PRIEST RIVER — It was light turnout for Tuesday’s West Bonner County School District trustee candidate forum, with three of the five candidates and about 25 community members in attendance.

The candidates present included Zone 1 incumbent Margaret Hall, Zone 3 incumbent Bruce Hollett, and the sole candidate for Zone 5, Todd Sudick. Hall’s opponent, Lesa Souza, had replied to the invitation that she had a prior engagement, said moderator Chris Yount, and Hollett’s opponent, Troy Reinbold, had not responded.

Sudick, a former Bonner County commissioner who will not appear on the ballot as he is unnopposed, said he chose to attend to give the community an opportunity to get to know him and his stance on some of the issues the district faces.

The three faced a slew of questions from community members, ranging from the district’s budget and funding to LGBTQA in schools.

As such, the first question the candidates faced was in regards to their position on the “idea of promoting LGBT books to grade school kids for Read Across America, and teaching children that they may turn themselves into the opposite sex.”

Sudick and Hollett both said they were against the idea, and Hollett added there is no such curriculum in schools within the district. Only Hall’s answer varied in that she said she would want to know what books they are referring to and see the content of the books before giving a definitive answer.

Along similar lines, the candidates were asked if parents should be notifed when school curriculum touches on subjects of sexual orientation or sexual practice. Hall and Sudick said yes, they should be notified. Hollett said while he is not against the idea, it comes back to parent involvement in that they should take it upon themselves and talk to their child about what they are learning in school.

Another question posed was in regards to the controversial Human Rights Club at the high school and whether the candidates understood the community’s concern over the club, in not requiring parent permission for students to participate. Hollett, who was on the board when the controversy arose last year over the club’s topic for December of “Men and LGBTQA,” said he is not against the idea of parent permission. However, clubs are student led, and student-led clubs don’t necessarily fall under school regulations. Hall said if parental permission is asked for one club, it should be asked for all clubs. She agreed that it is a student club, not district sponsored, and the students have First Amendment rights.

On the budget and funding side of things, the candidates were asked if they believe only property owners should be able to vote on bonds and levies related to school. The three candidates said no — all residents should be given a voice, whether they own or rent, if they are legal voters in the district.

The next question related to budget was, as a trustee making a motion to spend money, would the candidates feel it is important to put limits on the amount of money to be spent? The three candidates noted that expenditures are typically built into a budget, though Hall said she believes the question stemmed from the recent installation of an electronic sign at Priest River Elementary.

“We well knew what the expenditures were going to be and we understood that through the facilities committee report, so I think in that case we weren’t making a willy-nilly decision on that, we had a pretty clear idea what that amount was going to be and what the level was going to be,” Hall said.

Also on the budget, the candidates were asked if they had any ideas for making it more transparent. Sudick said there could be some changes made to make it easier to read and Hall agreed, adding that a discussion with the community on ways to make the budget more transparent might be the answer. Hollett said it is transparent, as the district goes through several meetings that are open to the public prior to setting the budget, and once it is finalized, the budget is available at the district office and online.

“You can come to our monthly meetings and look at our monthly budgets … it is all right there in black and white,” Hollett said.

Some of the other questions included who or what takes the most important role in a child’s education, to which all three candidates answered that parents and family take precedence; how each candidate plans to be a “team player” with all of the stakeholders in the district, to which all three replied that trying to get more community engagement is important, as well as listening and observing; and what is the “greatest obstacle” the district faces, to which all agreed on funding.

“One of the critical things that the school district needs to do is to push for state funding … until that happens, I don’t see an end to levies,” Sudick said.

The candidates finished up with some final remarks on what they will do for the community and kids if, or in Sudick’s case, when, they are elected.

Hall said she will continue to do her “due diligence” in preparing for the board meetings and addressing issues.

“I would be looking very carefully at balancing the needs of the taxpayers, but also knowing what other students are getting around the country and around the state, I also want to be respectful and balance the students’ needs and spend money wisely to try to make this the best school district,” Hall said.

Hollett said the WBCSD students deserve the same educational opportunities as any other district in the state, though being a rural district creates a challenge in funding. As board members, he said, they need to keep pushing state legislators to fund education as “it should be.”

“If re-elected, I would keep pushing for the funding, keep taking care of our fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers as best we can, along with … we keep pushing our staff and our staff keeps pushing our students and we as a district are achieving great things,” Hollett said.

Sudick said he is ready to bring his management and budget experience to the district, working with the staff to find more efficient and effective ways of handling funds.

“I’d like to make sure the teachers have all the tools they need to effectively run the classroom and provide the best bang for the buck in terms of educating our children,” Sudick said, adding that he would also work to increase parent involvement. “And as we’ve already discussed, I would really try to get a full-on press going with to fund up the education of our schools.”

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.