Candidate for Post Falls School Board wants future-thinking approach to district construction

An empty seat on Post Falls School Board of Trustees drew the interest of two parents.

Thomas Barrett is a father to two Post Falls students. He describes himself as data driven and is looking to bring his business acumen to the board, eyeing potential construction needs that should be built with the future in mind.

“A lot of it had to do with some of the business decisions that were being made in the Post Falls School District that I kind of felt a lot of it was lacking,” Barrett said of his decision to run.

Barrett has spent much of the run-up to the election poring over graphs and data sets, trying to estimate the best time to start construction and how big new schools should be. This research, combined with anecdotal observations about North Idaho’s population growth, led him to advocate for bigger new schools to account for potential future enrollment.

Candidate Kelli Johnson did not respond to multiple requests to interview with The Spokesman-Review.

Johnson is a third-generation Post Falls resident and stay-at-home mom to two children, she told Idaho Education News; her daughter attends private school. Before leaving work to stay home with her kids, Johnson earned a teaching degree from the University of Idaho, according to a Kootenai County GOP questionnaire, and worked as a behavior interventionist.

Barrett’s plans if he is elected as a trustee mostly surround the district’s long-term facilities planning, which he said should be bigger.

The district’s 2018 long-range facilities plan recommends the district build a second high school once Post Falls High School enrollment reaches 1,750 students. Around 1,500 were enrolled in last year’s spring counts, according to the state’s database.

Barrett set his sights higher, advocating for a school to fit 6,000 kids. He said the district’s acreage estimates for property are also off. Plans indicate parcels for high schools should be around 40 acres, middle schools should sit on 20 acres and elementary schools, 10 acres. Barrett said instead, the district should acquire 25-acre parcels for middle and elementary schools for more room to grow.

“I would overbuild that common area so, like, where the lunchrooms and everything else is, and then the elementary school halls, I’d make it to where we could expand out,” Barrett said.

He said he is not a fan of the district’s move to a four-day school week and would favor moving back to a five-day week with an adjusted school calendar. He said he would explore what year-round school or a balanced calendar could look like in Post Falls in a bid to prevent summer learning loss.

“We do see a summer slide here,” Barrett said. “It’s where I think if we do the schedule right, we would be able to keep that knowledge up and going.”

Election Day is Nov. 4.