Bonner School Board Flubs A $222,000 Dub
Now, we know the price tag for the former Bonner County School Board’s last bit of stupidity: $222,000. That, of course, is how much the current board agreed to pay Superintendent Max Harrell to buy him out of the last two years of his contract - two years, by the way, that were tacked on in July after the district’s credibility hit rock bottom.
The trustees extended Harrell’s contract after he’d upset about everyone. First, he tried to fire popular high school Principal A.C. Woolnough. Then, teachers gave him a vote of no confidence. Finally, he attracted public scorn by remaining cloistered in his office, out of touch with schools and patrons. He had to go. Harrell should have been allowed to finish the 1997-98 school year, the last one on his original contract, and then been given the boot. A quarter of a million dollars can go a long ways toward repairing a roof or buying books.
The Trib is back where it belongs
A scene occurred New Year’s Eve at the Lewiston Morning Tribune office you’ll likely not see at many newspapers. Publisher Butch Alford was cheered by almost his entire crew when he walked through the front door. He’d just negotiated a deal with Kearns-Tribune Corp. that returned ownership of the feisty newspaper back to the Alford family. Where it belongs. Alford also bought the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, The Whitman County Gazette in Colfax, Wash., and The Daily Sparks Tribune in Sparks, Nev. Anyone who’s ever worked for Butch, as I have, knows he’s one of a kind. He puts the news first and stands behind his people. After working for two money-grubbing chains earlier in my career, I didn’t know newspapers like the Trib existed. Alford, Managing Editor Paul Emerson and the fine crew they assembled in the early 1980s restored my faith in this business. May Alford’s kind increase.
Boundary panel fools Mr. Potatohead
In September, the Coeur d’Alene School District earned a Hot Potato for hand-picking a committee to redraw middle-school boundaries. I thought then, and still do, that the process should have been more open to the public. However, the committee has performed the formidable task of dividing two middle schools into three extremely well. The panel wisely proposed to allow children from nearby subdivisions to attend the new middle school rather than bus them elsewhere. And to permit current middle schoolers living in the no-man’s land called the “Borah Triangle” to pick which current school they’ll attend next year. Sometimes, I love being shown up.
, DataTimes MEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125, or by sending e-mail to daveo@spokesman.com.