Patrons Ask Board To Tell Stand On Cuts Bonner Residents Come Armed With Recall Petitions

Angry residents armed with recall petitions put the Bonner County school board on the hot seat Tuesday, demanding it drop a proposed funding cap on extracurricular student programs.

But after two hours of discussion, many of the nearly 400 people in attendance left the meeting confused.

“They talked in circles,” said Debbie Jeffries, a member of Concerned Citizens for Community and Kids. “All they had to do was say, ‘No, I will not accept any cuts in extracurricular activities.”’

Jeffries’ group has spent more than a month fighting Superintendent Max Harrell’s proposed cap on next year’s student-activity programs. Critics say it will gut sports, drama, choir and all other activities.

At the meeting, board members were asked pointblank how they would vote on a budget that included cuts in student programs.

The first time around, all the trustees said they supported the programs, telling stories about their own kids’ involvement in the activities.

None of the board members, however, indicated how he or she would vote.

Chairman Rebecca Hawkins said she needed to have budget numbers in front of her.

Parent Bob Witte, who opposes any cuts, pushed the question one more time, noting that two school board members, Hawkins and Bill Osmunson, are up for re-election next week.

“In light of that, we need to know how you are going to vote if this is brought up,” Witte said. “I think it’s a valid question.”

Hawkins and Osmunson finally said they would oppose cuts in extracurricular activities.

Members of the citizens group came to the meeting with a bag filled with recall petitions, but held off passing them out. They may still launch a recall, Jeffries said, claiming the school board was unresponsive to residents’ concerns.

“Why am I here? I shouldn’t have to be,” Jeffries told the board. “Your job is to listen to us and to act in accordance to the wishes of the taxpayers. When 1,300 people take the time to go to a town meeting to show their support for activities, you as a board should listen and act accordingly.”

The group rallied 1,300 people at a special meeting two weeks ago to oppose the cap.

“What is it going to take for you to hear us?” Jeffries asked. “Or do we need to look at getting a new school board who will listen?”

The board did approve a plan to draft next year’s budget without an activities cap and cuts in central office administrative staff. The recommendations came from a citizens’ committee.

Superintendent Harrell initially asked for the cap to slow down spending, because the district expects to be $500,000 in debt by year’s end.

The cap doesn’t mean programs will be cut, Harrell said.

“I never recommended to this board to cut extracurricular activities next year, whether you believe that or not,” he said to guffaws from the crowd.

“Why are we all here then?” shouted one audience member.

“Are you playing semantics?” asked another.

Outraged by Harrell’s proposal, parents pored over the school district’s budget and decided too much money goes to administrative salaries and projects, and not enough to students.

The group is calling for administrators to cut their budgets by 50 percent. They want Harrell, who earns $80,228 a year, to refuse a scheduled pay raise and take a cut instead.

Harrell hasn’t responded to the challenge.

“I want my money to go to kids, not into the pocket of some high-paid (administrative) person,” said one resident, Jacque Schremser.

, DataTimes