Cd'A school board approvesfield house name despite objection

In spite of an objection from the public, the trustees of the Coeur d'Alene School District 271 voted unanimously on Monday evening to name Coeur d'Alene High School's new fieldhouse the June Ford Viking Field House.

A long fundraising campaign was carried out for the 100-by-75 foot multi-sport structure, planned in honor of Viking athletes Ryan Reinhardt and Devon Austin, who died shortly after their 2010 graduation.

Coeur d'Alene resident Charles "Bud" Ford had offered a $100,000 donation for the facility, with the condition that it be named after his wife of 40 years, June.

Before the vote, Coeur d'Alene resident Lori Kaye Gaboury testified that she was opposed to the naming. She explained she had sent a letter to the district earlier suggesting the facility be christened The June Ford Field House - In Memory of Devon Austin and Ryan Reinhardt, because others had donated besides Ford.

"They donated because they intended the field house to be in memory of Devon and Ryan," Gaboury said, adding that she had helped family and friends raise $60,000 on their own. "A field house cannot be raised with $100,000."

Superintendent Hazel Bauman confirmed the district received the letter.

But its contents had been interpreted as stating the need for a plaque inside the facility, she said.

"Of course it's a tremendously sensitive subject," Bauman said.

She noted that the district lacks a memorial policy to dictate how something should be named after a student who has died.

"Absent that, there's no direction," she said.

Bauman noted that the facility had originally been expected to only cost $100,000.

The four district trustees agreed.

Trustee Chair Sid Fredrickson said that as soon as such a policy is in place, the district "will consider any and all of those ideas," like Gaboury's.

"It would be very much to our advantage to have some sort of memorial policy sooner rather than later," Fredrickson added.

Trustee Vice-Chair Tom Hamilton also favored voting on the name that was before them.

"Let's hope there aren't contingencies with the other donations," he said.