Robert Dompier Fills Wv Board Opening

Sat., July 22, 2000

By Stacy Schwandt stacys@spokesman.com

The West Valley School Board appointed a new member on Thursday to fill the seat vacated by Pete Schweda, who retired from the board in June.

Robert Dompier, an attorney and real estate investor, will assume his new position at the Aug. 23 board meeting. He will finish off Schweda’s term, which runs through November 2001.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Dompier said. He has three children who were or are in the district: a son who graduated from West Valley High School last year, a daughter in the 10th grade, and a son in the eighth grade at City School.

“I’ve participated in many of the district’s committees and the school board position is the next natural step,” he added.

Since 1989, Dompier has served on the facilities committee, the strategic plan committee and the V.O.T.E.S committee, which oversees campaigns for proposed levies and bonds.

“Bob has a willingness to get involved, work hard, and make a commitment,” said board president Bill Zimmer. “He has an easy-going manner and is very thoughtful.”

Dompier was one of two candidates who applied for the position. The other, Nancy Mahoney, also has a long history of work in the district.

“Both the candidates were fantastic candidates,” said West Valley’s superintendent Dave Smith. “I would have loved to have them both. You couldn’t have gone wrong with either one.”

Smith added that Dompier’s law background should prove valuable to the board. Dompier received his law degree from Gonzaga University and also received a master’s in law from New York University.

Dompier said that as a board member he will focus on the challenges presented by Washington’s new education standards.

“They’re going to change the way teachers teach,” he said. He is also interested in revisiting the district’s high school graduation requirements.

“I’d like to see that the kids, when they graduate from high school, have a diploma that really means something,” Dompier said. “That they’ve really accomplished something.”

Dompier is the third new member to join the board in the past year. Debbie Hjortedal was appointed to fill an empty seat last September and Mark Shulkin was elected to fill another in November.

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