missoulian and a Missoula school watchdog (basically following MCPS school business since 2004 when the disastrous 3-school closures on the north side of Missoula dramatically affected my family) I am very sad that the school district even contemplated the demolition of this wonderful school.
A quote from the letter written by Missoula resident Lani Gallegos follows -
Oops - I just lost entire paragraphs of very profound info/opinion - Ha!
So - since I have limited time for this blog, unfortunately. I will have to condense the profound sentences that were deleted 😏. What I brought up was that this school district has a history of not listening to its constituents going back (and probably further) to the middle school fiasco - that of reconfiguring our school district from a 1-8th or K-8th grade set up to an elementary/middle school set up. There was considerable opposition to the middle school model, yet, the school board in the early 80's went through with the change.
In one paragraph that mysteriously disappeared while writing this post is the issue of tyranny. The definition of tyranny taken from the Websters dictionary is, "unjust use of absolute government power". Isn't this what is going on here? Isn't this what has been going on in much of Missoula County Public Schools business? My observations as a person who has followed the district off and on for the last two decades and as a MCPS grad is "yes', and definitely "yes"!
Click on the link above to read a letter to the editor regarding the demolition of a Missoula icon, Willard School.
As a long-time Missoulian and a Missoula school watchdog (basically following MCPS school business since 2004 when the disastrous 3-school closures on the north side of Missoula dramatically affected my family) I am very sad that the school district even contemplated the demolition of this wonderful school.
A quote from the letter written by Missoula resident Lani Gallegos follows -
"Residents and neighbors in the area are sickened and disheartened to see the iconic building go. Voices were raised during a community meeting, but fell on deaf ears, with little adjustments made to the plan based on residents concerns."
Oops - I just lost entire paragraphs of very profound info/opinion - Ha!
So - since I have limited time for this blog, unfortunately. I will have to condense the profound sentences that were deleted 😏. What I brought up was that this school district has a history of not listening to its constituents going back (and probably further) to the middle school fiasco - that of reconfiguring our school district from a 1-8th or K-8th grade set up to an elementary/middle school set up. There was considerable opposition to the middle school model, yet, the school board in the early 80's went through with the change.
In one paragraph that mysteriously disappeared while writing this post is the issue of tyranny. The definition of tyranny taken from the Websters dictionary is, "unjust use of absolute government power". Isn't this what is going on here? Isn't this what has been going on in much of Missoula County Public Schools business? My observations as a person who has followed the district off and on for the last two decades and as a MCPS grad is "yes', and definitely "yes"!
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Did Missoula County Public Schools close Cold Springs illegally? It is questionable in the mind of missoula school watchdog!
This post begins with some wording from the MCPS Policy 4333 dealing with school closures.
"Prior to the Board adopting a resolution closing an operating school, the Board shall consider the impact of such school closure on the education community. In evaluating the impact, the Board shall consider at a minimum the following factors: "Then then text lists about 7 considerations.'
The issue of a school closure for any Missoula County Public Schools school is addressed in Policy 4333, as mentioned, under Public Relations. As many readers know, my family (a school closure affects the entire family, neighborhood, and the city as a whole) experienced a 3-school closure in 2004 and so I was part of the discussions of the policy. There are many aspects of the policy that are flawed, however, the emphasis of this post is - was the closure of Cold Springs School legal?
My reasoning - the closure did not follow the school closure policy. As superintendent Mark Thane stated during his visit on KGVO's Talk Back program on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the decision to close Cold Springs School was decided by a group of people during the school bond discussions. Each "active" school, as opposed to "non-active" school(in other words a closed school which was unfair to that school) formed a group to discuss the future of that school.
I am thinking that a group formed to discuss the future of a school is not the proper protocol for closing a school according to the MCPS school board policy dealing with school closures, Policy 4333.
This issue needs more discussion. Time is of the essence. According to Thane, Cold Springs School will remain open until only next October or November and then the students will move to the new school (remember the Cold Springs bond group decided to build a new school - which was a flawed protocol in my opinion - and was later re-named Jeanette Rankin School.
The emphasis of this blog is the preservation of our neighborhood schools - for every neighborhood. As a person growing up in Missoula, this was considered normal. Missoula children didn't have to deal with constant closures and massive busing. We need to return to this tradition.
More to come on this issue - only on missoulaschoolwatchdog.blogspot.com!
"Prior to the Board adopting a resolution closing an operating school, the Board shall consider the impact of such school closure on the education community. In evaluating the impact, the Board shall consider at a minimum the following factors: "Then then text lists about 7 considerations.'
The issue of a school closure for any Missoula County Public Schools school is addressed in Policy 4333, as mentioned, under Public Relations. As many readers know, my family (a school closure affects the entire family, neighborhood, and the city as a whole) experienced a 3-school closure in 2004 and so I was part of the discussions of the policy. There are many aspects of the policy that are flawed, however, the emphasis of this post is - was the closure of Cold Springs School legal?
My reasoning - the closure did not follow the school closure policy. As superintendent Mark Thane stated during his visit on KGVO's Talk Back program on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the decision to close Cold Springs School was decided by a group of people during the school bond discussions. Each "active" school, as opposed to "non-active" school(in other words a closed school which was unfair to that school) formed a group to discuss the future of that school.
I am thinking that a group formed to discuss the future of a school is not the proper protocol for closing a school according to the MCPS school board policy dealing with school closures, Policy 4333.
This issue needs more discussion. Time is of the essence. According to Thane, Cold Springs School will remain open until only next October or November and then the students will move to the new school (remember the Cold Springs bond group decided to build a new school - which was a flawed protocol in my opinion - and was later re-named Jeanette Rankin School.
