Busy ballot

By BETHANY BLITZ

Staff Writer

The majority of the Coeur d’Alene School Board is up for re-election in May.

Voters will elect trustees to serve four-year terms for zones 1, 4 and 5 on the board.

Candidates must file a petition of candidacy as well as a declaration of candidacy by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 17 to the clerk of the Board at the Coeur d’Alene School District office.

Both forms are available at the Kootenai County Elections Office and the Coeur d’Alene School District office, though Lynn Towne, clerk of the board, prefers candidates get the forms from her at the district office.

Towne recommends people running for the school board get more than the required five signatures on the petition for candidacy.

“Candidates have to get five signatures from people that are registered voters that live in your zone,” she said. “I recommend getting 10 signatures, so at the last minute we’re not scrambling to get an extra signature. Sometimes people think they are registered and are not.”

Qualified candidates must be a registered voter within the Coeur d’Alene School District and a resident of the zone for which he/she is running. For maps of each zone, visit http://www.cdaschools.org/Page/5011.

New this year, all candidates for school board trustee in districts larger than 500 students are required to file sunshine reports for their campaign and appoint a treasurer. A sunshine report makes transparent the financial contributions and expenditures of a campaign.

Tom Hearn, currently the trustee for zone 5, said he intends to seek re-election.

“I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot on the board and I feel like I can do another four years of service if the voters agree,” he said.

Dave Eubanks, the current zone 4 trustee, said he will likely seek re-election but wants to make sure it’s the right decision with his family first.

“It takes a lot of time to be on the board,” he said. “I still have a lot of things I want to do that are all about doing what’s best for the kids.”

Trustee Christa Hazel of zone 1 was unavailable for comment Monday.