School board association Executive Director Lance Melton recommended the board hold a special meeting, make the motion again and allow for public comment - basically a do-over of Friday's meeting.

Monday's public comment included questions about McLaughlin's credentials and performance at Vaughn, where he was under investigation in 1999 regarding his conduct involving students and admonished by the school board for incomplete evaluations of employees, according to school board meeting minutes.

"Vaughn School currently has 25 employees listed on their Web site and this superintendent had difficulty managing the evaluation process," Mentzer said.

Trustees said they talked about the issues McLaughlin had in Vaughn and found outstanding qualities in the candidate. Trustee Elisabeth Bender said she was impressed by his vision and insight into what a school district is, should be and will be.

However, Darby High School business teacher Weston Jones said Bender's account of McLaughlin's answers sounded canned. Other teachers told trustees McLaughlin didn't believe in the scientific measurement of carbon dating, he wasn't a certified administrator with the Office of Public Instruction and he wasn't, for a period of time, allowed into buildings in Vaughn when students were present.

"I feel we need to hire what's a best fit for the district," trustee Mary Lovejoy said. "Would you hire a pastor who's not allowed in his church for a time?"

Lovejoy was joined by Bob Wetzsteon in opposing McLaughlin's hiring. Schallenberger, Doug Banks and Bender voted for him, and Monday night he accepted the offer.

Wetzsteon said the board didn't know the details of the problems in Vaughn, and even without that information, he didn't think McLaughlin was a good fit for the community.

Several community members, though, were concerned about the information Mentzer presented and questioned the timing of the meeting - just one day before the election that could change the make up of the board.

"It's important for you to hire a person as part of a team," parent Beth Lebowitz said. "Why the accelerated schedule?"

Banks said the board has been working on the superintendent search for months - there is no accelerated schedule.

"We all have to vote according to our conscience," Bender said. "For me, there's nothing new here."

And although trustees were aware of McLaughlin's situation in Vaughn, they didn't know any details, most of which are confidential. Trustees made the offer contingent on McLaughlin's certification as an administrator, which Melton confirmed to be in place later Monday night.

A message left at McLaughlin's home in Vaughn wasn't returned Tuesday.

What was not brought up during the candidate interviews was whether candidates approved of the district's objective origins science policy, trustees said.

Banks said the board deliberately didn't ask the candidates their feelings about the policy. But some teachers said they learned McLaughlin was supportive of the policy during his tour of the school Friday.

Don Blackwell said the objective origins issue wasn't part of the hiring process or McLaughlin's qualifications, and he was disappointed that more people showed up to the Monday meeting than the interviews on Friday.

In other matters before the board: Trustees decided to develop a policy for the district's Web site material after an employee placed a political pop-up ad on the site last week. No disciplinary action was taken against Trevor Howe, who placed the pop-up on the site. The ad was a duplicate of the five ads that ran in the Ravalli Republic answering questions about the objective origins policy.

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