SMITH: Thankful for trustee’s leadership

Thank you, Rebecca Smith, for your six years of leadership as a Trustee and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Coeur d’ Alene School District. As you pointed out in your article published on Christmas Day, trust is basic to the role of Trustees in our community. You have been a trustworthy steward of our public education. Your work has been especially important in times when the growth of all our children has been challenged by the proliferation of for-profit schools, the unleashing of harsh rhetoric, and many who have mistaken cutting corners for efficiency and quality. Your legacy will be that you not only showed up, listened carefully, and stayed steady, but that you did so by drawing wisdom and strength from those around you, encouraging trust in themselves.

Sadly, trust has been in short supply among many of our local institutions led by those who became trustees to attack the institution they were elected to serve. 

Voters will be looking for someone to bring the same commitment to teachers, staff, students, and community that you have shown. I’m glad you’ll continue to use your good gifts to benefit the children of our area. Clearly, you’ll continue to enjoy the trust of the parents of those children.

GRANT MACLEAN
Dalton Gardens