GRANGEVILLE — In an ongoing effort to promote a school district shuffle on the Camas Prairie and Clearwater Valley, one of the authors of a petition met with state school officials Monday.
Skip Brandt, along with Greg Johnson, of Kamiah, recently presented a petition to local school superintendents asking that the Kooskia and Elk City schools be severed from the Grangeville-based Mountain View School District and realigned with the Kamiah School District. Brandt and Johnson are acting as private citizens and not in their capacities as chairpersons of the Idaho County and Lewis County boards of commissioners, respectively.
Last week, the school boards denied the petition after consulting with legal counsel who advised that the petition did not meet state guidelines for reconfiguring school districts.
Brandt disagrees with that interpretation and met online Monday with State Board of Education Executive Director Matt Freeman, Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Marcus, Sen. Carl Crabtree, of Grangeville, and Idaho Superintendent-elect of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield.
“The crux of everything is the first section of the statute that deals specifically with an area under 50 miles without a school,” Brandt said. “And everybody’s gotten wrapped around that. This is dang near 400 square miles with schools. In my read … those requirements do not affect a bigger area. But these attorneys are reading that it does.”
Brandt said even though he and Johnson were told earlier that individuals could sponsor such a petition, the state board’s position currently is that the school boards of the affected districts have to be the ones to present the petition themselves and then forward to the state board for approval. Eventually the decision to reconfigure the districts would rest with a vote of the patrons in each district.
“It’s the typical runaround. The end result is, if a group of folks have a continuing desire to move forward with this, the people need to hire an attorney to take this on in court or go to the school board and ask them to go forward,” Brandt said.
During informal meetings and conversations with people in the area, Brandt said, he has heard from only three individuals who are against the idea. The rest, he said, are strongly in favor of it but are discouraged because of the red tape involved.
“It’s the stupidity of bureaucracy,” he said. “People get confused about the bureaucratic roadblock and it’s frustrating as all get out.”
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com
