(Spirit Lake)– A grass roots organization calling itself the Coalition for A Responsible Educational System, or CARES, held its first public meeting Sunday.
A crowd of about 300 people attended the session at the Expo Building in Spirit Lake.
CARES is a group of residents of the Spirit Lake School District that’s hoping to get answers to what it was that led to High School Principal Jed Sherman resigning under fire, along with other issues facing the district.
Deborah Wise, Pastor of the United Methodist Church in Spirit Lake, served as facilitator for the meeting. She told the crowd the organization’s mission is to be civil. She says it isn’t their intent to be a rogue group or promote homeschooling or do things that “are nasty or threatening, but to work together”.
Wise says CARES will also serve as a tool to educate and inform residents of the Spirit Lake School District on a wide variety of issues, including the upcoming vote on the proposed Physical Plant and Equipment Levy.
Larry Stoller, a Spirit Lake attorney and businessman, said it’s important the organization be as pro-active as possible with the school board and to approach the board in a non-adversarial way. If that doesn’t work, Stoller says the group may have to resort to the legal arena, while refraining from making threats or accusations.
Sunday’s meeting also consisted of a breakout session in which students and adults broke into smaller groups to discuss and identify various issues and questions they would like to have addressed.
Jo Megill, a spokesperson for CARES, told KUOO news a date for the organization’s next meeting hasn’t been set yet.
CARES has also established a website at www.spiritlakecares.org.
On a related note, it was reported at Sunday’s meeting Sherman has retained the services of Spencer attorney Rick Barry.
