West Bonner School District hires new superintendent

After more than two years of leadership turnover at West Bonner School District, the school board offered a job to another superintendent Tuesday night.

Trustees agreed to hire Kim Spacek, who is finishing a one-year term as superintendent at Mountain View School District in Grangeville, Idaho. In March, that district’s school board voted 3-2 without explanation not to renew his contract, the Idaho County Free Press reported. Before Mountain View, Spacek was superintendent of the Pomeroy and Inchelium school districts in Washington.

Spacek was the only finalist after the other candidate, Robbie Swint Jr., who has experience leading K-12 schools on military bases and in rural Alaska, removed his name from consideration. The school board spent three and a half hours in executive session interviewing Spacek and deliberating.

West Bonner has been led by interim superintendent Joe Kren since Brandon Durst, the former superintendent with hard-right political ties, resigned in October. Kren, a former principal of Priest River High School, was appointed with a short-term contract to navigate the school district through the leadership transition on the heels of Durst’s resignation, the recall of two board members and an ongoing budget crisis. He did not apply for the permanent position.

Not counting Spacek, the district has had five superintendents and interim superintendents since 2022.

Spacek joins the district as it faces a major budget shortfall in the wake of a failed levy and as the board considers whether to close two or three of its schools.