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Seven candidates seek three Libby trustee seats

| April 28, 2006 12:00 AM

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

For most Libby School Board races, the slate of candidates is scarce.

That's not the story for the Tuesday, May 2, election.

Seven are running for three, three-year seats, which are volunteer positions. They include incumbents Gerald Frament, John Herrmann and Melanie Wood, and challengers Tracy Comeau, Gela Rae Koehler, Bruce Sickler and Lee Disney. The election will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Asa Wood Elementary School.

"I'm not exactly sure why," Teri Kelly, school board chairwoman, said about the interest. "Hopefully they are running for the right reason and they don't have an agenda."

"I know we have a lot of controversy with the old high school," Kelly continued. "I hope that each of those people running realizes that being a school trustee entails a whole lot more than what particular agenda they may have."

The school board in March voted unanimously to allow a Spokane developer to get an appraisal for setting the sale price on the old high school. The board also agreed to pay for that appraisal should the district decide not to sell the vacant building to Conover Bond Development.

Conover Bond hopes to buy and remodel the 90-year-old brick building for professional and government offices. The developer focuses on urban redevelopment, including renovations of historic buildings and new construction projects for technology, health care, hospitality and retail. Each property is built on the same foundation.

The sales price would be based on an appraisal to be commissioned by the company.

The district had said it wanted $350,000 for the building. Empty since 2000, the building was last occupied by Lincoln County Campus of Flathead Valley Community College.

Superintendent Kirby Maki wants to believe that more people are running because they want to help with the school and its future.

"The old high school might have been a little of a catalyst for some, but I would like to think that most see an opportunity to help," Maki said. "It isn't that they have an agenda, but have some views of where they would like to see our school and community go. That would be a positive thing."

Kelly is pleased with the current board.

"We have enough diversity in our backgrounds and education that even though we might not agree, we are usually able to come to some sort of consensus and do what's best for educating our kids."

The candidates in alphabetical order are:

Tracy Comeau

Age: 42

Employment: H & R Block franchise owner in Libby and Bonners Ferry.

Challenger, never served in office.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? As a local business owner and a mother of three Asa Wood students, I feel that my concerns and values reflect those of the community in general. My strong business background will enable me to help make the difficult decisions facing Libby School Board. I am a thorough researcher who can consider both sides of an issue and I believe that my ability to interpret federal and state codes will be an asset to the board.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? I think that the most important issue facing the school district today is loss of funding. Our children and their education system are the foundation of our community therefore we need community involvement. We need to actively support federal and state lawmakers who advocate education legislation.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5,000. Currently, we need to examine the budget and verify that our resources are being used in the most effective and efficient way possible. Then we need to deal with the declining enrollment.

There are things that a school board cannot accomplish alone. We cannot keep working families from moving out of Libby to better job markets. But there are factors that we can influence. We need to do everything possible to improve the quality of the education we provide and to not be satisfied with meeting the minimum requirements.

Then we need to communicate this so that parents regain confidence in the local public education system causing less of them to turn to the alternatives available to educate their children.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? Again, our community needs to remain active in working with the federal and state legislators to increase funding and we need to be sure that the budget is used efficiently. We should also explore hiring incentives and other means of funding.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? I think the school board is on the right track. The old Libby High School is an important part of our downtown landscape. Finding an organization willing to renovate the building and make it a functional part of our community again would be a big step towards Libby's revitalization.

Lee A Disney

Age: 51

Employment: Owner of HooDoo Mountain pellets.

Challenger, who served on the board for 9 years.

Have you ever served in any other office? Lincoln County Parks Board and chairman of Resource Advisory Committee.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? Experienced board member, dedicated and a successful entrepreneur.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Declining enrollment and accountability to the voters.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5,000. Careful planning to get the best value for our dollar while educating our children to the best of our abilities.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? The pay scale structure needs to be reworked.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? Sell it.

Jerry Frament

Age: 61

Employment: Retired computer systems analyst/manager

Incumbent with three years on school board.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? I have a great deal of respect for education. It's only educated young adults that we can turn this country over to in the future. Public education is not only what makes this country strong, but gives the ability to everyone of us to attain whatever dreams or possibilities we choose.

Education has been monumental in my own life, enabling me to achieve many of my own personal dreams. I have a bachelor's degree in theoretical mathematics (which makes me a logical thinker, I hope). I also have experience with public education in New York, California, Colorado and now Montana. After being on the board for 3 years, I find that it takes a lot of time and energy to be a board member.

