The recent League of Women Voters forum for Moscow City Council candidates was, I’m sorry to say, a massive disappointment. No name-calling, no bickering, no grandstanding. All the candidates stuck to their time limits, treated each other with respect, and even supported Moscow’s Climate Action Plan. It’s like they weren’t pandering to our worst instincts at all! Where are the crackpots and firebrands? The vapid sound bites and canned speeches? I’m not even going to share my preferences for this race because no matter who wins, we’ll be stuck with serious, devoted public servants and the tedium of competent governance. Sure, that’s all good and well for everyone else, but as a representative of the Opinion Columnist lobby, these are dark times.
Fortunately, there’s still the race for school board. I heartily endorse Jim Frenzel for Zone 1 (northeast Moscow) and Dulce Kersting-Lark for Zone 3 (southeast Moscow). Both Zone 4 candidates seem fully qualified for the job, and though I hold no strong preference, Dawn Fazio’s extensive tenure on the board would likely win my vote.
Frenzel is a long-time Moscow resident who has served on the board for 12 years, served in the Moscow Mentor Program for 13 years, and raised three children through the Moscow school system. A personal acquaintance, I know him to be an honest, thoughtful and hardworking man who cares deeply about our schools.
Kersting-Lark is a Washington State University graduate and Moscow resident of 10 years. She has been on the school board for the past 10 months and, with a 3-year-old child at home, is focused on early childhood education. She is passionate, articulate, intelligent and inspiring.
Editor's note: The preceding paragraph was changed from its original version to properly indicate the college from which Kersting-Lark graduated.
Kersting-Lark’s opposition, Gay Lynn Clyde, has lived 40 years on the Palouse, has a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Washington State University, and has two children in the Moscow school district. She hopes to improve district facilities, increase pay for teachers and staff, and create smaller student-teacher ratios, but believes this can somehow be achieved without new funding, instead suggesting that we just “think outside the box.” Unfortunately, you can’t build schools or pay teachers with cliches and good intentions. She also believes there is pornography in our school libraries, and when asked about the strengths of public education had to Google her answer. I don’t doubt Clyde’s sincerity, but she’s out of touch with the realities of our district and the difficult tradeoffs we face. We need someone grounded in reality, not right-wing talking points.
Speaking of which, Cody Barr moved to Moscow from the East Coast one year ago. He is a software engineer who homeschools his four children. While Barr likes to tout his prior experience working on a school board in Connecticut, what he doesn’t mention is that he served less than 7 months of a 4-year term after taking fourth place in a six-way race and contributed very little beyond a failed attempt to lift masking restrictions prior to the date allowed by the state.
In a recent forum, Barr stated that “the greatest weakness of public education is the public part” and asserted that in an ideal world all schools would be private, funded by parents and private citizens, with no government oversight. Apparently, only the well-off deserve an education in Barr’s world. Like Clyde, he insists that we can improve our infrastructure and replace deteriorating buildings using only our existing budget, which is obtuse in the extreme. He has also centered his campaign on removing “pornography” (i.e., books that portray LGBTQ people positively) from school libraries, but also disingenuously insists that these books would not be “banned in any way, shape, or form.”
There are too many examples of Barr’s double-speak and magical thinking to list here. Suffice it to say, he’s not a serious candidate. But, if your ideal school board member is a homophobic carpetbagger who lacks rudimentary fiscal knowledge, who is more interested in undermining than serving, and who has no respect for the district he would lead, here’s your chance.
The election is Nov. 7, a Tuesday. Early voting runs Oct. 23 through Nov. 3. Information on voting and registration is at latahcountyid.gov/auditor/elections/. To find which zone you’re in for the school board race, go to www.msd281.org/board_of_trustees.
Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children.
