Idaho Board of Education denies West Bonner superintendent’s certificate

The Idaho State Board of Education declined to consider awarding an emergency certificate this week to West Bonner Superintendent Branden Durst.

The decision leaves the district in a legal pinch.

“There is no pathway for Mr. Durst to obtain the legally required certification to serve as the West Bonner County School District superintendent,” Idaho State Board of Education Executive Director Matt Freeman wrote in a letter to the district Wednesday.

The board cited a new legal interpretation of its authority that did not include the ability to award an emergency certificate to an administrator with no teaching experience.

As a former Idaho Freedom Foundation staffer with no prior experience as an educator, Durst has been a divisive figure in the rural school district since the school board voted 3-2 to hire him in June. Two of the board members who voted to hire Durst – former Chair Keith Rutledge and former Vice Chair Susan Brown – were recalled last month.

Durst did not apply for an emergency certificate until Aug. 29, after the state board warned he was out of compliance with state law.

He does not meet all of the requirements for a superintendent endorsement in Idaho, including four years of teaching experience.

The state board has bypassed those requirements with emergency certifications for three administrators since 2015, Freeman’s letter said.

One of those was approved for another West Bonner employee, Susie Luckey, just before Durst was hired. Luckey is a longtime teacher and principal in the district who was serving as interim superintendent and was a finalist for the job along with Durst. Luckey’s superintendent endorsement expired Aug. 30.

The West Bonner School Board’s decision to hire someone with no teaching certificate prompted a legal review of Idaho education statues and administrative rules by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.

The review concluded that the state Board of Education is only authorized to issue emergency certificates to teachers, not administrators. So, the board does not have the authority to consider Durst’s application, Freeman said.

Durst called the decision “discriminatory.”

“That’s all I have to say about it,” he said.

However, Durst also tweeted that “the timing is particularly strange,” adding, “This was a discriminatory act by a board run by those with a political ax to grind. They will be held accountable for their discriminatory actions.”

An earlier Aug. 16 letter from the state board to the district warned that Durst was unqualified, and the school board is responsible for keeping the district in compliance with state law.

Trustee Margaret Hall, who is acting chair of the West Bonner School Board following the recall of Rutledge and Brown, said the state board’s letters are taken seriously. The remaining majority on the West Board School Board opposed the decision to name Durst the superintendent.

Reviewing the two letters will be included on the Sept. 20 agenda, Hall said.

Before they were removed from their seats, Rutledge and Brown made unsuccessful last-ditch efforts to remove a clause from Durst’s contract that allows the board to fire him if he failed to obtain a certificate.

Rutledge attempted twice to hold meetings during the lame-duck period after the Aug. 29 recall election but before the results were canvassed Sept. 7. The meetings were canceled amid a restraining order that prohibited the board from taking any binding action until the election was certified.

Other agenda items at one of those meetings were to consider the superintendent’s right to legal counsel related to employment and certification, and taking legal action against the Idaho State Board of Education.