Friday, August 25, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
August 24 - Report on our visit to the Lowell School open house mentioned in the previous post
I thought I'd share some initial impressions of my visit, with another person in tow, to the Lowell School open house to see the changes made to the school over the last year or two.
There is a lot to cover when discussing the changes to the inside of the building. I did go into Lowell before the demolition and took pictures about which I'm glad so that I can go back to get a better contrast since I've forgotten a lot since then.
I will just write about what the other person that went with me thought - In short, he thought that there was a lot of wasted space with hallways, several big open areas, and very high ceilings. There did not seem to be an organized feeling to the layout of the rooms, hallways, and open areas. In fact, it was difficult to tell where one had gone before when walking through the building.
My thoughts - I admit, as people may guess, that I'm a softy for older historical buildings. New architecture needs to be saved for new buildings, I think. So-- I'm quite disappointed that the history of Lowell has, I hate to inform people that care about this, essentially been whitewashed with a few exceptions, two being the outer façade as mentioned above, and the gym.
Thank goodness that the gym was not altered! When I say the history has been whitewashed, I actually mean whitewashed (or maybe ecru-washed would be the word). All wood has been painted. Most walls are now ecru or some shade of beige. So now we have somewhat of a sterile atmosphere. There are a few colored walls(I did really like the colors of these walls).
In my first post today, I mentioned that the principal told me a couple of years ago that the changes will be a nice mixture of old and new. Not so in my opinion. The inside of Lowell is almost all new, with the exception of the old school bell which was on display and a few old shelves.
These are our first impressions of the renovations/demolition of Lowell School as seen in the open house on Thursday, August 24, 2017. Pictures to come. Stay tuned.
Oh, one more thing. A Missoulian reporter, who was very nice, her name was Jamye (perhaps wrong spelling), was looking for people to interview that did not have children. So here we were. (Both of our children are grown.) So --- I may be quoted in the Missoulian, my comments most likely being the same as what is in this post. Thanks for reading Missoula school watchdog!
There is a lot to cover when discussing the changes to the inside of the building. I did go into Lowell before the demolition and took pictures about which I'm glad so that I can go back to get a better contrast since I've forgotten a lot since then.
I will just write about what the other person that went with me thought - In short, he thought that there was a lot of wasted space with hallways, several big open areas, and very high ceilings. There did not seem to be an organized feeling to the layout of the rooms, hallways, and open areas. In fact, it was difficult to tell where one had gone before when walking through the building.
My thoughts - I admit, as people may guess, that I'm a softy for older historical buildings. New architecture needs to be saved for new buildings, I think. So-- I'm quite disappointed that the history of Lowell has, I hate to inform people that care about this, essentially been whitewashed with a few exceptions, two being the outer façade as mentioned above, and the gym.
Thank goodness that the gym was not altered! When I say the history has been whitewashed, I actually mean whitewashed (or maybe ecru-washed would be the word). All wood has been painted. Most walls are now ecru or some shade of beige. So now we have somewhat of a sterile atmosphere. There are a few colored walls(I did really like the colors of these walls).
In my first post today, I mentioned that the principal told me a couple of years ago that the changes will be a nice mixture of old and new. Not so in my opinion. The inside of Lowell is almost all new, with the exception of the old school bell which was on display and a few old shelves.
These are our first impressions of the renovations/demolition of Lowell School as seen in the open house on Thursday, August 24, 2017. Pictures to come. Stay tuned.
Oh, one more thing. A Missoulian reporter, who was very nice, her name was Jamye (perhaps wrong spelling), was looking for people to interview that did not have children. So here we were. (Both of our children are grown.) So --- I may be quoted in the Missoulian, my comments most likely being the same as what is in this post. Thanks for reading Missoula school watchdog!
August 24,2017 Lowell & Franklin Schools have an open house today from 4:00 - 6:00
I read in the Missoulian (someone else showed me this or I may have missed it) an article about the open house for two schools that were radically changed due to the passage of a bond in 2015.
The two schools were Franklin and Lowell.
Lowell is a A.J. Gibson designed school. Gibson was a famous Missoula and regional architect in the early 1900's. This school was gutted and an addition on the playground was added which is connected to the back.
Franklin School was demolished, unfortunately, in the opinion of missoulaschoolwatchdog.
The bond could be named "destroy Missoula's school history" bond.
The entire school building of Franklin, which included a pretty much brand new addition built in 2009 or so costing half a million dollars(!) was demolished. Oh, they kept the gym, according to someone I talked to because it would have been too expensive to replace - how nice MCPS left one small portion of the Franklin School history.
