Staff writer

BONNERS FERRY — For many, “family night” means a fun evening spent with family members, perhaps watching a DVD together, playing a board game or just gathering around the dinner table for a sit-down meal. For the Boundary County School Board at its Monday meeting, however, family night was the topic of a dicey discussion about something altogether different.

“Approval of continuation of declaring Wednesday night as ‘Family Night,’” read item J on the agenda. When school board members began discussing the issue, areas of disagreement immediately came to light.

“It is such a can of worms, that Wednesday family night,” said Superintendent Gary Pflueger. “I know some churches use Wednesday night. I’d recommend we just leave it as it is and continue.”

“I don’t see the point in it anymore. Everybody has to make choices,” countered Trustee Ron MacDonald. “Shutting the gym down at 6:30 just doesn’t make any sense.”

Trustee Beverly Krichbaum disagreed. “We’ve been doing this for years. I don’t see why we can’t keep it in place because it’s what the school board decided on. It just seems like if it weren’t a church-going thing, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal,” she said.

For Boundary County School District, family night meant that every Wednesday, school buildings would be locked at 6:30 p.m. so that students and their families could attend church together. On family night, sports practices ended early. Teachers and coaches could not schedule concerts, plays, games or any other evening event at school.

“The kids have to make a decision (to skip practice or games), but if that decision negatively affects the team, I think we need to look at that,” said a grade-school coach who attended the meeting.

“I don’t see why we have to designate one night,” said MacDonald.

“Because most churches have a mid-week service, and they have youth groups (on Wednesdays) too,” said Krichbaum. “We do this to honor people. It’s part of the culture. Sports are important to many families that do go to church at night and those that don’t ... we’ve been scheduling around Wednesdays for years, so why don’t we just keep it?”

“What about the students and their families that are really into sports?” said Nichele Whittaker, chairperson of the board. “We’re taking away from them. I want to make sure we honor everybody, not just one side.”

When it came to a vote about whether to keep family night, Krichbaum and Tess Rae voted yes while Whittaker, MacDonald and David Brinkman voted no. Thus, family night will not continue this school year.

“I will let the Ministerial Association know,” said Pflueger.