At the Idaho State Board of Education's meeting today: Idaho Association of School Administrators Executive Director Andy Grover says eight Idaho school teachers and administrators have died of COVID-19 since school started in August.
#idedu
NEW: The West Ada School District will begin temporarily mandating masks for students, staff and visitors beginning Friday, Sept. 10, says Superintendent Derek Bub. The district will review that decision Sept. 24 after another look at COVID-19 numbers.
#Personal
— I'm excited to share that tomorrow, I start work at
@idahoednews
covering the politics and policy of Idaho's K-12 system. I'm so happy to have the chance to cover a beat I'm deeply interested in alongside journalists I've followed since before I joined the profession.
Some exciting news: I'm joining
@politicoca
/
@politico
next month to cover California education! I can't wait to get to work with an outstanding team of journalists on May 10.
Over 100 Black Lives Matter protesters are chanting in one Boise location. A speaker is calling for the elimination of qualified immunity for police officers.
I’m grateful to have returned from a (pre-storm) day hike to a handful of
#idahopressclub
awards! Congrats to all the talented journos and friends celebrating today! Gently put, 2020 was a tough year.
#BREAKING
: Former Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna is the Idaho GOP's new chairman. He defeated Bonneville County's GOP chair on a 274-262 vote.
Idaho Secretary of State lists turnout rates so far in some of the state's most populous counties:
Ada: 82%
Blaine: 84%
Bonner: 74%
Kootenai: 80%
Canyon: 76%
#idpol
INBOX: West Ada Education Association President Eric Thies released the following statement ahead of the West Ada School District's 3 p.m. board meeting that's starting in a few minutes.
I quoted SPLC twice. It's a household name with a well-known reputation. Readers are smart and can decide for themselves whether they agree with the center's goals and characterizations.
This is the first complaint I've seen, and no one has come to me with concerns.
Idaho School Boards Association President-elect Jason Knopp withdrew from the “Task Force to Examine Indoctrination in Idaho Education” Friday, a week after the committee’s first meeting.
#idpol
#idedu
Lisa took countless hours to explain development and city government to me, but her kindness stood out most. She shared coffee and candy with me at city council meetings to help me get through some brutally long days. This is such sad news.
New: The Rocklin Unified board becomes the 5th in CA to require staff to tell parents when a child identifies themselves as trans @ school. Vote comes after a 6+ hour meeting and after the first such policy (Chino Valley's) was temporarily blocked in court Wednesday.
The students — predominantly from Treasure Valley high schools — took aim at a proposal that would prohibit public schools from teaching “racist or sexist concepts.”
Chairman Lance Clow coming out strong with the dad jokes at House Ed's first meeting of the year:
There's a town in North Idaho called Hope. There's a town just to the East of that that's beyond hope.
Tonight, the West Ada School District will decide whether it will go with an all-online or hybrid model to begin the school year on Sep. 8.
Updates to come.
For those following CA school board fights...
A lawsuit will move forward against the Temecula Valley Unified school board over its policies banning critical race theory and requiring staff to alert parents if a child shows signs of being trans. (1/x)
NEW: A vote to recall Temecula school board President Joseph Komrosky, who went viral for calling Harvey Milk a "pedophile" and sparred with Gov. Gavin Newsom, is officially on.
The blue state’s top cop pressed the district for documents justifying its decision to block textbooks for first through fifth graders, and asked for information on its curriculum adoption policies. via
@politico
Scoop: Gavin Newsom and the California Teachers Association announced a budget deal to stakeholders yesterday, less than a week after CTA released an ad needling the gov over his education budget proposal.
.
@KevinRichert
consistently writes about the fundraising picture in key political races. Reporting on a campaign finance edge is in line with past
@idahoednews
reporting, and provides notable information to voters and politicos. It's baseless to call this "free advertising."
NEWS: California has reversed a three-year population decline thanks to a rebound in legal immigration, drop in Covid-19 deaths, and other factors.
In 2023, the state grew by 67k people.
via
@politico
That's not to mention key omissions in this post. E.g. I was never offered the comments, even with names redacted, unless I paid hundreds of dollars for two week's worth of records. (1/x)
.
@idahoednews
was a plaintiff in this lawsuit, so
@jonesblakej
’s name appears in some of the stories.
I’m proud we’re part of this fight to bring public documents into public view
To coin the phrase, this piece reads like so much
@idahofreedom
“bitching and moaning.”
🚨 Life news 🚨 This is my last week with
@idahoednews
. I'm headed to Oregon in search of my next adventure.
I'm so grateful for the Idaho students and families who trusted me with their deeply personal stories about mental health, homelessness and discrimination.
@davlinnews
@A_Research_Guru
I’ll second that. Lexapro has been a huge help with my depression and anxiety, and I’ve noticed virtually zero side effects.
I'm back on Twitter after a wonderful week off. While I was away, this story published.
It took considerable time, and lays out some far-reaching implications for campaign finance reporting requirements at nearly every level of elections in Idaho.
#idedu
#idpol
Changes to Idaho's sunshine law contributed to 45% of school board candidate fundraising being reported after the November election. Those same changes to reporting requirements will apply to statewide office elections for the first time next year.
#idpol
I've heard administrators within the Kuna School District repeatedly talk about how many high school students began working, some in ag, when schools went virtual/hybrid. It's one of the reasons board members gave for making a return to daily in-person learning optional.
Almost a year since Idaho schools closed & we began hearing about more students joining Zoom class from work trucks, spending school hours in the fields
We felt crazy because no one else was reporting it. Then stories from other states began to follow
#NEW
: Meridian Mayor Robert Simison will tap longtime deputy police chief Tracy Basterrechea as Meridian’s new chief of police, Simison tells
@MyMeridianPress
. Expect a formal announcement sometime this afternoon.
