Two West Bonner School District trustees face recall election amid superintendent controversy

Jul. 28—PRIEST RIVER, Idaho — Voters in the West Bonner County School District will decide next month the political fate of two school board members who backed the hiring of a new controversial superintendent.

The chair and vice chair of the district are on the ballot for a recall election at the end of August for allegedly failing to uphold their oaths of office to improve public schools.

If either recall is successful, it could shift control of the board during a volatile time for the rural district.

Although the filing coincided with the board hiring controversial superintendent Branden Durst last month, the effort began earlier this year.

The Aug. 29 ballot language does not mention Durst or a $4.7 million supplemental levy that failed in May.

Instead, the organizers blame Chair Keith Rutledge and Vice Chair Susan Brown for rescinding a purchase of a language arts curriculum two months after they approved it. This resulted in the district going without a curriculum last year and cost the district to return the materials.

Neither trustee responded to interview requests, but their rebuttals printed on the ballot say they want more financial accountability and are defending against liberal agendas.

"Your vote today will determine the future of our district," Rutledge's rebuttal says. "Voting AGAINST my recall will keep a conservative majority on the school board that is working hard to improve the outcomes for our district's children. Voting for my recall will hand control of our district back over to the very same people that are responsible for 60% reading competency rates and call that 'a success.' "

Brown's rebuttal says, "If you want a board member who will fight for financial transparency, work to keep our schools free of woke agendas, and demand educational outcomes better than 60% competency for our children, vote AGAINST the recall."

The recall effort is organized by a local political action committee called Recall Replace Rebuild. It is led by Candy Turner, a Priest Lake city council member who taught elementary school in the district for 25 years, and Dana Douglas, who has long been active in the PTA and has two adult children who attended the district.

"I'm not about to let them take our schools or our community," Turner said.

The ballot statement against both trustees is nearly identical. The organizers say both trustees need to be actively involved in policy changes, have a hidden agenda, don't respect their constituents or fellow board members, and have shown a lack of concern for student education in the district.

In short, they need "to be open, fair and honest."

Additionally, Brown needs to "stop whispering to other board members at meetings," the ballot language said.

Petitioners collected 337 valid signatures against Rutledge and 243 against Brown, County Clerk Michael Rosedale confirmed.

They needed 243 for Rutledge and 180 for Brown.

Only voters in trustee zones 2 and 3 can vote for or against the recall of their trustee.

Zone 2 for Brown includes 1,482 registered voters in Oldtown, West Priest River and Blue Lake precincts.

Zone 4 for Rutledge includes 1,917 voters in Laclede, Edgemere, East Priest River precincts and a small downtown portion of West Priest River.

For the recalls to succeed, two thresholds must be met: A simple majority must vote in favor of the recall, and there needs to be at least 245 votes against Rutledge and at least 177 against Brown.

"This will be won by getting the vote out on either side," Rosedale said.

The minimum votes are one more than what each trustee received in their most recent election in November 2021, which had low turnout.

Rutledge won by just seven votes in 2021. Both of their terms expire at the beginning of 2026.

The other three trustee seats belonging to Carlyn Barton, Margaret Hall and Troy Reinbold are up for election in November.

If the recall passes for either trustee, their term would end immediately and the remainder of the board would appoint their replacement, Rosedale said.

The county will begin mailing absentee ballots Monday.

In her written rebuttal, Brown said she led an investigation into the Wonders curriculum that was recommended by Idaho Hill Elementary Principal and former interim superintendent Susie Luckey.

Wonders is a K-5 literacy curriculum by McGraw Hill Education, one of the country's largest educational publishers. Promotional material says it "focuses on social emotional learning and student empowerment with texts that model social justice and how students can impact their communities."

Social emotional learning, often abbreviated to SEL, is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work and life success, according to the Committee for Children, an organization that advocates for the teaching method.

Research shows that social emotional learning improves academic performance, according to the National Education Association and the American Psychology Association.

In her ballot response which named Luckey, Brown claimed that the curriculum pushed social emotional learning as a backdoor to critical race theory and "LGBTQ+/- agendas."

Last year, Luckey led a committee of teachers and parents to review a list of curriculum vetted by the Idaho Department of Education. The process included feedback from teachers across the district and an open house for the public.

In June 2022, the board approved the curriculum unanimously.

Then, two weeks before the start of school, the board voted 3-1 to rescind after concerns about social emotional learning were suddenly raised.

In an email, Luckey said she has never tried to push a political agenda in her years of teaching and was surprised to see her name mentioned on Brown's ballot rebuttal.

"I have worked diligently to serve ALL families in the West Bonner County School District for 39 years and am greatly disturbed by the continued accusations that I am doing evil things," she said. "My advice to others would be to never believe what you are hearing through news and social media as fact. Learn the truth by spending time in the schools and classrooms."

In their rebuttals, Brown and Rutledge mentioned their push to bring financial transparency through a forensic audit.

Both opposed the failed $4.7 million supplemental levy that represented a third of the district's budget.

They want to see the audit before another levy. Rutledge also said the recall organizers want to prevent the audit results from being released.

The organizers denied this.

The board unanimously approved a forensic audit of the last five fiscal years Wednesday night.

"At this point I do agree that we need a forensic audit just to get it behind us," said Hall, a moderate and former board president. "It's not been specifically stated to me directly what are the allegations that people are looking at specifically, but I know the audit could go ahead and maybe help clarify procedures. It would give greater trust to the community among certain members."

Brown further alleged that the recall organizers are working with the Bonner County Democrats and a Sandpoint-based group called Idaho Moms to recall conservative board members.

Although both of those groups support the recall, the organizers said they have no affiliation. Douglas identifies as a Christian conservative Republican.

"I don't even know what a woke is," Turner said.

The Bonner County Republican Central Committee recently donated $1,000 each to Rutledge and Brown's campaigns.

Douglas said the two trustees' efforts to defund education by not supporting the levy is asking the district to fail.

"If you are not in favor of public education, why are you on a school board?" she said.

James Hanlon's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.