COEUR d'ALENE - Four controversial issues were settled and put to rest Monday evening during a four-hour meeting of the Coeur d'Alene school board.

The board decided 4-0, with Christa Hazel abstaining, to opt out of the state's new Wi-Fi contract and move forward its own local contract to improve technology throughout the entire district like they told the taxpayers they would during the bond election earlier this year.

Trustees also voted unanimously to sell the district's Northshire property to Lutheran Academy of the Master for $480,000 to help pay off a new district office.

They split their vote 3-2 on the adoption of the new Common Core curriculum that will be used, and also split 3-2 on rescinding a resolution passed in June that would obligate the district to engage in a statewide effort to strengthen Idaho's Right to Work laws.

On the Wi-Fi contract, the district was engaged in contract negotiations with a Post Falls technology firm, Ednetics, to upgrade its technology capabilities throughout the K-12 system when the state superintendent of schools announced a statewide Wi-Fi contract for high schools.

Wendell Wardell, the district's chief operating officer, told the board that the district's technology upgrades are far superior to what the state contract offers, and explained the state program is subject to annual appropriations for the next 15 years.

"We have a better mousetrap and we don't want to play in that controversy," Wardell said. "We want to award our contract and move on."

Some of the board had questions about why the district would pass on a state-funded program.

"Does this take funding out of our pocket?" asked Trustee Tom Hamilton.

Wardell explained that, yes, the district would pass up state funding available for a high school Wi-Fi system, but there is also a risk that the Legislature could decide not to fund the program in future years and that creates uncertainty.

If the state fails to fund the program, all of the equipment is leased from an out-of-state company that could then come and remove it.

The district technology upgrade would be far more robust and the district would own the equipment. Plus, he explained, the school district put the technology upgrade before the voters and the taxpayers voted overwhelmingly to support the project.

After securing some certainty that the district has a plan to maintain and replace equipment as it is needed, Hamilton made the motion to move forward with the local project.

"This is not a deviation from what the board proposed in the bond," he said, adding if the district comes back five to 10 years from now asking for money to replace equipment, he will not be happy.

On the Common Core curriculum issue, Superintendent Matthew Handelman said the district had no choice but to adopt the state-mandated curriculum.

"We don't have the authority to overrule the Legislature on this," he said.

Hamilton agreed with Handelman's assessment of the dilemma.

"This is a tough one for me. I recognize that you don't have a choice," he said. "But I am going to oppose this as a show of solidarity."

Hamilton said he is disheartened when opponents to Common Core are maligned for their beliefs. He said there are real issues with parents who are not comfortable with federal oversight of the program, and the fact that bio-metric data will be reported on individual students, instead of data being collected and reported to the state in an aggregated fashion.

Hazel said as a parent she doesn't care for the curriculum to be managed by the federal government and she doesn't like the thought of individual data being collected, but research into the issue has convinced her to support the curriculum.

However, she said she is committed to being the first line of defense, if in fact the fears of some of the detractors do come to fruition.

"If we as a board we feel like what's been conveyed to us is not what we are experiencing, then we are obligated to address that," she said.

Handelman assured the board that the district does not and will not send anything but aggregated data to the state when it comes to reporting progress.

Hamilton clarified that his objection was against Common Core and not the work that district staff has done to implement it.

Hamilton and Trustee Terri Seymour opposed the motion to implement the program, but it passed anyway.

Wardell then briefed the board on the sale of the Northshire property on the corner of Atlas Road and Abbey Road - the home of the Atlas Dog Park.

The district had the property appraised at $550,000 and advertised it for sale four times last year, but didn't get a single offer. The district is selling the property to help fund its new district office.

When new bids surface in these cases, Wardell says state law allows the district to enter into negotiations with interested buyers below the appraised value.

Wardell said he has negotiated a selling price of $480,000 to the Lutheran Academy of the Master. They first offered $410,000, he said.

After clarifying that the dog park was always meant to be temporary in that location, the board voted unanimously to sell the property. The deal will close on Sept. 30.

"This will help the district move forward with owning the district office outright," Wardell said.

Hazel brought forth a resolution passed unanimously by the former board for reconsideration. The resolution obligates the board to lead an effort to strengthen Idaho's Right to Work laws as they pertain to teachers unions.

Hazel said the reason she brought the resolution back was not a union vs. anti-union issue, but rather to discuss where the district should focus its attention at the state level.

By passing the resolution earlier this year, the district is now obligated to work with the Idaho School Board Association to get other school districts on board and modify the law.

"We as a school district are involving ourselves in this process," Hazel said. "It's not a union thing. What should we be working on as a school board at the state level?

"I don't think Right to Work legislation is the answer," she added. "School funding would be appropriate in my opinion."

Hamilton said the resolution simply gets the ball started to allow all professional organizations an opportunity to provide membership information to teachers.

"It shows they have another alternative to the CEA," he said.

Board Chairman Tom Hearn said he supports resolutions that address problems, but this one seems to be creating a problem.

The motion to rescind the resolution passed 3-2 with Seymour and Hamilton voting against it.