Letters for July 14, 2023
The truth will set you free
When Susan Luckey suggested that the May levy failed because voter turnout was low, she was wrong. The numbers tell a different story. Voter turnout this last levy ballot measure was significantly higher than it was for the prior levy ballot measure, and pretty much all the increase in turnout turned out against the levy.
Like it or not, Brandon Durst was right about our school district. It has been failing, we’ve been losing students, and it does not have the trust of the district residents. Those are just the facts. If we ignore them and continue down the same path voter turnout will increase further, we’ll have even less of a chance of passing school funding levies in the future, and much worse, even less of a chance of improving our schools.
As Mr. Durst said, it is time for a fresh set of eyes and I’m glad our board realized that and hired him to help us fix the problems that are so evident in our district. Even Ms. Luckey stated that she would support a forensic audit (though that did seem like a change in tune). So, let’s start there, get the books in order, roll up our sleeves and then start to come up with real solutions to the district’s problems instead of trotting out that same tax-and-spend Band-Aid that Democrats always push. We owe that to our children and all the residents of the district.
Crystal Wagner
Priest River
A circus of a school board meeting
At last Wednesday’s (June 28) West Bonner County School Board Meeting, Trustee Margaret Hall proved that she places the agenda of her Priest Lake cronies (notably Shawn Keough) above the best interests of the school district.
In the meeting, Trustee Hall misled both the Board and the public about Idaho State Code and the procedure for negotiation of personal service contracts for public entities. Title 59-514 of Idaho law clearly states that such contracts are to be made public within 15 days of entering into them. Hall even went so far as to tell the board and the crowd that the LPOSD negotiates their individual personal service contracts in open public meetings. They don’t. The LPOSD board negotiates its superintendent and similar contracts in executive session – as required.
Handling personnel issues is what executive sessions were created for. In fact, not using them to do things like negotiate personal service (employment) contracts and instead doing so in open public meetings releases what is classified as privileged information and opens the District up to risk of being sued. But Trustee Hall didn’t care about opening up the district to that risk by doing the wrong thing.
All she cared about was trying to make a circus of yet another school board meeting to protect her friends who have run the district into a sorry state with nepotism, a lack of professionalism and a lack of financial accountability. Shame on her.
Rod VanLoon
Oldtown, Idaho