I enjoy spending time on this important task, including the preparation needed for every school board meeting. Over these last 3 years, I've learned a great deal about Montana and this district's K-12 system, the budget and curriculum. Also, I have a son in the K-12 system and am very much interested in his and the other children's education.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Providing a quality education for all our children so they are equal or above the national average. These kids need to be able to compete for higher education opportunities and good paying jobs. This is difficult to achieve given a limited budget and declining enrollment. The district needs to be able to attract and keep good teachers, which means finding the right balance between high salaries and the ability to provide for good facilities and extra-curriculum opportunities.

Another very important issue is parental involvement. Parental involvement is not just between a parent and his or her child, but includes a parent's involvement with the school district, the teachers and the administration. The more parents we have involved, the stronger our school system will be in providing a quality education.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5,000. It's important that we maintain a low student/teacher ratio to provide a quality education, even in the light of declining budgets. Thus, it is a balancing act between the number of teachers and dollars we have. With the declining enrollment, we have had a decline in the number of teachers. So far, we've been able to manage the declining enrollment and reduced budget without a property tax increase, mostly through a reduction in the number of teachers, administration and other staff. We've also met budget pressures through property management, such closing and leasing McGrade. We need to continue to look for opportunities to manage our property and attract dollars to the school district.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? I am on the negotiating committee working diligently to achieve just that. It is very important to be able to attract and keep good teachers. That is one of the reasons I'm on this three-person committee.

We need to continue to at look at ways of attracting good teachers through a reasonable salary and compensation package. We need to be competitive with other school districts. Of course, this can only be done while maintaining a balanced budget.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? I would like to see it sold for a reasonable price, bringing money into the school district while reducing liabilities. This would improve our property management situation, reducing the amount of property we own.

John Herrmann

Employment: Writer

Incumbent with 5 1/2 years on the school board.

Have you ever served in any other office? Board member for the former Libby court charged with finding alternative sentencing for young first-time offenders.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? It is difficult for me to talk about myself in these terms, but I'll try. Aside from my life in artistic writing, music and teaching in exciting universities, I had a wonderful education in three of the finest universities in the United States. My professors were some of the best minds of the 20th century, and they taught me critical thinking, but more than that, they encouraged me toward independent thinking. I am by nature counterculture, and in that way I probably balance out the board of trustees, the majority of whom would be more traditional. So — as brief as I can make it — I represent the right-brained, unconventional individual who takes very little on face value.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Now that's an easy one. It's called money. We don't have enough of it. And that's because we've lost too many students, thus the budget doesn't get from the state what it used to. That finally results in continued low salaries for teachers, which results in not getting nor keeping them here. It all comes down to that pot of gold that is less and less each year.

To clear things up for your readers who think otherwise, trustees are not salaried positions so we would not save 12 cents by cutting from seven to five members, as has been suggested in your letters to the editor. This is a board of trustees. We are not representatives. Trustees, as the word implies, must act exclusively for the school district and guard its finances as well as the quality of education. When there is less money to go around, we trustees must keep slugging away to keep programs going, keep teachers here, keep class sizes down, etc.

There are serious issues other than that, by the way. We have an elementary school that's falling apart. Do we patch it up, or do we think in terms of building a new school? We have many maintenance issues that will take hundreds of thousands of dollars to clear up. But really, it all does come down to not having enough money to do everything that's needed.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5,000. First, by sending the right people to the state legislature. Second, by careful planning and prioritizing for spending the funds we do have.

Third, by urging local government and business owners to become more creative in their search for new blood in this city's world of business. We see how people are coming in here, building new houses, and for a time, buying up all the real estate so that prices have soared. But these are not people relocating their businesses to Libby or bringing kids into the school district. They are mostly retirees with large home equities.

Therefore, we really need our community representatives to use their imaginations and go after businesses that could profit from relocating to the Libby area. How about all those "help" lines from, like, PC software manufacturers that could be moved here to give them a better economic edge? They would bring their kids along, and every new child that comes into the system brings $5,000 into our budget. We could offer a great place to live with lower business expenses. Plus those "help" calls would be answered in native English language.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? The best idea we developed some time ago was an incentive package for early retirees. Those teachers nearing retirement at the top of the pay scale could save the district a lot of money, even after paying the incentives and hiring new teachers.

However, I might be against that move, since we need teachers with a range of experience as much as we need energetic new teachers. What I hope is that we can limp through these lean times until we see a slowing or reversing of this trend toward losing so many kids each year. One of our trustees said it recently, that it can turn around, that this won't last forever. But — that's what the Chicago Cubs have been saying for a long time.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? Well, it looks as though it's going to be sold on a low-ball bid, so your question is academic. But what would I do if I had my way? I'd have some 10-year-old skinny kid lean on it some afternoon until it fell over, have his friends cart it off, and put up a fine park and small arena where we can have music with our indoor gun shows, outdoor horse shows, an occasional traveling circus, and just a lot of entertaining fun.

