District Split Divides Bonner Candidates Hopefuls In Only Contested School Board Race Differ On How Clearly Issue Has Been Presented To Voters

Candidates for the Bonner County school board never have been plentiful. This year is no different. Of three open seats, only one race is contested.

Engineer Eric Eldenburg and retired school administrator Leonard Parenteau are battling to serve long hours in the often-thankless job.

Both are from Priest River, where they say the major issue is whether the district should divide.

The current board already has sent a plan to voters that would split the county into two school districts.

Priest River would become the west-side district and Sandpoint the east.

Eldenburg worked on the committee that recommended the split and supports it.

Parenteau insists residents aren’t being given enough information to vote on the division.

“People and employees have lots of questions on how it (a division) will affect them,” Parenteau said. “We are only being provided the information on the process, not the answers to a lot of questions.”

Eldenburg disagrees. The district hired a professional consulting firm that recently released a 100-plus page report detailing what would happen if the district splits.

The district also will have three public hearings at the end of this month to answer other questions or concerns residents have.

The district needs to split to give residents more control over their schools, Eldenburg said. Priest River residents now have only one trustee on the board. By dividing, Priest River residents would have their own superintendent, their own school board and could pass levies to support only their schools.

“Splitting is the best step I see toward improving education in Bonner County,” Eldenburg said. “I’m tired of the district stagnating and not progressing.”

Bonner County schools have been unable to pass levies. The district has been in debt for nearly a decade. Residents in outlying areas are reluctant to pay more taxes for a new school their children never will attend. Dividing the district could cure those problems, Eldenburg said.

“One of my goals is to put faith and trust back into the school board. We need to show the public we are being responsible with our money.”

Both candidates agree the district’s curriculum needs to be updated. There is no uniform curriculum now.

“The teachers do a great job with the tools they have, but right now we don’t have a common goal to work toward,” Parenteau said. “We need to define our curriculum.”

Parenteau has worked in the district for 37 years, but Eldenburg said that can be a drawback.

Parenteau would bring too much baggage to the job and could be viewed as having an ax to grind with employees, Eldenburg said.

Parenteau has been criticized recently for how drug grant money was spent, a program he helped oversee.

The school board also questioned why Parenteau, who is retired, is having the district pay his way to a drug conference in Sun Valley.

“I don’t feel the baggage exists with me that exists with Leonard,” Eldenburg said.

Parenteau has a list of goals for the district, such as balancing the budget, rewarding employees, providing safe schools and better communication with patron and employees.

But he has few specific ideas on how to accomplish those goals.

When asked if rewarding employees included merit pay, Parenteau said he “didn’t want to get into that.”

“You can’t say we are going to give big salaries unless you know the money is there.”

In Zone 3 incumbent Jim Cooper already was declared the winner as was Patricia Gottschalk in Zone 4. Neither race was contested.

To vote Polling places for Tuesday’s election in Zone 1 are Idaho Hill Elementary, Priest River Lamanna High School and Priest Lake Elementary. Polls are open from noon until 8 p.m.