Marsh Valley School District voters must decide whether to remove Zone 1 trustee from office

POCATELLO — Marsh Valley School District voters will soon vote on whether one of the school board trustees will remain on the board.

The election to recall Kathy Egan, a trustee representing Zone 1 of the Marsh Valley Unified School District, is on the ballot for Tuesday’s election, and a simple majority of Marsh Valley voters will determine whether she is removed from office. Egan, who has taught in the district for 22 years, is currently serving her second term as a trustee, which ends next November.

“I’ve been on the board for seven years (and) I’d really like to finish my last year. You’re going to have to finish it, but if it happens, I’ll deal with it,” Egan said.

If a majority of voters vote in favor of the recall, Egan will leave office. The school board will then accept several candidates and appoint one of them to fill the position for the remainder of the semester. This candidate will have the opportunity, along with those who were not selected and others who did not apply, to stand for election.

The ballot states the reasons for Egan’s recall include “poor school district performance, declining enrollment and poor financial oversight.”

While those are the main reasons for the recall, Barbara Hill, a Downey resident and part of the group that organized the recall petition, said the “catalyst” was talk of the school district wanting to close Downey Elementary School.

“When rumors like this started to spread, it was kind of the last straw. We were dissatisfied with the way the district was functioning, but that was not the main reason,” Hill said.

Egan said she doesn’t want to close Downey Elementary School and believes the school has the best building and teachers in the area.

“Our job is to provide the best schools, the best teachers and the best programs. That’s our job, and I think Downey has that as well. I know we have it in Downey, so there is no reason to close this school,” Egan said.

Since the recall petition gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot, Hill and other concerned Area 1 residents have tried to raise awareness by holding public meetings, talking to neighbors and friends and putting up signs.

Hill said one of the factors leading to declining enrollment at Marsh Valley schools was the district’s poor curriculum.

“There are students who go to Preston, to Milad, to Bancroft (and) to Century. They’re leaving because of the curriculum, and all this turmoil isn’t helping us,” Hill said.

In addition, many constituents raised questions about how the district spends funds, often citing Assistant Superintendent Troy Thayne as an example. Some voters favored cutting his position because the district had not had an assistant superintendent before him.

“We just felt like they were doing a poor job with taxpayer dollars,” Hill said.

Egan agrees that there were problems with the district’s curriculum, the main one being that the district did not have a curriculum director. Because of this, teachers in Marsh Valley schools often taught from different books, and students found themselves at different levels of education as they progressed through the grades.

Sometimes teachers of the same school taught from different books. Egan said the teachers did the best they could with what they had at the time.

“How can you collaborate when you do this?” – Egan said. “It was a mess.”

Egan said Thayne wears “many hats” in the district, and one of them was curriculum director. In order to standardize the curriculum, the district was forced and is still in the process of purchasing entirely new materials.

“So where is this (money) going to come from? (Thane) wrote grants for all of this,” Egan said.

Thain is still working to improve the district’s curriculum, and she said he receives more money in grants than he receives from his salary.

While Hill does not plan to apply to fill Egan’s seat if she is successfully removed from office, she has spoken with a number of people who plan to do so. Hill said they hope the recall goes well.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we succeed,” Hill said. “We tried to stick to the essence and our message. This is not about closing Downey Elementary School. This is about three things listed in the petition.”

While Hill is concerned that the school board will appoint someone who will maintain the district’s status quo, she believes the effort is worth it.

“That’s a risk we have to take,” Hill said.

While Egan wasn’t trying to go out and get involved in “politics,” she did talk to a number of people who signed the recall petition, but changed her mind about her vote after talking to her.

“They should know that I never wanted to close Downey and I just want what’s best for the kids. So (if) they vote against me on this, then I guess that’s it,” Egan said.