Librarian, Activist Will Miss The Pace

As union presidents go, Joan Head looks anything but intimidating. She wears canvas shoes and her glasses reach from her cheekbones to her brow. Loopy blonde curls tickle her forehead and neck.

She looks like she should pull hot cookies from an oven and offer them with a benevolent smile. But that’s not likely to happen.

“I like turmoil,” the Sandpoint Middle School librarian says as if she’s picking her favorite ice cream flavor.

She encountered plenty during her 33 years in the Bonner County schools. As president of the teachers union, Joan led walk-out talk, called for investigations of administrators and had her library desk searched.

Joan single-handedly packed and moved her library five times. She worked seven days a week for nearly 20 years.

It’s no wonder she’s nervous about retiring this year.

“I am used to this pace,” she says. “I can’t even imagine…”

Joan has worked so hard for 41 years that she doesn’t know how to rest. She taught English, social studies, physical education and drama and coached drill team before she took over Sandpoint Junior High’s library.

Her husband was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1973, so Joan supplemented her income by teaching driver’s education. She was the district’s first female driving teacher.

The pace never bothered her. She refused to stay home unless her body couldn’t move. Her three daughters learned the same work ethic.

“I’ve always told my girls, `If your arms and legs move, so do you,”’ Joan says. She accumulated 190 sick days.

Her husband’s death left a void Joan filled with politics. Union association grew into leadership. Between 1982 and 1997, she was president of the Bonner County Education Association an unmatched four times.

“It was a wonderful time for me,” she says, smiling. “I like anything with politics.”

Her last term was her wildest. Teachers voted no-confidence in superintendent Max Harrell after working a year with no contract. An administrator who later resigned allowed a private detective to search Joan’s desk.

“She really felt the gestapo tactics to make her back down,” says Lori Stone, a fellow teacher. Lori is president of the teachers union now. “But she did not back down.”

The school board bought out Harrell’s contract in December 1997.

“It’s just another chapter,” Joan says, and chuckles. “It’s been real interesting. I’ve seen a lot of action.”

And finished with a solid reputation.

“She stands true to her convictions,” says Lori, who calls Joan often for advice. “She’s honest and sees things with a tone of fairness. She’ll tell you when you’re out of line as opposed to always siding with the union platform.”

Joan will settle in Kellogg near her mother and one of her daughters soon after driver’s education ends in July.

“I hope to get involved in volunteering,” she says. “I sure won’t sit around and do housework. That’s not me.”

Musical interlude

Summer is a great time to drive to Potlatch. The fields are green and the little company town is hopping.

Pack lawn chairs and blankets if you head down for the July 8 concert featuring the Black Irish Band.

The band plays Italian, Irish and Spanish-brass folk music - something you don’t hear much in the Panhandle. Promoters promise a sing-along of railroad, maritime and gold and silver rush music.

The band will play in Scenic Six Park at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for students.