Hayden Meadows students staying

COEUR d'ALENE - The kids at Hayden Meadows are staying right where they are.

Letters acknowledging the Hayden Avenue school's status as an International Baccalaureate school were sent to 539 parents asking if they plan to send their children back next year.

"Not one confirmation came back saying they were leaving because of PYP," said Hayden Meadows principal Lisa Pica.

Critics of IB's internationally focused teaching method have been vocal at recent school board meetings and in the local media claiming the program should be removed from schools because it promotes anti-American directives and is connected with the UN.

Pica said she has not received any complaints about PYP, and just one student has been withdrawn from the school because of the all-school, K-5 program.

Hayden attorney Duncan Koler, one of the program's most vocal local critics, removed his child from Hayden Meadows earlier this year because of PYP.

Koler believes many of the parents sending their kids back to Hayden Meadows are doing it because they can't afford not to.

"How many parents are able to have one of them stay home from work to home school, or provide transportation to another school?" Koler said.

Superintendent Hazel Bauman said for next year, the district is considering offering students in the Hayden Meadows attendance zone an alternative to PYP by providing transportation to Atlas or Dalton Elementary, depending upon where they live.

Information about the IB programs will be presented Monday during a Schools of Choice Workshop trustees are holding at 5 p.m. in the auditorium at Lake City High School. No public comments will be taken during the workshop, but they will be accepted in writing.

School board chair Edie Brooks said the district wants parents to know that under the district's open enrollment policy, they can send their children to any of the Coeur d'Alene schools.

Brooks said consideration to remove IB programs from district schools is not on any upcoming school board meeting agenda.

The group of people opposing IB-PYP is small, Brooks said.

"They want to make this decision for other parents. To me, that is wrong," Brooks said.

"This isn't about choice for us," Koler said. "They took away our choice when they took away our neighborhood school."

During a meeting Monday at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, IB opponents distributed brochures promoting P.A.C.E. (Parents/Taxpayer for Academic Excellence).

The handout claims "IB promotes progressive/left political agendas" such as "global citizenship, and sustainable development. "A buzz word that sounds good, but means taking private owned land and resources and putting them under UN control."

The literature further criticizes IB because it allegedly espouses UN "peace values" that "require equal distribution of resources and sustainable development," and "universal values" that favor government-granted human rights over "God-given natural" rights.

Koler said P.A.C.E. is a loosely organized group that came together after he and his wife, Aileen, began speaking out against IB.

It's not just about IB, he said, but about demanding quality education, and a school board that honors parents' rights.

Superintendent Hazel Bauman said allegations that district educators are teaching something that's not patriotic, or is anti-Christian, are "disappointing."

"That's the furthest thing from our minds," she said. "The least of their accusations is that we're naive, that we're unwitting pawns in the UN, UNESCO plot for one world government. That's just insulting, frankly."

Drew Deutsch, director of IB Americas, said the IB is independent of any national or global agenda, and does not run any schools.

The IB does not stipulate what subject matter is taught, he said, but rather, provides a framework for learning.

"The IB stands for a rigorous education that teaches students to be critical thinkers and inquirers," Deutsch said. "So we're surprised by some of the allegations, particularly in Coeur d'Alene."

Although similar situations have cropped up in a handful of other locations in the U.S. in response to IB, Deutsch said he is not aware of any "playbook" generated by his organization to fend off opposition.

"We do have a very strong community of IB educators across the U.S. It's a very close-knit community," Deutsch said. "It may come from that, from other educators."

There are 2,935 IB schools in 139 countries with 1,132 in the U.S.

Of the U.S. schools, Deutsch said 90 percent of them are publicly funded.

Since 2003, the Coeur d'Alene School District has spent $1.3 million on the programs, with most of it spent during the program's start-up phase.

Next year, the estimated IB budget at Lake City High School is $24,000.

The high school has 228 students in IB classes, with 18 full diploma candidates graduating this year and 28 juniors anticipated to be candidates next year.

The cost of the program at Hayden Meadows is anticipated to be between $10,000 and $12,000, including the annual enrollment fee of $7,200.

All of the training, fees and materials are now paid for through grants, fundraisers and donations, not from the school district's general fund.

Monday's workshop is open to the public, and will feature presentations by the principals of the district's seven schools that provide the state's standard curriculum with a unique focus or teaching style. Those schools are: Coeur d'Alene High School (Advanced Placement), Lake City High School (IB), Lakes Magnet Middle (health and science), Sorensen Magnet School for the Arts and Humanities; Ramsey Elementary (science), Project CDA/Bridge Academy (alternative) and Hayden Meadows (IB's PYP).

The survival of the public school system in Coeur d'Alene, and throughout the nation, requires that districts offer choices, Bauman said.

"If you really believe public education is the cornerstone of democracy, we need to have a robust subscription to public schools," Bauman said.

She pointed to the rise of virtual schools, charter schools and dual enrollment as clear indicators that parents want options rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Regarding keeping IB programs in district schools, Bauman said she believes it's a decision that will be decided "at the ballot box," during trustee elections.