Lakeland trustees consider policy shift expanding control over superintendent

Lakeland trustees moved to consider a policy rewrite Tuesday that would give the board more direct control over the superintendent, broadening its leverage over discipline, dismissals and the flow of information coming out of district offices.

The draft revision to Policy 1410 was listed for read-and-review at the April 15 Lakeland Board of Trustees meeting. The current policy on the district website dates to Aug. 13, 2007, with no recorded revisions, making the proposal a significant reset of how Lakeland Joint School District 272 governs itself.

In plain terms, the change would shift more power upward to the trustees. The superintendent would be more directly answerable to the board, and the policy language would require more detailed reporting about communications with staff, parents, attorneys, community members and taxpayers. That could affect how quickly parents get answers, how staff concerns move through the chain of command and how much discretion the superintendent has in running day-to-day operations.

The timing gives the policy fight added weight. Trustees placed Superintendent Rusty Taylor on paid administrative leave effective March 23, 2026, for the rest of his two-year, $156,000-per-year contract. The board said it acted on the advice of legal counsel. Taylor, who was hired in June 2025 after serving as superintendent of Naco Elementary School District in Naco, Arizona, had been the public face of the district until the board moved to sideline him.

Assistant Superintendent Jake Massey is now serving as interim superintendent. He told KREM the district’s goal is stability and said he did not anticipate disruptions to day-to-day operations. That message matters for families in Rathdrum and across the district, where school offices still have to handle attendance, staffing, transportation and parent concerns even as the top office changes hands.

Former superintendent Lisa Arnold, who retired effective June 30, 2025, after 34 years in Lakeland, said she was not surprised to see trustees pursue tighter controls. Arnold had served the district as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent, giving her a long view of how the board and superintendent have worked together over time.

The policy debate comes on top of a district already under financial pressure. Lakeland’s failed $9.52 million supplemental levy in November 2024 forced trustees to weigh budget cuts and operational changes, including repurposing a school and moving to a four-day week. The district said it had just over 1,800 elementary students in six schools during those discussions, and the levy would have cost the average taxpayer about $105 per $100,000 of assessed value each year.

Voters will also see a separate $3 million-per-year, five-year plant-facilities levy on the May 19 ballot. Together, the board’s policy push, the superintendent shake-up and the levy fight point to a district where trustees are trying to tighten control while parents, staff and taxpayers face another round of change.