School district to host community meeting
April 17, 2011
In an effort to quell rumors and innuendo surround the upcoming Boundary County School District 101 maintenance and operations levy, school board members, school administrators and local elected officials and community leaders will host a community meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in the Becker Auditorium.

"We're expecting tough questions," school board chair Melanie Staples said at a planning meeting held last week, "and we'll have answers. Another failure will have a domino effect in all areas of our county. We will use this meeting to provide extensive information, and to clarify facts versus myths."

The first levy failed by a margin of 158 votes when it was run March 8. Under Idaho Code, the school board can re-run the levy, but the May 17 election may be the last time the levy before the district has to begin implementing draconian cuts in time to develop next year's school budget.

At stake are all the school's extracurricular programs, including sports, drama, music, art, languages, honor society and more ... programs that, for the majority of students, provide the impetus to knuckle down to the core subjects; math, science, English. And, for most of those students who go on to achieve great things, the extracurricular programs are what gave them a boost in going on to college through scholarships.

They don't give out many for math, English or science.

Times are tough for all of us, but many in the community say that this is precisely the time to support our school district, and the only way to do that is by voting to approve the property taxes that would fund the two year, $2.8-million M&O levy.

"Economically, we're in a crisis," said Panhandle Bank Bonners Ferry branch manager Dave Walter, both at the planning meeting as well as at Friday's chamber social. "If we want to see our economy improve, we have to support our public schools. That's one of the first things businesses that want to invest in a community look at. If we say we won't support our schools, this place could very easily become a ghost town."

Just like nearly every business in Boundary County, the school district has undergone an extended bout of belt tightening. Vacant positions for teachers and staff have gone unfilled, those who remain, recognizing how dire the funding situation is, have agreed to pay cuts. Teachers in the classroom make do with the textbooks they have.

That's why some of the rumors that come back to the board are so frustrating, particularly as regards superintendent Dr. Don Bartling, who is retiring. Reports of his six-figure salary and "golden parachute" retirement package, Staples said, are just that, rumors.

"I don't know where that's coming from, and I certainly wish it were true," Dr. Bartling said. "Unfortunately for me, that's not the case!"

Every teacher and other job lost within the district, Walter said, exacerbates the unemployment picture in Boundary County, currently second highest in the state, and takes away people who live and spend in our community.

Another misconception is that the number of dollars Boundary County property owners pay for funding our schools just keep going up and up and up. In fact, since 2004, local taxpayer funding has dropped by nearly half. The proposed M&O levy going before voters May 17 might increase property taxes slightly, but the amount each property tax payer pays, if the levy passes, will still be less than amounts levied in the 23 years this community, most often kicking and screaming, has supported the levy.

One of the concerns raised by those attending the planning meeting was that events such as the April 21 community meeting take place at our schools.

"Right or wrong, people see it as the school district putting people in places that are in your comfort zone, not ours," County Commissioner Dan Dinning said. "If you in the district would step outside your comfort zone and go to where the people are, like the Porthill Mercantile, Good Grief, the Naples Hostel or firehall, Three Mile or Moyie, I think you'd get a better idea of what the people of this community are thinking."

While time before the election is short, Staples said she and other board members would be more than happy to attend any local group event interested in discussing the levy, and why its passage is essential, both to our students and our economy.

In fact, for the first time, the school district is harnessing technology to allow anyone who can't attend the April 21 community meeting to follow it live via the internet; www.boundarycountylive.com.