Eubanks bids adieu to public education

COEUR d’ALENE — Forty-eight years later, Dave Eubanks is calling it a day.

The Coeur d’Alene School District trustee spent 43 years teaching in public schools, followed by five years of service to the district as a board member.

District clerk Lynn Towne said Eubanks’ resignation will take effect June 30. It’s more of a retirement from public education, Eubanks said.

Eubanks taught in California public schools for 29 years, and then 15 years at Lakes Middle School here. One of the keys to his longevity was an experience during his early teaching days. An older teacher worked in a classroom near his, he said, and had taught the same subject, the same way, in the same room, for 34 years.

“It was so stale, it was criminal,” Eubanks said. “I got this idea in my head that if I ever become that stale, I hope somebody would take me out and do something really bad to me.”

Moving around and teaching a new subject every now and then re-energized him and kept the job challenging, he said.

Eubanks taught every grade from kindergarten to 12th grade. He taught Spanish for 15 years, woodshop for 10 years, coached freshman boys basketball for nine years, and taught elementary school for eight years, including “a lot of social studies and language arts.”

If he had to go back and do it again, he would teach third grade, he said.

“The third-graders grow so much during that year. It’s just really gratifying. And they still love their teacher,” Eubanks said.

He retired from teaching and ran for the school board in 2013 because there seemed to be turmoil in the district.

“A lot of people were very upset,” said Eubanks. “I had a sense that cooler heads needed to prevail.”

Five years later, he believes that progress has been made. The large margins by which the levy and bond passed last year were evidence of the community’s support for the board’s vision, he opined.

At the school board meeting Monday, Eubanks listed many other accomplishments he said he was proud of, including adopting and implementing the Common Core standards, making deficit spending the exception, and implementation of all-day kindergarten in four elementary schools.

Eubanks said he’ll miss working with the people on the board, as well as the superintendent, staff, and district schools. However, 48 years later, Eubanks has decided it’s time to slow down.

“I want to do some very fun things, have fun, not go to meetings anymore, not make public presentations, just meld back into the woodwork of our community,” he said.

He will move into a newer home soon and has lots of projects in mind there. He’s also looking forward to seeing America in a motorhome.

Superintendent Dr. Stan Olson praised Eubanks, saying, “The school district has benefited greatly from Dave’s service as an educator, a citizen and a board member. He has given half a century in service to the youth of the Coeur d’Alene area and other communities, and leaves a legacy of caring deeply for the quality of education in our community, championing literacy for our youngest students, celebrating innovative teachers, and helping to safeguard the financial health and options for future growth of the school district.”

Board member Tom Hearn said he was going to miss Eubanks on the board. His voice as an educator was really helpful, he said. Trustee Tambra Pickford said she had learned a lot from Eubanks. Board chair Casey Morrisroe thanked him for his many years of service, and kidded him about his knack for “short and sweet” commentary.

Towne said that after June 30, district staff and board leadership will develop a timeline for appointing someone to fill Eubanks’ seat. His second term began in July 2017 and will expire in 2021. Per Idaho Code 33-504, that appointment must be completed within 90 days of the vacancy, she explained.