Greetings from Priest Lake
With the May 18th election behind us, I took a few days off.
If we all cannot take a few days off…we can at least take a moment to note that the Post Falls School District’s Supplemental Levy passed. Thanks to all who campaigned, especially to Teresa Borrenpohl and her friends for getting out the vote. Thanks also to those who stumped for Robert McFarland and Katie Brody. They both won positions on the Kootenai Health District Hospital Board. Unfortunately, qualifications were not enough to protect Robert Fish and Anna Veale. Thanks to the partisan actions of the Kootenai Republicans, these incumbent candidates failed to be retained on the Library Board. It remains to be seen what this means for our county libraries.
Going Forward
We need to find effective strategies for supporting and defending qualified candidates without partisanship. This will be essential for the 2021 Coeur d’Alene City Council elections in November.
Protecting Science Standards
Currently, the Idaho Board of Education (IBE) needs our help to protect IBE oversight of the science standards in the state’s public-school curriculum. Last week, John Oppenheimer of the Idaho Conservation League spoke about this issue to our Democrat Club. He revealed that conservative opponents of a standardized science curriculum want to take control of these standards away from the IBE. Their intent is to replace the oversight of qualified science teachers with local school boards. We all know what that means.
Local school boards do not possess the technical knowledge to set science teaching standards. If allowed, this change would diminish the overall quality of Idaho education. Moreover, it would not serve our students or prepare them for future opportunities in science-based occupations.
Please take just a moment to visit the Science Standards Back-in-the-Crosshairs page of the Idaho Conservation League’s website. There is some great info about the issue and a “Take Action” button that you can use to sign the “Support Science Education Petition.”
Finally
In early June, your Executive Committee will decide when to resume in person meetings of the Central Committee. If you have an opinion, please share it. We want to maximize the happiness.
Be well. And thanks for being a Democrat.
