Positive change for West Bonner County schools

Change is finally happening in the West Bonner County School District. While this reality may be a bit scary to some, it’s long overdue and we owe it to the children of the district.

For years now we’ve been seeing ever-increasing taxes and decreasing performance. And then this May, the “old guard” pushed hard for a massive 57% increase in the school funding levy — almost 70% of which was allocated to increase the salaries of administration and staff, all while proper accounting practices were not being followed and serious questions remained about the bookkeeping. I fail to see how continuing that trend could have been good for the children, and apparently so do most of the voters in the district.

It’s been high time for a change of the guard, and now that our community has elected school board members courageous and caring enough to stand up to the misinformation, bullying, and threats they had to face from a small minority who felt entitled to control, the children of West Bonner County are getting the change they so desperately need.

I invite the whole community to treat this new opportunity for positive change more honestly than we did the last one with the previous superintendent, Jackie. The eyes of the county — and likely, the whole state — will be on us and any shenanigans will be laid bare for all to see. Let’s act on what the slogans suggest we care about and make this change work for the kids.

FAITH BRENNEMAN

Spirit Lake