SANDPOINT — In a response to a statutory grievance filed over the relocation of the Lake Pend Oreille High School, Lake Pend Oreille School District officials refuted claims Tuesday made in the 30-page document calling them inaccurate. 

"When it comes to disparaging the district with things that are not factual, that's where I really draw the line," said LPOSD Superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer. 

The response comes after a broad coalition of residents, parents and educators filed a statutory grievance demanding the district to freeze the relocation of LPOHS to a site adjacent to Sandpoint Middle School, calling on the district to keep the school at its current location in the old Lincoln School on North Boyer where it has been for decades. 

"In my opinion, I have been very professional up to this point," said Meyer, adding that while her professionalism would continue, she would be blunt and honest about her findings related to the grievance. 

During a July 14 regular board meeting, the school board voted to approve the alternative high school’s move after district officials said it experienced reduced funding due to declining enrollment and the school falls short of many modern standards for accessibility, systems, and functionality.  

Meyer said the initial recommendation was made so LPOHS students would have expanded opportunities for electives and access to the Career Technical Education Center.  

However, teachers, former students, parents, and community members spoke at the pulpit during public comment, challenging the legality of the decision. 

Meyer subsequently addressed those comments, saying she would keep both the school board and the public apprised of the grievance process and her findings.  

"I really wish that this group had asked to meet with me and sit down. We could have followed the grievance policy, sat down, and talked about it," said Meyer. "There was no request to meet, this was just given to us." 

In her response, Meyer deconstructed the grievance language, countering claims that the district failed to abide by Idaho law by violating open meeting laws, enacting a reduction in force, and not meeting alternative school requirements. 

"There are blatantly false allegations, there's misinterpretation of the law, and there's [outright] fabrications," said Meyer of the grievance. 

However, lead coalition member Jackie Branum said Meyer's claims were "a direct misrepresentation of the facts." 

"While the superintendent publicly stated that the district received a final state report clearing them of wrongdoing, our coalition has received direct, official confirmation from State Chief Financial Officer Gideon Tolman stating: 'No, the only correspondence we have had with them regarding a report is the email we sent you the other day,'" wrote Branum in an email response about the status of the coalition’s concerns. 

A summary and response to the grievance's primary legal allegations against the district can also be found on the Lake Pend Oreille High School’s website, which claims that "in every legal allegation reviewed by the district, the quoted 'code language' does not match the actual text of the cited law." 

Speaking to the grievance's "foundational philosophy," Meyer said the allegation that the district violated Idaho Code by making major policy decisions in secret is false. 

According to the website, the grievance "inaccurately quotes the statute and attributes requirements that are not contained in its text." The response further states that "approval of the LPOHS relocation occurred during public meetings with publicly posted agendas, meeting materials, opportunities for public comment, Board deliberation, and voting in public." 

Branum disclosed that initial preparatory work on the grievance relied on a digital search engine index to compile statutory summaries, which unprovokedly formatted the layout of the code to match contextual intent rather than producing the literal, word-for-word state text. 

Still, Branum said that a technical search engine format mismatch cannot mask the reality that "the superintendent is actively misleading her own board of trustees and the public by inventing a final state clearance report while state data reviews remain live in Boise." 

"For the administration to announce a final clearance to the community while the state explicitly confirms no such report exists is a profound breach of community trust," wrote Branum.