I’m excitedly looking forward to covering Meridian, my hometown, and seeing my byline in the newspaper box I once passed by every day as I entered the neighborhood hosting my childhood home.
That's enough blubbering. Drop tips to bjones
@idahopress
.com; please and thank you!
“We need to move off of supplemental levies for the school funding,”' Senate Tax Chairman Jim Rice told the Idaho Press. “'That will help with the property tax situation.”'
Full story from
@BetsyZRussell
:
How will the election affect East Idaho schools? Four trustee-elects who talked with me stressed traditional education offerings, like career readiness, rather than hot-button issues that dominated some campaigns statewide.
Check out
@edtrust
&
@edbuild
's newly updated FundEd tool:
FundEd provides data on each state’s education funding laws - including levels of support for groups of students from low-income backgrounds, those learning English, and those with disabilities.
The Idaho State Board of Education special board meeting is about to kick off. Next steps for Kuna and other Idaho schools amid coronavirus concerns may become clearer.
@kunamelbanews
Interesting math here: "... the commission focuses on reducing the Hispanic unemployment rate, which sits at 12%, per the Director’s report to the legislature this year. Focusing on this group would alienate the remaining 88% of the unemployed population..."
Members include an Idaho Freedom Foundation employee, a charter school leader who pushed to use the Bible in public schools and a reverend who appears to be a North Idaho Evangelical Christian leader.
#idedu
#idpol
After debating with and against her collegiately and reporting alongside her at protests, I know that Ximena's career and talent have no ceiling. For anyone interested in U.S. politics, she is and will continue to be an essential follow.
#personal
: I have totally spent the last four years of my life dreaming of moving to Washington, D.C. to pursue a career as a politics & policy reporter I am fortunate to now have the opportunity with an extension of my time
@politico
! Tomorrow I will take off on a new adventure!
NEWS: CA will this year allow families of mixed immigration status to apply for state financial aid using a form designed for undocumented students, an effort to help students hardest hit by the glitch-filled rollout of a simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid form.
Here's my story on Ed Klopfenstein's resignation.
The West Ada School District's board chairman stepped down amid disagreements with fellow trustees and "internal conflicts" that led Klopfenstein to declare "obviously, I'm not a leader."
Some business leaders in Meridian and Boise are speaking out against state lawmakers' efforts to end the state of emergency over COVID-19. Though one such proposal was sent back to committee today, others have been floated.
#idpol
#idleg
What if I told you...
...that trailer bill language for the never-been-done-before Proposition 98 maneuver that EVERYONE'S BEEN TALKING ABOUT just dropped?
the lao said california’s budget deficit is $68 billion but gavin newsom is saying that the real number is actually way smaller than that and that they didn’t account for december’s tax receipts
In light of the 'Add the Words' proposal being reintroduced in the
#idleg
, I'd be curious to know whether the Bostock v. Clayton County SCOTUS ruling has resulted in any kind of federal crackdown on anti-LBGTQ+ workplace discrimination in Idaho, or elsewhere.
There are too many people to thank for making my time in Idaho great, but I'm really going to miss my better half on the
@idahoednews
statehouse team,
@KevinRichert
, for his whit and mentorship. And
@HollyABeech
, who taught me so much of what I know about journalism.
Local government officials are calling on the
#idleg
to reindex the homeowner's exemption, but a proposal to curtail municipalities' budgets to pay for tax cuts has more pull with some key lawmakers.
#idpol
w/
@RachelSpacek
@abbottalynn
@KevinRichert
@theidaho97
A polemic arguing that mainstream GOP candidates' debate pullouts are predictable and good with passing references to the media's "kid gloves" does little to explain how reporters were "played like a fiddle." Suggestions for reforming debates don't explain that either.
Meridian City Council is debating freezing all annexations into the city for six weeks while SB 1108 is up for consideration in the Idaho Legislature. That bill, meant to reduce property taxes, would restrict and limit local gov budgets in a number of ways...
#idpol
#idleg
“This is very different because this is student against a student,”
@UCBerkeley
Chancellor Carol Christ said in an interview in February. “It’s faculty against faculty. It’s internally the most divisive protest issue that I’ve seen.”
I've spent much of the past month trying to reload our staff at the
@IdahoStatesman
— and we're making some serious progress.
Next up:
@RachelSpacek
will be joining us May 3 to cover Meridian, Eagle and Canyon County. We're thrilled to bring her aboard!
Frankly, I don't even get to the unsubstantiated claim that there is "little to no real journalistic value in recovering the names of the people who complained" at the point where copies of comments without names included would have cost hundreds when "resources are limited."
First in Playbook: The November ballot initiative campaign to require that California hs students take a personal finance course will this morning turn in the signatures needed to qualify the measure.
Congratulations to award-winning anchor
@Emjayktvb
, who has announced his up-coming retirement from
@KTVB
.
Mark has served Idaho viewers for 30 years.
His final broadcast on KTVB will be on December 23, 2021.
What a remarkable career, Mark!
.
@GovernorLittle
said he and lawmakers are nearing a consensus on a proposal to fund full-day kindergarten.
What is that consensus?
"It's a surprise," Little quipped at a virtual press event this morning.
#idleg
#idedu
NEW: University of California leaders have delayed implementation of a plan to allow students without legal immigration status to hold campus jobs for at least a year.
It was a whirlwind
#idedu
day at the
#idleg
:
First off, a bill to give $1,000 bonuses to state-paid K-12 school staff clears the Legislature. (Plus a lot of other action in today's roundup)