PRIEST RIVER — The terms of two West Bonner school board leaders have ended.
Chair Keith Rutledge and vice chair Susan Brown were recalled in Tuesday’s special election. EdNews was unable to reach either trustee Tuesday night for comment.
The community decided that Brown and Rutledge did not uphold their oaths to improve West Bonner schools.
Tuesday’s voter turnout of 2,129 far outpaced their previous election, when 844 people went to the polls in 2021. Voters opted to recall Brown by a 65.63% to 34.37% margin; for Rutledge, it was 62.34% to 37.66%. (All precincts reported but results are unofficial).
According to Idaho law, the board must now follow a series of steps in order to fill the two vacancies.
The board can declare a vacancy at a regular or special meeting and has 90 days to appoint someone from the zone where the vacancy occurred. If the board fails to find a suitable replacement, they are allowed to appoint someone from anywhere within the district’s boundaries. If there is no resolution after 120 days, county commissioners can make the appointment.
Appointees serve out the reminder of the term of office that was declared vacant. Both of their terms expire in 2025.
The conservative voting block of Rutledge, Brown and Troy Reinbold no longer control the board, which has experienced a contentious few months. The trustee seats belonging to Carlyn Barton, Margaret Hall and Reinbold are up for election in November.
An effort to recall the two trustees started earlier this summer and gained momentum after the controversial hiring of new superintendent Branden Durst. According to the recall ballot, the reasons for recalling Brown and Rutledge are listed below:
- Two months after voting to purchase a language arts curriculum, they brought for a vote a motion to rescind the purchase — which cost the district money to send the order back.
- Trustees don’t recognize that a majority vote makes the decisions and the outcome needs to be supported by all members.
- Trustees need to be actively involved in policy changes, as that is the board’s primary function and should be made after complete discussion at a publicly held board meeting — stop whispering to other board members during public meetings.
- Trustees have a hidden agenda and don’t respect the rights of constituents and the opinion and ideas of fellow board members.
But that’s all behind them now. As the district prepares to welcome students back next week, there are several administrative issues left unresolved: the recently hired special education director quit; trustees must decide if they will propose a new supplemental levy; they must decide how to fully fund extracurricular activities; and they were directed to fix compliance issues by the State Board of Education over school finance, transportation, special education and federal programs.
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