To get back to the open house which is from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. tonight. Some thoughts - the school district did not let the wider Missoula population know about this open house. It appears the district let families in the Lowell area know earlier. And isn't 4:00 a little early for every day workers? Why not have it at 7:00 to 9:00?
Another point. The paper states: "These open houses are sign not just as back-to-school nights(again this is not at night-msw) for those families and students, but for the community to be welcomed and experience what they paid for," Missoula County Public Schools Communication Director Hatton Littman said."
My take from the above statement: If they really wanted to welcome the community why did the district give little notice for this event? And why is it being held from 4:00 to 6:00. All of Missoula property owners paid for this bond - why not really invite the entire city at an appropriate time and with ample notice?
Missoulaschoolswatchdog smells a rat here. Additionally, will the changes to Lowell be a perfect combination of the new and the old as the principal of Lowell said to me before the project? Or will too much of the school have been destroyed forever? msw will let you know what I think after the visit tonight.
The two schools were Franklin and Lowell.
Lowell is a A.J. Gibson designed school. Gibson was a famous Missoula and regional architect in the early 1900's. This school was gutted and an addition on the playground was added which is connected to the back.
Franklin School was demolished, unfortunately, in the opinion of missoulaschoolwatchdog.
The bond could be named "destroy Missoula's school history" bond.
The entire school building of Franklin, which included a pretty much brand new addition built in 2009 or so costing half a million dollars(!) was demolished. Oh, they kept the gym, according to someone I talked to because it would have been too expensive to replace - how nice MCPS left one small portion of the Franklin School history.
To get back to the open house which is from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. tonight. Some thoughts - the school district did not let the wider Missoula population know about this open house. It appears the district let families in the Lowell area know earlier. And isn't 4:00 a little early for every day workers? Why not have it at 7:00 to 9:00?
Another point. The paper states: "These open houses are sign not just as back-to-school nights(again this is not at night-msw) for those families and students, but for the community to be welcomed and experience what they paid for," Missoula County Public Schools Communication Director Hatton Littman said."
My take from the above statement: If they really wanted to welcome the community why did the district give little notice for this event? And why is it being held from 4:00 to 6:00. All of Missoula property owners paid for this bond - why not really invite the entire city at an appropriate time and with ample notice?
Missoulaschoolswatchdog smells a rat here. Additionally, will the changes to Lowell be a perfect combination of the new and the old as the principal of Lowell said to me before the project? Or will too much of the school have been destroyed forever? msw will let you know what I think after the visit tonight.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
8-22-17 edition of Montana Morning - 4,000 kids are being bused to schools on 103 bus routes
This morning I was listening to the end of Montana Morning, a news show on KGVO, and heard some news tidbits on busing our children to school.
Missoula County Public Schools is busing 4,000 kids to school each morning! And this is out of an enrollment of about double that number (Sorry, I don't have the enrollment numbers in front of me at this time).
So -- we still have 5 schools that could be reopened. Which MCPS will stubbornly and I believe corruptly, will not open. The schools are: Emma Dickinson, Prescott, Mt. Jumbo, Whittier, and Jefferson.
One of these schools, Prescott, is being used by a private school - being leased to Missoula International School. So -- MCPS sends two to three hundred students to Washington Middle School out of the Rattlesnake Valley but allows a private school to use our much needed public school. Like I said, CORRUPT!
Again, busing 4,000 kids per day to school in Missoula, Montana. Unconscionable.
Missoula School Watchdog will try to get the enrollment numbers for this post at some point soon.
Thank you for reading Missoula School Watchdog!
Missoula County Public Schools is busing 4,000 kids to school each morning! And this is out of an enrollment of about double that number (Sorry, I don't have the enrollment numbers in front of me at this time).
So -- we still have 5 schools that could be reopened. Which MCPS will stubbornly and I believe corruptly, will not open. The schools are: Emma Dickinson, Prescott, Mt. Jumbo, Whittier, and Jefferson.
One of these schools, Prescott, is being used by a private school - being leased to Missoula International School. So -- MCPS sends two to three hundred students to Washington Middle School out of the Rattlesnake Valley but allows a private school to use our much needed public school. Like I said, CORRUPT!
Again, busing 4,000 kids per day to school in Missoula, Montana. Unconscionable.
Missoula School Watchdog will try to get the enrollment numbers for this post at some point soon.
Thank you for reading Missoula School Watchdog!
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