Schools office should be non-partisan

Editor,

In response to Gehrand Bechard, chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee's article "Concerns expressed over two proposals of County Study Commission" published April 20 in the Leader, I mailed this letter to Bonnie Mueller, chairperson of the Lake County Study Commission:

It is below and the file attached:

Dear Members of the Lake County Study Commission:

Re: County Study Commission Findings on Nonpartisan County Offices

I wish to offer my appreciation for the extensive study and work that the Lake County Study Commission conducted this last year. I applaud you for following through with suggestions appropriate to your findings. All Lake County offices and officers were given survey questions followed by individual meetings with the Commission. I have utmost confidence in the findings of the Commission based upon those meetings with us and strongly concur with your findings that certainly all local county offices, except perhaps for Commissioners, should be nonpartisan.

Your findings were based on extensive interviews with each of us and are true to opinions expressed by most current locally elected officials. My lack of attendance at the well-advertised public meetings throughout the county, where you expressed your findings, was because of a busy schedule and utmost confidence in the integrity of your work and how you would report it.

While I am a strong proponent of elected local offices, little in any of our duties falls in the realm of bipartisan politics. All officials, other than the commissioners, serve as executive officials and have few, or no, legislative duties. In the performance of my office as County Superintendent, I often inform legislators about conditions in our schools and occasionally testify on bills impacting all Lake County schools similarly, but these testimonies have little to do with one political party or another.

In my long-experienced opinion regarding the duties and performance of this office, I believe the office of Lake County Superintendent of Schools is best served by a strong educational leader, the best educator, regardless of political affiliation. This was the opinion I expressed to you during our meeting, the same opinion I expressed to my Party when asked about recruiting candidates to succeed me when I retire, and they honored my advice.

I will be honored to assist and train the newly elected Lake County Superintendent of Schools despite the fact that he will be from a political party different than my own.

I place my confidence in the voters to select the best educational leader for the position and commend you on your recommendation to change county elected officials to nonpartisan positions.

Joyce Decker Wegner

Lake County Supt. of Schools

Polson