School Board Members Replace Chairman Burchell Accuses Trustees Of ‘Petty Partisanship’

Dozens of parents, teachers and students witnessed the overthrow of the Coeur d’Alene school board’s leadership Wednesday night.

In a special meeting that school board Chairman Ken Burchell did not attend, three out of four attending board members voted to replace him with trustee Vern Newby.

Burchell was considered overbearing and unprofessional by some critics. But supporters credit him with raising the district’s academic standards.

“Chairman Burchell is being stripped of his position of chairman…because he tried to hold our school district accountable for their deficiencies,” said Susan MacRae, a parent who supports Burchell.

Burchell called the leadership change “petty partisanship.”

“This is their little party and they’ll have to answer to it,” he said.

But many teachers in the crowd of about 70 people were pleased with the action.

“We need respect in the community for educators and parents, and our administration,” said one teacher who asked not to be identified.

Teacher Dave Ballard said he wants the school board to quit bickering and address the problem of overcrowded schools.

“Teachers are going to go out and do their job regardless. It doesn’t matter who’s on the school board,” he said. “This could hurt us in the spring” during a bond levy election.

The lone dissenter in Wednesday’s vote was Jane Curtis, Burchell’s only ally on the board.

“I’m very reluctant to vote to reorganize when the member most affected by the reorganization is not present,” Curtis said before the vote.

Trustees Newby, Tim Olson and Wanda Quinn voted against Burchell.

The embattled chairman said he couldn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting because of a long-standing “private” religious commitment.

He questioned why the special meeting had to be called.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no emergency,” Burchell said. “It should be handled at a regular board meeting.”

Newby said no other night was available before the regular board meeting next week.

“When you take an emotional issue such as this and go into a board meeting, you’ll be too emotionally charged,” he said, explaining why he called the special meeting. “It’s not fair for the kids if we’re tied up in other issues.”

But Quinn said it had nothing to do with an allegiance to certain educational philosophies.

Instead, she said the issue was one of communication and Burchell’s apparent favoritism toward a certain faction of parents.

The call for reorganization followed an outburst from Burchell at a December school board meeting. Parents for Academic Excellence, a group pushing for more emphasis on phonics and other traditional teaching methods, was denied a place on the agenda by a vote of Olson, Newby and Quinn.

Burchell called the move outrageous, and gave the group 45 minutes to make its presentation, which was critical of the district’s reading instruction.

Burchell credits himself and Curtis for making academic excellence a top priority, for prompting formation of a district-wide disciplinary code and implementing tighter controls on experimental programs. But parents who support progressive teaching methods felt alienated by Burchell’s conservativism.

The political maneuvering, meanwhile, has triggered rumblings of a recall attempt.

Government watchdog Ron Rankin said he was asked by some parents who support Burchell to research what it would take to recall Newby, Olson and Quinn.

Parent Eileen Cox said her group, Parents for Academic Excellence, is not considering a recall effort.

, DataTimes