Friday, April 26, 2013

Posted By on Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 12:56 PM

For years, the Coeur d’Alene School District had come under attack for its International Baccalaureate program, a world-renowned curriculum intended to teach critical thinking and global knowledge. Critics saw it as a waste of money at minimum, and a UnitedNations-driven socialist reeducation conspiracy at worst.

But when a new crop of board members took over, they ditched both the IB program and the Primary Years Programme. But the programs had ardent supporters, and the school board faced backlash.

Last night, at the Mica Flats Grange Hall, three sets of school board candidates talked about everything from bus contracting to what they think about the phrase “progressive education.” (Most didn’t like it.)

Inevitably, they got asked about PYP and IB. Here were their answers:

CHRISTA HAZEL

I’d have to say with the International Baccalaureate, boy, that is ahot-button controversy. Here’s my stance on International Baccalaureate — and Iam focusing strictly on the international Baccalaureate program at Lake CityHigh school. I look at that issue separately from PYP.

I have concerns that I would have asked questions about at the board level.It’s my understanding that, initially, the committee that recommended[Advanced Placement] or IB — they didn’t choose IB. And I know what it’s like toserve on a committee, and know whether or not thoserecommendations are followed at a district level. I know what that feels like.So that’s one question I would have followed on.

The second thing I would have looked at is the actual true costs. I wouldhave liked to have known, in addition to the students that actually graduated, Iwanted to see the number of students that weren’t enrolled in IB, but took thoseclasses because AP wasn’t giving them what they wanted. I would have wanted toknow those facts. Knowing that, I do have concerns about the costs ofInternational Baccalaureate. It would have required a conversation of thebenefits versus the costs, and then compare it to the big scheme.

I wish I could give you a concrete answer on IB, but I just can’t, becausethat data wasn’t provided in a school district format. When it was reviewed, Ifelt like the data was framed in a subjective viewpoint. For me, the issue hadnothing to do with the United Nations or UNESCO. It had everything to do withdollars and sense. And to me it just needed to be objective data. I wish we hadseen that.


BRENT REGAN

The entire IB/PYP discussion and vote occurred before my time on the board.But I did research the topic, and I did come up to testify at the PYP hearing.The information I’ve seen on IB, it was expensive. It wasn’t terribly effective.It was divisive, because there was a lot of conflict over it. And also it wasexclusionary. If you had a facility that was PYP, it could only be PYP. Itcouldn’t have anything else.

But, beyond that, it’s the desire to have the IB, PYP, is the desire forother options in the school system. There is a need to address those kinds ofprograms and to have that available in various school facilities. And so, whatthe board is undertaking is looking at ways to evaluate and adopt thoseprograms, so we that we have options for that parents that are out there.

When I spoke at the opening of the Rathdrum Stem Academy, I looked out and Isaw 250, 265 bright faced students, happy as could be. Another 250 on a waitinglist. Now, these are students and parents — over 500 hundred of them — who hadsigned up for this new school that had never opened its doors.

Well, I think as a district, how bad does your product have to be, to haveover 500 people want to move, want to change, without ever seeing what it isthey’re getting into? So the need to have these programs is there. And I thinkthe board recognizes that — I certainly recognize it. And I want to put intoplace a system where we can evaluate the programs, avoid the pitfalls of PYPand IB. And then we can have these programs available.

We’ve already started. We looked at one called core knowledge. We had awonderful presentation on that, we’re farming that out to see if there is anyinterest in the district. If there is, we’ll certainly bring it back in. Butthere is a need out there. We are looking into it. And we’re looking forsolutions. Thank you.


BJORN HANDEEN

Well, as a matter of fact, I’m a product of IB. I was in an IB school, I tookIB for four years, in St. Paul, Minnesota. I could tell you stories that wouldcurl your toes. Well, I might as well.

The first book in our 9th grade pre-IB literature class was calledGiovanni’s Room. It amounted to gay erotica. I was 14. I had to read it.You know, IB, from the inside it looks more like a marketing gimmick, for peoplewho like to consider themselves sophisticated. But in reality, I saw the bestminds of my class become unemployed history or humanities majors. It reallydidn’t do us any favors. Thank you.