The emphasis of this blog is the preservation of our neighborhood schools - for every neighborhood. As a person growing up in Missoula, this was considered normal. Missoula children didn't have to deal with constant closures and massive busing. We need to return to this tradition.
More to come on this issue - only on missoulaschoolwatchdog.blogspot.com!
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Comments regarding a former MCPS Board Trustee Drake Lemm - Was he unethical while serving on the Board?
Many mornings I listen to the radio - turning the dial to KGVO's Talk Back show. A frequent guest is Missoula County Public Schools superintendent Mark Thane. I appreciate the local topics.
On the morning of May 23, 2018, I called in and made a comment regarding the closing of Cold Springs School, a nice school I attended when a young child growing up in Missoula in the '60's. I strongly believe that Cold Springs School needs to remain open. The school district will say it needs a lot of maintenance. Yes, it does, why? The district mismanaged funds to fix schools.
I happened to mention that I believed (and witnessed) the part played by former MCPS Trustee in the building of a new school up Miller Creek in the Maloney Ranch subdivision area. The idea of building a new school was coupled with the closing of Cold Springs School. (In fact, and I believe it was a nefarious move, the new school was at the time of the bond named Cold Springs School and then after the bond was renamed the Jeanette Rankin School. I mentioned that his role was in looking after his property, DJ Lane, near where the new school, renamed the Jeanette Rankin School.
Here is my FB on the TB (Talk Back) FB page comment following my on-air comment.
On the morning of May 23, 2018, I called in and made a comment regarding the closing of Cold Springs School, a nice school I attended when a young child growing up in Missoula in the '60's. I strongly believe that Cold Springs School needs to remain open. The school district will say it needs a lot of maintenance. Yes, it does, why? The district mismanaged funds to fix schools.
I happened to mention that I believed (and witnessed) the part played by former MCPS Trustee in the building of a new school up Miller Creek in the Maloney Ranch subdivision area. The idea of building a new school was coupled with the closing of Cold Springs School. (In fact, and I believe it was a nefarious move, the new school was at the time of the bond named Cold Springs School and then after the bond was renamed the Jeanette Rankin School. I mentioned that his role was in looking after his property, DJ Lane, near where the new school, renamed the Jeanette Rankin School.
Here is my FB on the TB (Talk Back) FB page comment following my on-air comment.
" OK - I just called into KGVO’s Talk Back program when MCPS superintendent Mark Thane was a guest. My comment centered on the Cold Springs and Jeanette Rankin School fiasco. Now, as usual, I must give my 2 cents about what Thane said as I hung up after my remarks. Re: Is Drake Lemm really an honest man and could he be involved in shenanigans on the MCPS School Board. Yes. People that followed the school board when he served know that he was not an upstanding citizen - sorry, he just wasn't, at least not when he was on the school board. If one attended meetings when he was on the Board you would have heard his comments - many in favor of closing elementary area schools even though he was a HS Trustee. Then in many meetings, like I said on air, Lemm advocated for a school up Miller Creek. If one finds his property, DJ Lane, and then follows where the new school is built how could one not think that it would be a possibility that Lemm would be behind this closure/new school fiasco? It is common knowledge that a public school in a neighborhood increases property values Jon, a nice guy and one of the hosts of Talk Back wondered on air where I was going with this comment and did not finish reading it - I was going with the truth. This school district is in the straights it is in because too many people won't really say what is going on. Am I supposed to forget everything I saw when I suffered going to those God-awful MCPS meetings and then just go along with people that say Lemm is an ethical person when I witnessed otherwise? Wouldn't I feel like a traitor to myself?'
Saturday, May 19, 2018
MIssoula County Public Schools Trustee needs to keep in mind the benefit of small schools in context of suicide
In the May 18th, 2018 issue of the Missoulian newspaper there is an article titled,
"Reasons to take suicide seriously".
If Trustee Kendall would read and implement the research found in the great study by a group of companies dealing with education issues she and the other MCPS Trustees would begin to take steps in reopening our closed schools rather than placing priorities of MCPS funds for enlarging our already too large schools at all levels.
The link to information on the benefit and superiority of small schools is:
http://www.ruraledu.org/user_uploads/file/Dollars_and_Sense.pdf
'Here is some important info copied from the study -
While 38 percent of small schools reported any incidents, 60 percent of medium-sized schools and 89 percent of large schools reported criminal incidents. Serious violent crime was more likely to be reported by the largest schools. One-third of schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more reported at least one serious violent crime, compared with four to nine percent in schools with fewer than 1,000 students (1999, para. 5)."
Please voice your concerns with the Missoula County Public Schools administration and school board.
"Reasons to take suicide seriously".
If Trustee Kendall would read and implement the research found in the great study by a group of companies dealing with education issues she and the other MCPS Trustees would begin to take steps in reopening our closed schools rather than placing priorities of MCPS funds for enlarging our already too large schools at all levels.
The link to information on the benefit and superiority of small schools is:
http://www.ruraledu.org/user_uploads/file/Dollars_and_Sense.pdf
'Here is some important info copied from the study -
While 38 percent of small schools reported any incidents, 60 percent of medium-sized schools and 89 percent of large schools reported criminal incidents. Serious violent crime was more likely to be reported by the largest schools. One-third of schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more reported at least one serious violent crime, compared with four to nine percent in schools with fewer than 1,000 students (1999, para. 5)."
In my opinion, and that of others as well, Missoula County Public Schools is making property and school building decisions that go against the safety of our students.
Please voice your concerns with the Missoula County Public Schools administration and school board.
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