Two Candidates Vie For Kellogg School Board

Voters in the Kellogg School District will be asked Tuesday to decide between an eight-year school board veteran and a newcomer who volunteers in the district.

Board member Susan Costa, 43, has raised three children who have graduated from Kellogg High School and gone to college. Costa is an office manager at Silver Mountain and is involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She said the district’s biggest challenge has been how to do more with less as money from federal forest funds steadily drops.

“We always have to be on our toes,” Costa said. “We don’t do anything for the fun of it anymore. We have to watch everything.”

Still, she said, the district has made some “wonderful” accomplishments during her tenure. A bond to build Sunnyside Elementary School was passed with enormous community support. The district had an operations and management review conducted to learn how to work best within a tight budget. And communication between the staff and board has improved, she said.

“We worked very hard in the past eight or nine years getting the community involved with everything we do,” she said.

Stephanie Broaddus, Costa’s opponent, was attracted to the position through her involvement in schools.

“I just think I have the energy and a fresh outlook,” said Broaddus, 33. She and her husband own Kellogg Animal Hospital. They have a first-grader and a 3-year-old. They moved to Kellogg in 1991. She is active in Christian Life Center church and is a Chamber of Commerce member.

Broaddus is treasurer of Sunnyside’s parent-teacher organization. She’s on the staff and enrollment committee. She was chairwoman of the “Get out the vote” committee for last week’s supplemental levy, which passed by 73 percent. Her business is a school-to-work partner, and she volunteers at Sunnyside.

Issues that concern her are the district’s potential consolidation with Wallace, test scores, aging buildings and teacher salaries.

“The teachers do a great job, but they are compensated poorly,” she said. “I would like us to at least come up to state average, just so we can retain the quality people we have.”