News From Mission Mountain School

Colleen Harrington
Assistant School Head
406-754-2580
Website

May, 2006

Colleen Harrington, Assistant School Head announced some developments that have occurred at Mission Mountain School within the past several months. MMS is delighted and excited to announce its re-accreditation from the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools in November.

The PNAIS Evaluation Team commended Mission Mountain School for several things, including: Creating an intentional, healing community that provides both care and structure for the students; The consistent and powerful commitment to introspection and evaluation of the program in order to best serve the needs of their student population; and the thoughtful articulation, understanding and implementation of the school's vision and philosophy. This was the result of a culmination of a year long self-study process. In March, Colleen, John Mercer, School Head and four staff members took a group of students for an extended trip to Death Valley National Park. This was a fun and exciting trip they may elect to do on an annual basis. Regarding personnel, they are pleased to announce that Tim Wilcox, PhD is the new Clinical Director. Tim brings over 20 years of experience and enthusiasm to his position. They also underwent a variety of staff changes at the end of last year and now have some new people on board to help them carry out their mission and vision. And last, they have decided to return to their "roots" which means MMS will keep its population closer to 32 rather than 40. This is the number for which their campus is actually designed, and they believe this will allow them to provide a better service to their students and families.