School officials have their say

COEUR d'ALENE — Although local support was mixed, members of state school boards voted overwhelmingly in favor of attempting to turn resolutions on parental rights and public notices into legislation.

On Friday at The Coeur d'Alene Resort, hundreds of school officials gathered to vote on 11 resolutions during the annual convention of the Idaho School Board Association. The ISBA — a nonprofit organization that provides policy services, legislative advocacy and board training to more than 500 locally elected school board members — will work with state legislators on turning the approved resolutions into law during the upcoming session.

"Idaho districts have different struggles, but many common concerns," said Coeur d'Alene School Board Chair Christa Hazel. "These resolutions help assist our legislators in gauging the concerns or needs within our state. Not every vote comes out the way you would like, but the time and effort is worthwhile — our schools need advocates."

A resolution entitled "Parental Rights," which was originally submitted by the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District, generated the most discussion from attendees. According to the resolution, school districts across the state "may experience challenges from parents who claim that their rights may be violated by school districts, as school districts comply with various state and federal mandates."

The resolution states the association would maintain a log of incidents school districts are addressing with parents who take exception to various policies and procedures. It adds that the ISBA will work with the education community to communicate to legislators the impacts that parental exceptions have on district personnel and district budgets.

Prior to the resolution being debated, Wally Hedrick of the Meridian Technical Charter High School asked attendees to approve an amendment removing "to hold at bay any expansion of the parental rights" from the resolution. Hedrick called the terminology unintentionally "inflammatory."

The amendment passed, leaving the floor open to a back-and-forth debate on the merits of the resolution itself. Members ultimately voted to pass the "Parental Rights" resolution, with the entire voting block from the Coeur d'Alene School District Board of Trustees voting against it.

Hazel said she personally saw the resolution as unnecessary.

"I found the language troublesome and I heard from patrons who felt similarly," she said. "Our district has always honored a parent's right to help guide their child's education and we continue to be a 'district of choice.'"

Brad Murray, Superintendent of the Lakeland Joint School District, told The Press Friday the district's board was not overly concerned with the resolution because the district is already a strong advocate for parental rights at the local level.

"This is something that we already do, have done for many years in our district, and will continue to do," Murray said.

Another resolution, entitled "Public Notice Alternatives," was written to give school districts the option of posting information such as upcoming public hearings and budgets exclusively online. Districts are currently required to take out legal notices in local newspapers at a fixed rate, dictated through statute and regulated by the state.

The statement of purpose portion of the resolution states that, with the rise of information available on the Internet, districts "have the opportunity to reach more patrons and reduce expenses by having alternatives to traditional newspaper legal postings."

Mary Huff, a trustee with the Melba School District, advocated for attendees to vote against the resolution during the discussion period. Huff said making newspaper legal notices optional isolates low-income, minority, and elderly populations.

"Many of them don't have the Internet, or access to the Internet," Huff said. "We have so much trouble already with getting those populations into the schools to give us input on these matters, that this just further serves to narrow that opportunity for them to come in."

No other comments were made, and the resolution passed by a wide margin. After the session Hazel told The Press that the school board did not support the resolution, and she personally believes a taxing entity should make proactive efforts to reach out to constituents.

"I'm worried the resolution would put the responsibility on a patron to come to our website to find out important information," Hazel said. "It is a priority of our district to be open, transparent, and communicate with the community in multiple ways, like the newspaper, about public meetings that affect our students or our funding."

Murray told The Press the public notice alternative resolution makes sense for districts whose small local newspapers have closed and are required to choose a newspaper well outside their location. The two members of the Post Falls School District Board who attended the session voted in favor of the resolution.