Plenty Said About School Basics Board Candidates Give Views At Forum In Coeur D’Alene

The five candidates for the Coeur d’Alene School Board discussed personal style, education politics and teaching methods during a forum Wednesday.

With rapid-fire jokes, incumbent Eli Ross set a humorous tone for the two-hour forum sponsored by Coeur d’Alene parent-teacher organizations and the League of Women Voters.

But the forum quickly moved to topics that are the subjects of heated debate among parents and legislators, including school choice and a back-to-basics approach to teaching.

Ross professed a liking for both of those concepts and said his first priority is establishing a solid academic foundation, which includes the importance of teaching phonics.

His opponent in the district’s western zone, former school board member Tim Olson, said he doesn’t care so much how students are taught as long as they graduate with the skills necessary to be successful in the job market. Olson, now executive director of the Northwest Mining Association, stepped down from the school board three years ago because of the traveling required in his former job with an environmental engineering firm.

But he’s returned because “the school board is the ultimate in volunteerism.”

In the Hayden area, two newcomers to education politics are challenging incumbent Vern Newby.

One, Pamela Fink, said her driving interest is the welfare of children. As a worker with the county juvenile diversion program, Fink has close contact with troubled youths.”Teachers aren’t just teaching. Teachers are counseling, and nurturing, sometimes in the place of parents,” she said.

Larry Rook, a single father and high school booster, said he’s concerned about the district’s credibility following the bond election that built Lake City High and began renovation of Coeur d’Alene High.

If the next bond election does not address the unfinished high school and the need for a new multipurpose room at Dalton Gardens Elementary, he said, the district will lose credibility with students and patrons.

Asked about outcome-based education, a controversial teaching and testing method, Rook said he wasn’t sure what it meant. But, he said, he advocates a strong basic education, including computer literacy.

Newby and Ross criticized outcome-based education, which advocates setting goals and holding students until they master them.

All of the candidates expressed a willingness to allow pilot projects and some experimentation by teachers.

When asked about financing, Ross advocated weaning the district off the annual supplemental levy and establishing a “grace” committee to help find ways to cut district costs.

Newby defended the district’s spending practices, saying very little money is wasted. Instead, he advocates impact fees or transaction fees as an alternative mechanism for funding schools.

The school board election is May 16. Only voters living within Zone 3, the Ramsey Road area, and Zone 2, the Hayden area, can vote.