Successes

School districts in Kootenai County have always faced teacher attrition due to higher wages in the State of Washington.  It is not feasible for the Post Falls School District to match the pay scale in Washington, but Neil and the rest of the Board knew something had to be done to keep quality teachers.  The four-day school week was the answer.  This model gives teachers three Friday's off a month, with one Friday used as a professional development workday.  The school days are a bit longer to accommodate the missed time on Fridays.  After two years of the four-day school week, student achievement is either at or above where it was during a conventional school week and teacher job satisfaction is positive.  Parental surveys on the four-day school week have been overwhelming supportive.

During Neil's term in office, the district has upgraded all school sites to access controlled entry, which keeps exterior doors electronically secured and alarmed during the academic day.  Additionally, CCTV systems across the district have been upgraded.  Each school now has a security dean on staff, and the district has partnered with the Post Falls Police Department to provide five School Resource Officers.

Neil understands school safety more than most due to his years of service as a School Resource Officer at Post Falls High School, as well as Sergeant of the SRO program.   From threat assessments, site hardening and incident command, Neil is able to advocate for school safety programs from a position of experience.

Well-rounded school safety includes addressing cyber safety for students.  Our kids are exposed to countless threats online, from violence to pornography and drugs.  Neil is passionate about student cyber safety and provides educational lessons to students K-12 as well as for parents through the pacific northwest.

If a student cannot read, it's not possible to succeed in other classes.  Everything hinges on reading comprehension.  Over the past four years, Neil and the Board have made it a priority to increase literacy across the district.   To make this happen, reading interventionists on staff work one-on-one with students that are struggling.

Thanks to the hard work of staff, the Post Falls School District has earned the distinction of having the highest percentage of students reading at or above grade level of all large school districts in Idaho.

It's not often that school districts talk about providing tax relief, but the Board of Trustees was able to refinance our outstanding facilities bonds, resulting in an approximate $800,000.00 savings that is returned to the taxpayers.

Neil has insisted that the district only levy the funds that are fundamental to operations.  Because of this, the district has the lowest levy in Kootenai County.  Post Falls schools provide a great education at the lowest cost.

The Post Falls School District has eleven school sites, which means we have eleven kitchens that receive food deliveries from vendors.  This has caused an increase in costs because our vendors have to deliver at so many locations.  To address this, the Board approved the construction of a central food warehouse on district-owned property behind Prairieview Elementary.  All deliveries now occur at the warehouse and then district staff handle deliveries to our schools, keeping food costs down.

In 2024, the Idaho legislature passed the Children's School and Library Protection Act, which established standards for materials held in library collections.  Under Neil's leadership as Chairman of the Board, the district enacted update policies on how objections to materials are handled and the process for removal of inappropriate materials.  Additionally, the district has enacted a system to notify parents via email of all materials that students check out of our libraries.

Student safety is Neil's #1 priority!