According to the Center for Public Education, “School boards are the education watchdogs for their communities, ensuring that students get the best education possible for the tax dollars spent.” Ms. Lara Stone\u2019s guest opinion, printed in the Express on August 10, 2016, criticizing my efforts as a Blaine County School District (BCSD) trustee, shows that she has a different opinion about the role of a school board trustee.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Let me be clear.\u00a0I will always prioritize the needs of children in every dollar spent.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Recently, the community was able to see exactly where district administrations\u2019 priorities lie, when the superintendent released her proposed budget in April.\u00a0Ms. Stone, who aligns herself with the superintendent, was a supporter of that budget, which cut the Hispanic and Special Needs Parent Liaisons.\u00a0Those positions benefitted some of the highest needs students.\u00a0The superintendent\u2019s budget also eliminated the world-renowned International Baccalaureate (IB) program that benefited over 1,000 children in grades 6 through 10.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The budget was just as noteworthy for what it didn\u2019t cut.\u00a0It preserved district administrators\u2019 generous salaries, and extra benefits that teachers don\u2019t enjoy, such as 9.02 percent deferred compensation, family medical benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, cellphones, and for some district administrators, the free use of a district vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The superintendent herself earns $173,880, the highest salary in the state and about twice as much as the highest paid teacher.\u00a0In addition, this year she will receive an extra $31,281 in retirement contributions, $15,684 deferred compensation, family health benefits, $250,000 life insurance, disability insurance, cellphone and free use of a district car.\u00a0Aside from the retirement contribution, BCSD teachers receive none of these extra benefits.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The message was clear: there would be no shared pain by district administrators.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 In May, I proposed an alternative budget that would have reinstated Hispanic and Special Needs Liaisons and the IB program.\u00a0To pay for this, I proposed cutting some district administrators\u2019 extra benefits and the $200,000 Communications Department.\u00a0That department has been a sore point with many teachers and community members since it was created by former Superintendent Lonnie Barber in 2011.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 This alternative budget received overwhelming community support: over 300 community members signed a petition urging the board to \u201cput students first\u201d and reject and redo the superintendent\u2019s budget.\u00a0 Despite this, the superintendent\u2019s budget narrowly passed by a 3-2 vote at the annual budget hearing in June. The board member who cast the swing vote resigned the next day.\u00a0Now that swing seat is open.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Because I have questioned the superintendent on budget and other important matters, district administrators, aided by Ms. Stone, have continually harassed me.\u00a0Most regrettably, this harassment has included a failed attempt to recall me, conducted in large part by district office staff.\u00a0Ms. Stone\u2019s latest personal campaign to discredit me refers to BCSDCoalition emails.\u00a0She fails to say the entire board received most of these emails from citizens as far back as 2014 and implies that something nefarious was being communicated.\u00a0That\u2019s intentionally misleading.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The open board seat represents a tipping point. On one side will be many community members who think the district should be accountable, transparent and prioritize needs of children.\u00a0On the other side will be a few, like Ms. Stone, who continually lobby for the financial and other interests of the district administration.\u00a0It is my hope that a well-qualified person, who will represent the priorities and values of the community, will be appointed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 What priorities and values do you think the new board member should represent?\u00a0Please let the board know by emailing Board Clerk Amanda LaChance at\u00a0amandalachance@blaineschools.org.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Corker<\/strong><\/p>\n Blaine County School District Trustee<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to the Center for Public Education, “School boards are the education watchdogs for their communities, ensuring that students get the best education possible for the tax dollars spent.” Ms. Lara Stone\u2019s guest opinion, printed in the Express on August 10, 2016, criticizing my efforts as a Blaine County School District (BCSD) trustee, shows that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-letters-to-the-editor","7":"category-schools"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}