Parents drop suit against Polson school board

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

The Daily Inter Lake

Fifteen parent plaintiffs have dropped their lawsuit against the Polson school board, claiming further legal action would be pointless.

The parents sued the board in early June, one week after trustees unanimously voted to reconfigure the elementary district. The decision was made too hastily, the plaintiffs said, with too little planning and public input.

For more than a decade, Cherry Valley and Linderman schools have housed kindergarten through fourth-grade students. At a special meeting May 29, the board approved a reorganization that would send all preschool through first-grade children to Cherry Valley, and second-, third- and fourth-graders to Linderman. Parents first heard about the possible reorganization May 25.

Board members said reconfiguring the district was necessary to make room for full-day kindergarten. They had to act quickly, they said, because delays in the state Legislature gave them about a week to claim one-time, full-time kindergarten money for the 2007-2008 school year.

In June, the plaintiffs requested an injunction, asking the board to rescind its decision and seek more public input. Parents also wanted each trustee to explain the rationale for his or her vote.

At a special meeting July 12, the board repealed its earlier decision and listened to public comment. Most speakers voiced their support for the school board, but several asked trustees to consider other options and seek more public input before making a decision.

At the end of the meeting, the board voted and again unanimously approved reconfiguring the district.

"I think it was a real nice dog-and-pony show," Cesar Hernandez, one of the plaintiffs, said after the meeting. "They were just going through the motions for process' sake and for legal reasons."

In their motion to dismiss the litigation against the board, the parents called the July meeting a "sham" and said trustees were "simply reconfirming the earlier decision made without public participation."

Proving that would be difficult, however, and the board did invite more public comment at the special July meeting, thus fulfilling the requirements of the injunction. Because of that, the plaintiffs decided to drop the lawsuit.

"While this isn't the outcome the plaintiffs desired, it reflects practicality and design to live and fight another day," Hernandez said in an e-mail to the Inter Lake.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com