LAKELAND: School board is the problem

I worked in Lakeland School district for 29 years when we had great teachers and good supportive administration and school board. We still have good hard working teachers and administrators, but our school board does not support them.       

In 2024, led by Michelle Thompson and Ramona Grissom, they removed our school board out of the highly respected State School Board Association, making us one of two school districts in the state that does not belong to this important Association. This organization helps members learn what good board members need to know about their duties, actions and responsibilities.

We, as former Lakeland employees, want to make you aware what is happening. This board has done and is doing things that were in the past unthinkable. They have changed the superintendent position three times in the last four years. In the past seven years, six clerks of the board have left because of board actions. Many longtime excellent teachers have resigned. This board micro-manages everything. They are fostering an environment of fear and mistrust. The latest is putting the present superintendent on paid leave because they couldn’t fire him. They couldn’t fire him because he didn’t do anything wrong. They are paying him $200,000 while he is on leave when they are running a $3 million bond levy. Please be involved, be aware, attend board meetings, join any groups that are working to right these wrongs.

Remember, the schools are there to provide the students with a good education in a way that is healthy and enjoyable. 

We need to make the school board realize they are the problem and realize that the schools belong to all of us.

DON WILHELM

Rathdrum