Cd'A schools brace for future

Poised to rise or fall precipitously, the Coeur d'Alene School Board has met three key challenges with three bold moves in recent weeks.

First, thanks to the county's Board of Commissioners, Jim Purtee was selected to fill a vacant seat on the board of trustees. He's been on the job only a few weeks, but we don't remember a new school board member who tackled his responsibility more enthusiastically than Purtee, who traveled to schools, met with staff, faculty and administrators and waded right into some of the heaviest issues Kootenai County's largest school district is facing. Most impressive is that Purtee did a lot more listening and learning than talking and teaching.

Next, the board moved quickly and decisively in appointing retired teacher Anne Seddon to fill the vacancy created by Diane Zipperer's sudden resignation. For those who know Seddon, questions about her political ideas could well be offset by her first-hand knowledge inside schools. Seddon's wealth of experience in the public school classroom is an asset exceeded only by the passion that has her volunteering in local elementary schools today.

Before her appointment on Monday, in an impromptu discussion with The Press, Seddon's eyes welled with tears when she described her work with local first-graders in the community. She was effusive in her praise of the devoted efforts already going on in classrooms district-wide, leading us to conclude that students and teachers could have a powerful new advocate in board deliberations. At the very least, she, like Purtee, deserve the benefit of the doubt and the community's support as they embark on these volunteer callings.

The third bold move? Keeping Sid Fredrickson. Let us explain.

In the midst of the upheaval over school board resignations and appointments, there was concern in some quarters that Fredrickson would be the next to quit. While fresh perspectives and new ideas are important for school boards, losing Fredrickson could have been devastating to District 271. Trustees Tom Hamilton and Terri Seymour have served one year each; Purtee has been on the board mere weeks and Seddon is newly appointed. Fredrickson has served with distinction for more than a decade. His institutional knowledge and wisdom are critical for a board that will be going through serious growing pains.

As we've already noted, the district faces tremendous funding and curriculum issues in the year ahead. With all the pieces now in place, we wish the board the best of luck in facing those challenges.