Post Falls schools select principal

The Post Falls School Board voted Monday night to hire Steve L. Smith as the next Post Falls High School principal.

Smith is principal at West Valley Junior High School in Yakima. He will replace John Billetz, who announced his resignation upon receiving an offer to be the executive director of the Idaho High School Activities Association.

Smith has received numerous state awards for administrators and served as president of the Washington Association of Middle Level Principals in 2003.

In other business, the board approved a bond election for May 16. It will ask voters for $10.88 million to build an elementary school, add eight classrooms to the high school, acquire land for future schools and remodel the district transportation building.

The Zone 1 board position is also up for election May 16. That seat is held by Alison McArthur, who said she is waiting until April – when petition forms are available – to announce whether she will run.

– Rasha Madkour

Sandpoint developer wants to keep geese

A developer in Sandpoint says he will take a gaggle of geese under his wing if city officials vote to give them the boot from a public beach.

“I really don’t want to see them go,” Ralph Sletager told the Bonner County Daily Bee. “My preference is not to have them moved or relocated. They add a lot of color and charm to the area.”

The City Council is scheduled to vote next week on whether to remove wild Canada geese and domestic white geese from City Beach. If approved, explosive devices would be used to scare them away starting as early as April.

But Sletager says before that happens he’ll take 10 of the white geese to his home, which has several ponds, or keep them at the nearby Sandpoint Marina, which his Waterfront Property Management office overlooks.

“Boaters in the marina have enjoyed their presence and have set up feeders over the years near their boat slips,” Sletager said. “But I’ll take care of them. I don’t want to see any harm come to them.”

The council vote follows complaints by beach users of geese droppings, which besides being messy can carry salmonella and E. coli bacteria. Parks and Recreation Director Kim Woodruff also says there are increasing complaints about Canada geese becoming more aggressive toward people.

– Associated Press

Boise

Day-care measure could be stalled

A Coeur d’Alene lawmaker’s push for stricter day-care standards is still in the beginning stages of the legislative process, and he’s not sure if that will change this year.

“It’s getting kind of late,” said Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene. “I don’t know what’s going to happen at this point.”

A new version of Sayler’s bill to strengthen standards for smaller state centers and private homes was introduced in the House State Affairs Committee on Monday. An earlier version is stalled in the House Health and Welfare Committee, where Sayler said there were concerns about some details. But that panel has a full agenda this week, and Sayler’s not sure when he’ll get a hearing on the new version.

“It depends on when the session ends,” Sayler said.

The bill is backed by Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, and Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake. Sayler sponsored a similar bill last year that died in committee on a 6-6 vote.

– Meghann M. Cuniff