One board, five leaders

Three of them are liberals.

Two, conservatives.

One thing you should know about the Coeur d'Alene School Board is that both of those statements are false. Another thing you should know - perhaps the most important thing - is that no matter who's chair or vice chair of the board, every member has exactly one vote. All five are equal.

When the board selected its leaders last week, politics got in the way. It's as if the race for two school board seats next spring began last Monday.

Tom Hamilton and Terri Seymour, the two board holdovers, are largely supported by people identifying themselves as conservative or staunchly conservative. Because the three newest board members - Christa Hazel, Dave Eubanks and Tom Hearn - were swept into office more than a year ago on a wave of voter dissatisfaction with challengers who were deemed too conservative, the trio has been lumped together under an umbrella of alleged liberalism. Last week's election of officers put titles in front of the names of two competent individuals, leaving three other competent individuals without titles but with everything else needed to lead.

The application of political labels and any power struggles for ideological advantage is unhealthy for a school board. We could identify traits considered both liberal and conservative in most school board members. That exercise might suggest fair representation across a broad spectrum of the citizenry, but it wouldn't be terribly significant.

Of much greater importance is how this board will meet the challenges ahead for North Idaho's largest school district. Contract negotiations with the teachers union are ongoing. Continued implementation of standards to improve student performance and district accountability is imperative. In all likelihood, voters will again be asked to approve a maintenance and operations levy next spring. On the state level, we'll have a new superintendent of public instruction elected in November, and with that person may come entirely new goals. Many other important local educational issues are certain to emerge.

There's a reason school board elections are nonpartisan: Political preferences and arguments should always take a back seat to whatever is deemed best for the district's patrons. We're confident that all five members of the Coeur d'Alene School District Board of Trustees serve in these difficult, demanding volunteer positions for the right reasons. Because of that, we believe they'll rise above personal or political differences to do what's right for 10,000 kids.