Schools chief talks about safety, joy, local baseball
Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent Harry Amend is the guest for D.F. Oliveria’s weekly Huckleberries Gone Wireless question-and-answer feature today. The complete text of the interview will be available at Huckleberries Online after 9 this morning.
DFO: As a former Major League Baseball scout, can you tell if there’s a current player in North Idaho who’s capable of playing in the big leagues?
HA: There are (at least) four players who could play at the professional level: Alex Capaul (Lake City), Shea Vucinich and Andy Seaman (Coeur d’Alene High), and Tyler Lichty (Sandpoint High).
DFO: Who was your best signing?
HA: Kevin Stocker (of the University of Washington in 1991). Two years later, Kevin started at shortstop in the 1993 World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies.
DFO: In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, can you assure concerned parents that their kids are safe on Coeur d’Alene School District grounds?
HA: Student and staff safety is job one in my district. We have a structured plan of drills including lockdown/intruder drills that involve students at all grade levels on a scheduled basis. This past year, CSD received a $247,000 federal grant to install the same security system that Spokane School District 81 used in the shooter incident at Lewis-Clark High two years ago.
DFO: Last year, the district generated controversy when it proposed to build a new middle school on Person Field. Is Person Field still on the district’s radar?
HA: The district has no future plans for the Person Field site.
DFO: Are you confident that the school levy will pass next month?
AH: People respond positively when they learn about the programs supported by the levy and that the district has one of the lowest tax rates in Idaho. ($1.12 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation compared to the Idaho average of $3.08 per thousand for all districts and $3.98 for districts of 5,000 or more students).
DFO: What would you do in the unforeseen situation that supremacist Stan Hess got elected to the school board?
HA: This is my 16th year as a superintendent. I’ve learned to work with many different types of individuals on the school board, including individuals who came on the board with single-item agendas, extreme political views, and a wide range of experience. … We will be successful as a board with whomever voters select.
DFO: Are there any changes in your district’s demographics that concern you?
HA: There are two changes: One is a drop in students who qualify for free and reduced lunch from 43 percent to 38 percent over the past year. (Significance: 500 children and their lower-income families have moved out of the district because they can’t afford homes). The second is that the percentage of residents with children in the Coeur d’Alene School District has dropped to 20 percent. This presents a major challenge to us in getting information out in the levy campaign.
DFO: How long until the district hires a replacement at Coeur d’Alene High for athletic director Larry Schwenke?
HA: The (nationwide job search) will close in the middle of May. The new assistant principal/athletic director will be hired in the middle of May.
DFO: Who’s the most famous person you ever met?
HA: Two years ago at an education conference in San Diego, I met Mikhail Gorbachev and shook his hand.
DFO: When do you plan to retire?
HA: I’m now 61. This is my 38th year in education, spread over five decades, starting in 1969. There are three criteria I have in deciding to retire: 1. How’s my physical health? 2. Is there still joy in the job? and 3. Are they still following me? I am currently under contract through 2007-08 and will continue to check those three criteria.
DFO: Do you still have the joy part?
HA: Most days are very joyful.