Second time a charm for school levy
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| April 17, 2011 |
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Newly-elected
School District 101 Zone 4 trustee David
Brinkman and his wife, Melinda. |
More than 3,000 Boundary County voters went to
the polls today, more than 900 more than turned
out March 8, and when the counting was done, the
School District 101 Supplemental Maintenance and
Operations levy passed by a margin of 371 votes,
Melanie Staples retained her seat as zone 4
trustee and David Brinkman earned the zone three
seat.
In all, 3,033 voters turned out, with 1,702
casting their ballots in favor of the levy to
1,331 voting no, a margin of 56-percent to
44-percent. Brinkman won his seat with 307 votes
compared to 242 for incumbent Sulet Hiatt, and
Staples retained her seat with 266 votes to
challenger Paul Shelton's 219.
In March, 2,128 voters turned out to vote solely
on the M&O, which was defeated by a vote of
1,143 no votes to 985 in favor, with only three
precincts, Naples, North Bonners Ferry and
Valley View, approving the measure. This
Tuesday, the measure passed in five of seven
precincts.
"I'm excited," said retiring superintendent Dr.
Don Bartling. "This is just tremendous for the
kids and the school. I'm just thrilled. We still
have a lot of work to do, but I didn't want to
retire without this flag. I am so relieved."
This time around, the measure passed in the
Bonners Ferry precinct, 94-62, where it failed
47-60 in March; the Kootenai precinct 181-144,
where it fell 110-115 last time; the North
Bonners Ferry precinct 380-208, strengthening a
March vote in favor, 228-161; the Naples
precinct, 283-194, where it passed by a 169-144
vote in March; and the Valley View precinct,
295-150, compared to 197-143 in March.
The race tightened this time around in both the
Copeland and the Moyie Springs precincts, with
Copeland voters casting 129 votes in favor to
186 against, compared to 65 in favor to 149
opposed in March, and Moyie Springs voters
casting 340 votes in favor this Tuesday to 387
against, as compared to 169 in favor to 351
against in March.
In the zone 3 trustee's race, Brinkman garnered
156 votes in the Kootenai precinct, 31 in the
North Bonners Ferry precinct, three in the
Naples precinct and 117 in the Valley View
precinct to Hiatt's 116, 21, 1 and 104,
respectively.
In the zone 4 race, Staples claimed 58 votes in
the Bonners Ferry precinct, 158 in the North
Bonners Ferry precinct and 50 in the Valley View
precinct to Shelton's 50, 104 and 65,
respectively.
Bartling had nothing but good things to say
about all four trustee candidates, but
especially for the two he's worked with as his
retirement draws near, Sulet Hiatt, who has been
on the board for two years, and Melanie Staples,
who is currently board chair after serving eight
years on the board.
"They are both wonderful ladies, and they've
given a lot to this school district," he said.
"I congratulate Mr. Brinkman, and I thank Mr.
Shelton for his willingness to serve the people
of this community. Being a school board trustee
is not an easy job, and the pay, or lack
thereof, is isn't nearly enough for the hours
they spend doing the work of the district or for
the complexity these positions entail. I think
it says a lot about this community to have such
qualified and dedicated people step up and face
the challenges of an election for positions that
are entirely voluntary."
In fact, he said, the school board, which will
now be Gil Hagen, Tim Bertling, Brinkman,
Staples and Lisa Dirks, have many challenges
ahead.
"We still have to balance the budget, and
despite the levy, we are still facing
significant cuts," Bartling said. "We have to
consider significant new legislation and how
it's going to affect our district. We still have
hard decisions to make."
They're also going to have to face the
retirement of the district's longest serving
superintendent June 30, as Dr. Bartling ends ten
years as head of the district, a time that saw
both the construction of a new high school and
the advent of an exciting new magnet school
program at Naples Elementrary, combined with a
multi-year decline in state and federal funding
for public schools and the closure of Evergreen
Elementary, and the transition to a new man at
the helm, Idaho native Richard Conley, who grew
up in Emmett, earned degrees, including his
Masters, from Boise State and the University of
Idaho and who has spent more than 20 years
teaching and overseeing, most often rural
schools and rural districts, in both Idaho and
Washington State.
While today's election was exciting, still more
excitement lies ahead. |
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