Uncivil debate is costing Idaho communities good public servants. Nampa has lost three

Good people are being chased from public service.

The latest is Paula Kellerer, who was the superintendent of the Nampa School District before resigning earlier this month.

“Sometimes … values and deeply held individual beliefs are too far apart,” Kellerer wrote in a letter provided to the Idaho Statesman. “When that occurs, it creates division and prevents a district from effectively focusing on the important work of student achievement.”

It comes just a few days after Nampa school board trustee Michael Kipp resigned, citing the toll that serving as a trustee during the pandemic had taken on him and his family, saying he was “weary” and “tired.”

“At some point along the way, it felt as if the arguments about a global pandemic (and even its legitimacy) had diminished our focus on student achievement,” he wrote. “That was discouraging and even demoralizing.”

In March, Kipp survived a recall election after he voted to hold off on reopening schools and resuming sports in the face of a COVID-19 case surge. In May, a Nampa school board meeting stopped early because people began yelling at each other.

Former Nampa City Council member Jean Mutchie last year announced she wouldn’t run for reelection because of deteriorating civil discourse during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Idaho Press.

Nampa has lost three good public servants.

And it’s not just limited to Nampa.

School board meetings in Kuna and Middleton and district health board meetings have been disrupted by angry constituents who crossed the line from civil debate and disagreement and into uncivil discourse. A Coeur d’Alene school board meeting was canceled after an angry mob of 200 people showed up, yelling at police, shouting profanities, making threats and banging on doors to the district office.

It’s not just limited to Idaho, either. The coronavirus pandemic, specifically mask mandates and vaccine requirements, sparked angry responses nationwide. The responses veered into dangerous territory, causing the U.S. Justice Department to direct the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to address harassment, intimidation and threats of violence, including the possibility of police response.

“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a news release. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

Some decried the Justice Department’s response as over-the-top censorship of people who are simply voicing their opinions with school board decisions.

But last month, a woman at a school board meeting in Virginia helped to illustrate the point.

“My children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on,” the woman told the board. “All right? That’s not happening. And I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to … I will call every …”

King was then cut off for going over the three-minute time limit, and she replied, “I’ll see y’all on Monday.”

We suppose that in a world where the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 is described by the Republican National Committee as “legitimate political discourse,” threatening school board members with loaded guns is considered “reasonable disagreement.”

It’s unfortunate that good people like Mutchie, Kipp and now Kellerer have made the choice that serving their community is not worth the risk and fatigue they suffer from uncivil discourse.

Just because a public body makes a decision you don’t like, that doesn’t give you license to yell, throw a temper tantrum, bang down doors, harass and threaten.

Such behavior only serves to scare off good people, and losing good people only serves to make our communities worse off — not better.