On Oct. 10, The Daily Bee printed a letter from me with concerns that the West Bonner School District was not applying for grants that would benefit our kids. So that I could present credible information before writing my letter, I researched the facts by contacting a reliable source, Junior High Principal Johnson. GEAR UP had been in place in our junior high and high school for over a decade and I had heard it was no longer being offered. Ms. Johnson rebutted my letter with some untrue facts. She said we spoke “early in the school year.” We spoke one week before my letter appeared.

In her rebuttal she says, “When I spoke to Mrs. Gardner … it was unknown whether WBCSD No. 83 would receive the grant.” That is not what she told me. She told me, “The junior high advertised for a part -time, Near Peer counselor last year and had no applicants. Since no one applied for that we thought that no one would apply for the GEAR UP coordinator position so the district did not apply for a new GU grant.” Principal Johnson’s answer was a “snow-job.” I told her that “this was not a valid reason not to apply for a grant.” I told her that “The Near Peer job was part time at about $9.88 per hour with no benefits. The GU position was $15 per hour, full-time and had benefits.” She did not correct me. Assuming I was given reliable information from Ms. Johnson I wrote my letter.

After my letter appeared, I called the IDSDE for information. IDSDE told me WBCSD had applied for a GEAR UP grant and it was due to start next week. I was perplexed. I was embarrassed that I had written a letter with misinformation until I remembered that I sourced my information from the person who should know the most about this program. It will be in her building and she would have to provide office space, phone, file cabinet and desk to run the program. She is the person supposed to support the coordinator and the person who is supposed to get junior high staff to cooperate, become informed about and assist with the program

I can only speculate why Ms. Johnson is sharing such distorted information. It is reasonable to think she was repeating information she had been given by Superintendent Paul Anselmo. Why, after my conversation with her did she not get her facts straight and call me back with accurate data? Why would he apply for the grant and not tell her it would be her responsibility to house this program? Maybe it slipped his mind that she should know that it would be up to her to have staff cooperate and allow student class time for requirements in the grant to be met.

I usually don’t second-guess a credible person but what alternate universes do Mr. Anselmo and Ms. Johnson live in? The fact that our superintendent forgot to tell Principal Johnson or he told her and she forgot is a symptom of a much larger problem which shows a lack of leadership, poor communication skills from ineffective administrators and a lack of respect for those who are supposed to implement this program. Mr. Anselmo is on the record for being part of a group that was reported by 11 women who in 2013 stated that “the GEAR UP coordinator has been singled out for extreme harassment.” Good luck to the new coordinator.

BETTY GARDNER

Priest River