We're better off following Youngdahl's leadership

The Lake Pend Oreille School Board’s public comment session on campus safety Tuesday evening was respectful and informative, but for Mindy Cameron and her husband Bill Berg who, it seemed to me, put their personal feelings against board chairman Steve Youngdahl ahead of a rational discussion of school safety.

Mr. Berg opened public comment with a personal attack on Youngdahl based on faulty information. He asserted that Youngdahl had surprised an unsuspecting school board by raising without notice whether student safety might be enhanced by arming carefully selected highly trained staff. However, meeting minutes posted on the school board’s website show that the issue was actually raised by former board trustee Vicky Pfeifer back on Jan. 8, 2013, when she proposed that options including “trained staff members carrying guns” be considered by the board, saying “the district owes it to the community to talk about it.”

Which brings us to trustee Cameron, who would eliminate our opportunity to talk about it. At the end of the evening she moved to immediately close all debate on whether arming trained staff might help protect our children, despite the fact that an expert had just stated that it would save lives. My son goes to Sandpoint High. I was offended that Ms. Cameron moved to terminate considering a proposal an expert had just said might save my son’s life. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and Ms. Cameron’s motion was defeated.

Information, expertise, and experience are available to us. As suggested by Ms. Pfeifer, chairman Steve Youngdahl is gathering facts and evaluating best practices in other jurisdictions. Our community will be better off following his steady leadership and rational approach to this complex issue.

GEORGE WENTZ

Sagle