Youngdahl wins re-election

SANDPOINT — Steve Youngdahl won re-election to the Lake Pend Oreille School Board, defeating Peter Kriz 167-42.

The Zone 5 race, representing downtown Sandpoint, was the only opposed seat in the LPOSD school board elections. Joan Fish will retain her Zone 3 seat, covering the region west of Highway 95 and north of Sandpoint, while Barbara Oler will replace Vickie Pfeifer as the Zone 2 trustee, encompassing the region south of Highway 2, west of Highway 95 and south of Sagle. Both Fish and Oler were uncontested and were automatically won the seats.

Youngdahl and Kriz both relied on educational experience as their primary qualification for candidacy.

Youngdahl based his campaign on his seven years of experience with the school board. He said the governing body’s accomplishments during that time, which includes rising academic achievement and test scores, spoke for itself.

Kriz, on the other hand, wanted to see a more transformational influence on the school system, which he said did not adequately prepare students for the challenges of the real world. His candidacy was based not in opposition to Youngdahl’s performance but rather in support of an educational system with major changes made to funding, curricula, technology and public discourse.

The race was more heated in West Bonner County School District, where Drew McLain bested Peggylee A. Smith and Joseph L. English for the Zone 2 seat, racking up 94 votes to their 70 and 53 votes, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sandra Lee Brower beat Leonard Parenteau for the Zone 4 seat with 183 votes against 116 votes.

WBCSD voters also approved a maintenance of operations levy of $3 million with 711 in favor and 488 against. The levy will be in effect between July 1 of this year and June 30, 2014.