BONNER COUNTY, Idaho — Before getting to Idaho Freedom Foundation analyst and former state superintendent candidate, former Democratic state lawmaker, now dyed-in-the-wool Republican Branden Durst, a little backstory is helpful.
West Bonner County School District is looking for its fifth superintendent in a little more than a year. In march of 2022 the superintendent who served for eight years decided to take the same job in Kamiah. After an involved selection process, the board offered the job to Dr. Michael Robey, who turned it down in the final stages. They then gave it to Jackie Branum, one of the other finalists, who then abruptly resigned in March of this year.
Since then, Susie Luckey, longtime Bonner County teacher was appointed by the board of trustees as "interim superintendent," a term that ends at the end of this month.
Which brings us to last week, when Luckey was named a finalist for that job full-time, along with Durst. Ultimately the board chose Durst, by a 3-2 vote.
Five superintendents who have been named since March of 2022, and there could be six by tomorrow. KTVB was sent the agenda for the meeting scheduled for tomorrow and the first item under new business is the "consideration and approval of rescinding the selection of superintendent candidate."
Meaning it looks like the board might take back Branden Durst's appointment to run their district, and it can be attributed to what happened in last night's West Bonner County special school board meeting.
About 50 people showed up last night, not the most they've seen, but probably the most vocal. There was a large outburst from the attendees right after they read out the "benefits" Durst was asking for in his superintendent contract, and that's in addition to the $105,000 salary.
He asked for the following things; 12 sick days, 20 vacation days, and to be paid for any unused vacation days, the use of a car that is less than 10 years old, the district to pay for half of his PERSI retirement contribution, to work remotely, a housing allowance of $500 a month, $2,000 in moving expenses and he wanted to be able to eat lunch at any school in the district for free.
He also wanted to be able to keep his consulting and speaking engagements, and he wanted he, and his wife, to be protected from any lawsuits brought against him as superintendent, and if he were to be fired, he wanted it to require a supermajority of the board vote, instead of a simple majority.
During the four-hour long meeting last night, the trustees decided to go over the contract request line by line. While they were doing that, the meeting became more heated.
"That money comes from the children, it comes straight out of these parent's pockets," someone can be heard yelling.
A teacher from the school district was also in attendance, her name is Whitney Urmann.
It was definitely a fiery meeting," she said. "They were not prepared for us to be vocal and have actual information to combat them. I mean they've gotten away with a lot in the last year and a half where there hasn't been a lot of pushback.
She had thought that people would attend the meeting, but that the board would just vote the contract in. She said to get them to read it line by line, is something that's been needed for years.
Urmann said that it stayed intense the whole night, with audience members complaining about how the district's budget is already tight. The meeting went on for four hours, with two of the trustees who last week voted for Durst, just getting up and walking out at about the three-hour mark.
Prior to that, the board managed to run a red pen through Durst's contract addendum. The board reduced his vacation days from 20 to 15, denied the request of a car, denied the half the PERSI contribution, the ability to work remotely, the $500 monthly housing allowance, the moving expenses and the free meals at schools.
The board also denied the part in the contract asking for his wife to be covered by legal counsel and the part where termination would require a supermajority.
In addition, one of the requirements for Durst to get the district job, or any superintendent job in Idaho, he has to have four years of full-time certificated experience working with students while under contract with an accredited school. Which Durst doesn't have.
However, one of the conditions for Durst to get the job, and according to the board chair, Durst is going to apply for, is an "emergency provisional certificate" with the state board of education. To get that provisional certificate, Idaho law requires no less than two years of college training as a teacher, and to have a current Idaho certificate.
Both of which Durst doesn't appear to have.
He does have a degree in political science and a Master's in public administration, but no training or experience with an accredited school.
So even that provisional certificate seems up in the air.
Additionally, last October, while Durst was running for state superintendent, the chair of Boise State's College of Education Heather Williams, where Durst got his Master's, wrote a letter concerning Durst's qualifications for the job. According to sources found by KTVB, the letter was emailed to the board by several hundred of West Bonner County School District's parents, which the chair claimed he didn't know about until after he voted for Durst as his new superintendent.
The letter states that the, "program is not able to offer an institutional recommendation to Branden Durst for certification as an Idaho administrator or superintendent." Mostly because of the four-year full-time certification requirement.
Regarding his salary request, Durst, took to Twitter back in May and stated that, "At no time in Idaho history have school districts had access to more money. From tens of millions in federal COVID funds to a new infusion of over $450 million in new state support, districts are swimming in cash. Asking patrons, who are drowning in property tax bills, to fork over more of their hard-earned money is both unnecessary and, in some cases, unethical."
He was tweeting about school bonds and levies being voted on last May. That levy was voted down. However, that could apply to his contract requests and explain why he asked for a six-figure salary, and all the addendums.
Urmann, the teacher from West Bonner, is losing her job because her salary was tied to the levy.
Yet, Durst has asked for $105,000 as a superintendent who oversees a district of just about a thousand students.
The superintendent of the West Ada School District, which has about 40,000 students, Derek Bubb makes $210,000 a year, and getting six figures isn't unheard of in Idaho, even in districts comparable to West Bonner County.
KTVB tried to contact a board trustee and Durst, both messages went unanswered.
The next West Bonner School District meeting is tomorrow at 4:30.
Join 'The 208' conversation:
- Text us at (208) 321-5614
- E-mail us at the208@ktvb.com
- Join our The 208 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/the208KTVB/
- Follow us on Twitter: @the208KTVB or tweet #the208 and #SoIdaho
- Follow us on Instagram: @the208KTVB
- Bookmark our landing page: /the-208
- Still reading this list? We're on YouTube, too: