Cd'A school board talks protests, grieves loss

COEUR d’ALENE — A school board still in mourning met here Monday night to discuss the way forward for Coeur d’Alene High School after the loss of CHS Principal Troy Schueller March 21.

Director of Title Programs Anna Wilson said the district had been proactive in reaching out to students, staff and community members since Schueller’s death by suicide. On Monday an abundance of school psychologists, counselors and substitute teachers were on hand at CHS to support students and staff who needed it, she said. CHS teachers and staff met over breakfast beforehand to lend each other a helping hand, she added. Over the spring break, several events took place in the community at Lake City High School and the Kroc Center to address grief and suicide prevention. Wilson invited the public to a suicide prevention training session April 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the CHS auditorium. Crisis team member support will continue to be available at CHS this week and next week, she said. Wilson added that families had supported district students really well over the break.

Coeur d’Alene Education Association President Bruce Twitchell spoke about the need to destigmatize mental health issues. The majority of people try to hide it when they’re hurting mentally, Twitchell said. He confessed that it took strong urging by his spouse to seek help himself, which he said led him to two helpful anti-anxiety medications. Twitchell said he has discussed his struggles with students and that they felt encouraged to seek help themselves.

“It becomes ‘It’s not just me,’” Twitchell said.

Speakers also discussed the March 14 student walkouts Monday night. Trustee Tom Hearn praised the behavior of student protesters in the school district and pushed back on claims that literature distributed at CHS had violated school district policy. According to former trustee Tom Hamilton in an email sent to interim superintendent Stan Olson, the event at CHS violated district policies 4230 and 3250, which forbid partisan politicking on school grounds. Literature handed out by walkout organizers at CHS March 14 directed students to 5Calls.org, a 501(c)4 political activism organization that advocates for a multitude of highly partisan measures. Hearn also said the presence of counter-protesters who legally carried firearms during their event at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds March 14 could have presented a safety problem to the students. Hearn said he was “grateful for the heavy police presence” at CHS that day due to “tensions.” He called on the school board to discuss how to further work with student protesters in the future so as to avoid disrupting classes. “It’s a complicated issue,” he explained.

Twitchell said he was thankful that the district takes school safety and security seriously.

“The students are our children and must be protected,” he said. “If they don’t feel safe and secure, they can’t focus on school, and what’s the point to showing up?”

In other business, the board voted unanimously to direct Olson and chairman Casey Morrisroe to meet again with their colleagues from the Post Falls School District to discuss how to move forward with redrawing boundaries between the two districts. The boards held a joint session last month and each body must still approve the boundary change, which centers on Huetter Road. Each board must also decide whether they will put the boundary change to a public vote per Idaho code 33-308, or make the change without a vote in accordance with Idaho code 33-307.