It would offer a fenced area to safely train our dogs, a safe place for young city-bound mothers without cars with their children to romp and play. Obviously, I have no emotional attachment to that old building. I don't think it's particularly old, nor handsome, and it is certainly not architecturally unique. So those who love that old structure should be glad I'm just one of seven. If I were going to get excited about saving or renovating a building, it wouldn't be that old school, it would be that old Libby Hotel on California Avenue.

Gela Rae Koehler

Age: 70

Employment: Retired instructional aide.

Challenger. I served on a study committee for city government.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? Honest; I enjoy people and issues; hardworking; caring; and I have time. I worked for the district for 18 years. All of my children graduated from Libby High School. I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren attending now.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Down-sizing, aging buildings and salaries. Let's spend the money received from the sale of the old high school to renovate Asa Wood and see what else we can sell to upgrade old buildings.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5,000. Cutting education is not the answer and neither is cutting teachers' salaries. Cuts need to be made at the administrative level and we need to find other revenue. We need to make sure money spent is necessary and not gravy.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? Look at the number of administrators and do some cutting back on personnel and salaries. Do we really need assistant principals? Also, cutting back on the number of coaches. How many assistants do we really need? Also, how many aides do we really need?

What should be done with the old Libby High School? It should be saved by selling it to a reputable group who could make it a real centerpiece in our community. We need to listen to our community.

Bruce Sickler

Age: 44

Employment: Owner of Sickler Drywall & Paint.

Challenger, never served in office.

What personal attributes do you have that would help the Libby School Board? I try to be honest, I care about people and I feel I have good common sense.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Declining enrollment.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with the continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5000. It's no secret that Libby is becoming a retirement community, and that means declining enrollment for our schools. Hopefully the community, not the school board, will do a better job of attracting new families to our city.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? Unfortunately we live in a state that has a dismal record for funding education. So maybe this question should be sent to our state representatives. On the other hand, I doubt that there is any person working in Libby, who couldn't make more money in another city, but chooses to stay here. Libby is a great place to live and raise your family, but it comes at a cost. We're fortunate in Libby to have very good teachers. We can only hope that like minded younger teachers will take their place as they retire.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? We should take advantage of the opportunity to profit from that building, rather than spend money to tear it down.

Melanie Wood

Age: 56

Employment: Homemaker, volunteer, grandmother

Incumbent, appointed in 2002 after serving 4 years in the early 1990s for a total of 8 years on the board.

What personal attributes do you have that would help Libby School Board? I am a life-long resident of Libby as were my parents and grandparents. I am proud of the students and staff, and, while I know that we can always grow and improve, I am optimistic about the future. I hope that I am flexible, open-minded and willing to listen to my constituents. I strongly believe that a solid, balanced education is the greatest legacy that we can offer our children - a gift on which they can build their futures. Someone once said, "I wondered why somebody didn't 'do something' for public education?" I would like to continue to do so.

What are the most important issues facing the school district? Giving the students in our district the tools that they need to be successful must always be our first priority as trustees. The volume of information which our children must learn is exploding, and we have an ever-increasing number of students with special needs. Our challenge is to balance these realities with ongoing budget constraints and the demands of No Child Left Behind and other such mandates, keeping in mind that we must retain and recruit high-quality staff and constantly encourage parental involvement in our schools.

How should the school board handle the loss of state funding with the continued declining enrollment? For each student lost, the school loses $5000. School funding is extremely complicated and constantly changing - there are no easy answers. With a combination of 'belt-tightening' and creativity our administrators have led us through the last few years. As trustees we must try to be proactive, keep asking questions, listen to all ideas and try to 'think outside the box.' However, we also need to be constantly aware of what is occurring on the state and federal levels and continue to voice our concerns to ensure that education funding is addressed as a top priority.

Do you have any suggestions for increasing teachers' pay so Libby can attract and keep good teachers? Again this is a complicated issue which probably cannot be accomplished overnight. However I believe that as state and federal funding increases, we must commit to steady and significant raises for our excellent staff. We can explore every creative solution possible, like recruiting young teachers from job fairs. We can try to keep this important issue at the forefront, not just locally, but nationally - our country urgently needs to respond to the current crises in education, and supporting and rewarding our good teachers is a place to begin.

What should be done with the old Libby High School? After years of debate, the solution to the "Old School" issue appears to be in the hands of Conover Bond Development from Spokane. While we know that we can't and won't please everyone, the current board has done its best and my hope is that this arrangement will be beneficial to our community in many ways.