Current MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane tells KGVO listeners Lowell School was not designed by architect A.J. Gibson - which it was!

On, Thursday, Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Thane, a "hometown boy", appeared on KGVO's radio talk show, Talk Back, for a half hour with host Peter Christian.

Superintendent Thane was discussing the many MCPS bond construction projects (which in msw's view were not needed - not all of them anyway).

One of the schools Thane mentioned was Lowell School, one of Missoula's most historic schools located on the northwest side of Missoula built in 1909. This school, is now in the process of being gutted and remodeled.

 Mark Thane told listeners that Lowell School was not an A.J. Gibson building. This statement was not prompted by any discussion of the historical value of the school.

An addition to Lowell being gutted and the addition being removed there is more work going on to this property. The modular on the playground, built in about 2012, was moved and a huge addition is being built in that location.




The idea that it was old and in poor condition was discussed. The host, Peter Christian, did, of course, agree with Thane that the school was indeed so old (even stating that white snowflake-like stuff was falling from the ceiling when on an earlier tour with Thane) that it had to be gutted. I had previously toured Lowell School and did not see falling "snow" from the ceiling, but was impressed with this beautiful and historic school in need of basic maintenance (and maybe a little more TLC than it had been given in past years. Another citizen mentioned in a previous Talk Back show voiced the concern that the school was in need of a good old-fashioned paint job.

I have always understood that Lowell School was designed by A.J. Gibson. A university professor wrote a book entirely on the famous local architect, and I remembered that Lowell School was featured as one of Gibson's designs in the book.

 Additionally, I had previously gone to the Lowell School website where the librarian posts historical facts about the school. The information on this site states that indeed Lowell School is a Gibson design. The addition, next to Lowell School, was built in the 1960's and was designed by "Kirk" Kirkemo's (Gibson's colleague)son. So this addition is not a Gibson design. It was obvious in this comment that Thane was talking about the main building when referencing the architect.

To say that Lowell School is not a A.J. Gibson design, as Mark Thane told KGVO radio listeners, is patently false!


However, is was surprising to me that superintendent Mark Thane would go on a radio show and say something that was not true is troubling, to say the least.

Because the superintendent was not honest on this topic one has to ask where else has he not been honest and how many times has he misled the public?

I know of other circumstances, actually, where Thane stated misleading to false information. I'm (msw) is really wondering just at what lengths he will go to subterfuge.

Editing note: A Missoulian article featuring Lowell School and noting that it was an A.J. Gibson building appeared when I used Google for this article, I will attempt to link that article to this post at a later date. The article was about Lowell being one of a hundred Missoula icons.

written by Missoulaschoolwatchdog for the missoulaschoolwatchdog.blogspot.com website