Idaho Briefs July 24, 2012

Education center clarifies report on K12 students

BOISE (AP) - An education research center is backtracking on how it characterized Idaho in a report about the nation's largest for-profit online education provider.

The Associated Press reported Thursday the study found K12 Inc. students in Idaho and four other states were falling behind in math and reading. But the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado issued a correction Friday, saying the student achievement findings were based on national evidence and not specific to any state.

Further, researchers examined federal data on Idaho but their information on the state's K12 students was incomplete compared to what they had for Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Specifically, researchers lacked Idaho's state math and reading assessment results.

Researchers maintain their overall conclusion that K12 Inc. students are lagging in math and reading.

Appellate court in Idaho for parent rights case

BOISE (AP) - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court is in Boise this week to hear arguments in a lawsuit that pits parents against doctors and police for the right to determine a child's medical care.

The lawsuit brought by Corissa and Eric Mueller against the city of Boise and St. Luke's Regional Medical Center goes before the court Tuesday morning.

The case began in 2002, when Corissa brought her 5-week-old daughter to the emergency room with a slight fever. Mueller believed the baby had a cold but doctors feared she might have a deadly brain infection.

The doctors insisted on performing a spinal tap, but Mueller refused. Police then took the baby into temporary custody for the procedure.

She wasn't harmed by the spinal tap, which showed she just had a cold.