Board Members Taken Off Principal’s Case

A judge has prohibited two Ririe School Board members from deciding the fate of elementary school principal Nikki Miller.

The three remaining members are eligible to sit in as fact-finders in her discharge hearing, 7th District Judge Ted Wood decided Thursday.

Superintendent L. Dean Birch wants to fire her.

Wood disqualified board members Lynette Miller and Clyde Cook, but denied Nikki Miller’s bid to have board members Jim Lovell, Blair Moncur and George Newby disqualified.

Wood wrote it is possible Lovell, Moncur, and Newby could have received pre-hearing knowledge that might influence their decision, but the risk did not rise to the level of probability.

Lynette Miller and Cook have “engaged in conduct or made public statements which cast serious doubt upon their ability to act as fair and impartial adjudicators,” he said.

Three members will be enough for a quorum, said John Rumel, Miller’s attorney.