Public opinion split on direction of West Ada School District
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Groups divided on which trustees deserve to be recalled
ll five West Ada School District board members are targets of recall efforts. Like many of the board’s votes in recent months, the recall efforts are split 4-1. One group, led by former district superintendent Christine Donnell and former trustee Reid Olsen, seeks to recall four board members in their first and second terms. Another group is an anonymous by Holly Beech Facebook campaign to recall Trustee Mike hbeech@mymeridianpress.com Vuittonet, elected in 2001. © 2015 MERIDIAN PRESS Public views are sharply divided about whether the new board’s tactics are good or bad for the district. Donnell said the way the board has micromanaged the district and vocally criticized Superintendent Linda Clark since July, when trustees Julie Madsen and Russell Joki were sworn in, spurred her to promote a recall. “There’s certainly more than one cause,” Donnell said. “They have tried to discredit (Clark) from the beginning. … I think they are far overreaching on the way they have gone forward in questioning everything the administration has done. In 11 years, … Linda Clark has run a very effective and efficient school district.” Donnell said the way the new board members run the district — reaching into details such as the payment of bills that should be left up to the staff hired to do the job — is not efficient leadership. But it’s the newer board members’ watchdog approach that makes them so appealing to patrons on the other side of the debate. “Don’t need a recall. We should be thanking these new board members for their diligence!” Judi Jones shared on the Meridian Press Facebook page. Another resident, Jill Williams Wrem, wrote: “I do not understand wanting a recall for those that are being transparent and honest about what is happening in our district.” Not everyone is convinced the board members are being upfront about their intentions, however. When new board members criticized Clark’s contract extension, questioned her appointment to the State Board of Education, and disregarded input from her and several district employees about the need for a district testing director, some community leaders got nervous. Vuittonet said trustees, in his opinion, were preparing to oust Clark — a claim Madsen denied. Clark declined to comment. Concerns about the new board’s apparent lack of cooperation and respect for each
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other came from the business community. On behalf of business owners who didn’t want to see a kink in their collaborative relationship with Clark and the school district, Meridian Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Anne Little Roberts wrote a formal letter in August to Dean, Joki and Madsen to express the Chamber’s support for Clark. (Clark is an ex officio director on the Chamber board.) Micro 100 Tool Corporation, a large Meridian manufacturer, also wrote a letter to the board supporting Clark. State Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, has also been vocal about his disapproval of the new board’s direction, saying they’re “way out of bounds.” At the Sept. 29 school board meeting, he told Meridian Press, “I think they entered into a legal contract (with Clark), they did it openly, and now these board members don’t like it. They don’t appear to like the superintendent. They don’t appear to be supportive of her, and I think over the years she’s done a great job with the Meridian district. … I think it’s an agenda that the board has to try to figure out a way to embarrass the current superintendent.”
DIVIDING LINE Clark’s contract has been one of the most divisive issues in recent months. Clark, 67, has worked in the district for 37 years — 11 of those years as superintendent — and has seen it grow into the largest district in the state, with more than 37,000 students and a general fund budget of $196.1 million. This year, Clark’s salary is $143,475, and her benefits include a $100,000 life insurance plan, a district vehicle for personal and official use, a credit card for professional expenses, 25 vacation days, and a retirement bonus of 20 percent her salary. When looking at other superintendents’ salaries and benefits in districts of similar size in the West, Clark earns less than most but often has more perks, such as the vehicle and retirement bonus. (See page 9). On their first day as trustees, Madsen and Joki questioned the previous board’s decision to renew Clark’s contract two weeks before they were sworn in. “It is my strong belief that the prior board had adopted a pattern of approving this contract secretly because its salary and perks had become so bloated and costly that they knew that taxpayers would never have approved it,” Madsen told Meridian Press last week.
Please see District Divide, Page 7
AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 10.09.15
LOCAL
SCHOOLS Trustees and recall organizers worry the unrest in the West Ada School District could hinder the supplemental levy from passing on Nov. 3. Trustees and patrons say the funding is critical to district operations.
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Love heights and a good adrenaline rush? Don’t miss out on the new zip line course and parachute simulation that are slated to open at Eagle Island State Park this fall.
SCHOOLS
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New West Ada trustees criticize the district superintendent’s contract and its “bloated and costly” salary and perks. Here’s how Superintendent Linda Clark’s contract stacks up against other superintendents in our region.
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