LPOSD faces second vacancy

PONDERAY — Purley Decker, the newly appointed member of the Lake Pend Oreille School Board, will officially join other trustees at the annual meeting Tuesday, June 19. Officials will administer the oath of service and Decker will take the seat vacated by Joel Molander as the representative for Zone 1.

Meanwhile, Barbara Oler, who has held the Zone 2 seat on the board since 2013, will be giving up her position due to a move outside her zone. Her departure will create the second opening within the past two months, presenting trustees with the need to launch a new search for an appointee. Oler’s term ends next year.

"I am still very much interested in the LPOSD. I will continue to be an advocate for our schools, students, and community as well as remaining involved with the success of the Bonner Community Food Bank," Oler said.

Lake Pend Oreille School Board trustees selected Decker from a pool of six applicants for the Zone 1 vacancy last month. A retired teacher who taught sixth grade for 15 years at Hope Elementary School, he also taught language arts at Clark Fork Junior High School.

In the couple of years since he retired, Decker has volunteered time to work with Hope students in the outdoor education program.

One of the projects he designed for the program was a study for students to determine why endangered bull trout continue to thrive in Trestle Creek. During a daylong outing, students tested the water content and temperature, took underwater footage and counted redds, or spawning beds.

"The students found out the bull trout are there because Trestle Creek has been protected. It is cold, clear, complex and connected," Decker said, adding that these "Cs" are the four conditions necessary to support aquatic life.

Teaching was actually Decker's second career. He served in the military from 1968 to 1992, spending a year in Vietnam, a year in Germany, more than four years in Hawaii and 12 years in Georgia. He was part of a preventive medicine team.

“I earned a degree in business and a master's in information systems while I was in the service. I taught college while on active duty. Teaching was always kind of what I was doing," Decker said.

Once he retired from the military, he went back to the University of Idaho to get his bachelor's degree in elementary education, Decker added.

He said he never considered running for the school board, but applied for the vacant seat because he wanted to help keep the leadership strong.

"When I first started here, there wasn’t a whole lot of trust and respect for the board, but it's come so far. I wanted to see it continue. The board has been very supportive," he said.

As a former educator, he believes he can bring a unique perspective to the district.

”I understand the needs of the students, the staff and teachers in the schools,” he said.

“What they need to make this district continue as one of the exemplary districts of the state."

Some of those things are time, high-quality learning materials and the agility to roll with the frequent changes.

"If students are learning the same curriculum for seven years, when they leave sixth grade, they have the full-rounded spiral effect ... all of the students throughout the district would be learning the same academic vocabulary.”

He said his favorite part of teaching was the "wow" factor.

"When the student that is struggling all of a sudden gets it — understands it — the look on their face makes all the rest of it worthwhile," he said.

The annual meeting of the LPOSD board will take place at 6 p.m. in the district office, 901 Triangle Drive in Ponderay, and is open to the public.

Time will be set aside for public comments, as is customary at LPOSD meetings throughout the year.

Those wishing to address the board should sign up prior to the meeting.