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Lake Pend Oreille School District talks about reaching out to the community and particularly to the taxpayers who voted against the plant facilities levy. Unfortunately it appears this is just talk. Even as LPOSD declares it wants public feedback, certain information is missing or has become more challenging to find.

• A draft survey for public feedback on the levy was given to the trustees in their agenda packet. Yet, when I asked for a copy of the document, I was first denied, then delayed. This wasn’t the first time a published agenda packet has had information purposely kept from public view.

• LPOSD reworked its website over the summer. It’s much more difficult to navigate. In particular, the “Recent Activity” link is gone. It was available for years and very useful to get a quick list of which pages and documents were updated. It was very helpful to patrons looking for recent changes in meeting information, newly updated documents related to the levy question, and postings of items such as minutes, transparency reports, and child nutrition information.

I asked the superintendent to reconsider and have the link relisted. He refused and basically said that people will have to search each page to see if there has been an update.

• After spending extra time searching, I found that the latest transparency report had been uploaded. Unfortunately it omitted the actual dollar amount of each expenditure, making it useless.

Is LPOSD giving the appearance of involving the community on the surface but surreptitiously taking away access to information?

KATHY ROSE

Samuels