TOM HEARN

I’d like to speak to how this PYP program was handled, and mishandled in myjudgment. I’m not here saying that we need to have IB and PYP back in theschools.

But I am saying pretty clearly that teachers and the parents particularlywere left out of the discussion here. If you look back at what happened here — first of all there was not a survey or a vote done on what the parents wanted atHayden Meadows school. There were some promises that was going to take place,that never took place. The teachers were also not given a voice in this. It wasa decision by certain people on the board to get rid of this program forwhatever reason — political reasons, ideological reasons, whatever. They ran foroffice last time, to get rid of this program, and they got on the board, theygot a majority, and they got rid of the program.

The thing that concerned me was how this was handled. There was a publichearing and at the public hearing — it really wasn’t a true public hearing.People were allowed to go up and vent their feelings, and then the board membersread prepared statements and killed the program.

I’ve been on boards. I’ve conducted public hearings. That’s not how you do apublic hearing. Public hearings, you absorb information from the people, andthen you take it under advisement. You think about it, then you come back withsome kind of decision.

You don’t just listen to everybody, let them express their emotions or theirthoughts and then kill the program. I thought the whole thing was seriouslymishandled, I spoke against how it was handled. I’m not here to say that we needto get the IB and PYP program back.

I am saying parents deserve a voice, they deserve a vote. If I was on theboard that's one of the actions I would ask, is that the parents of HaydenMeadows school be given a chance to express their opinion.

One of the things I’ve heard is that the parents there, the teachers there,some of them are pretty tired of this whole thing, they’d like to move on.That’s their decision. But I still think they deserve a vote, they deserve avoice. And I will not be part of establishing or eliminating any program in theCoeur d’Alene School District, without full input of the parents and teachers.


ANNSEDDON

We have two issues. One is IB, one is PYP. I did a lot of research on IB.First of all, there was declining enrollment in IB. It was getting harder tojustify it. Second, I love facts, I love statistics. I ran them, I wish Ibrought them. The reality was the students coming out of the [IB] program werenot getting the college credit that the [AP] students were getting.

When the IB was advertised to the public, it was advertised as a program thatwould give students that would a great deal of college credit, and it wasn’tmaterializing. Coupled with that, [it was] expensive.

Now let’s move onto PYP, not to mix the two. I did a tremendous amount ofresearch on PYP.

I read every manual I could find. In fact, I read manuals the parents didn’tknow about, that the administration didn’t know about. Something called theparent’s manual to PYP.

I went personally to the school a number of times. I met privately withparents. I met with parents in groups. I met with the administrators. I reallystudied the issue. Thoroughly.

What really swayed me was the conversation I had with Ms. [SuperintendentHazel] Bauman, when I asked her, why can’t we just set out a parallel program,for the parents who don’t want to have the philosophy and the socio-teachings ofthe PYP program, they could just go on a different strand, through a differentset of classes?

And the answer was that PYP would not allow it.

The program was based with Geneva. To be a PYP school —and I’ve read aboutthis thoroughly, from the original PYP materials — that every person in theschool — that would be staff, teachers, custodians, students, parents — thatevery person had to believe in and teach and support the PYP program. I had tomake a decision as a board member. And to me that was giving away sovereignty.

Think about it: We were being told we couldn’t do with our school propertywhat we wanted to do with our school property. In other words, to simply set upsome parallel classrooms was not allowed.

So after all of my study, and all of my talk, and all of my angst-ing aboutit, I decided I really needed to be a responsible board member and to say, no,we need the sovereignty of our schools. And so that was what pushed me over todecide that it needed to go. I’m glad to see that Hayden Meadows is movingforward. They’re a wonderful school, they have a dedicated staff. I’m surewhatever they do they’re going to succeed. They have a very supportive parentbody. Thank you very much.


DAVE EUBANKS

I think most everybody’s got their own opinion on PYP and how it was handled,and IB and what the issues were there. But I also think it’s time to moveforward. It’s my understanding that come July 1 of this year, because the boardhas killed both of those programs, the materials have to be shredded, and therecan be no further discussion of PYP or IB in either of those schools.

From this point on, all we can do is to learn from the lessons from what hashappened and move forward. We have so many challenges ahead of us for our kidsin this district. The world is getting smaller and the future is going to beincredibly competitive. We need to give all of our kids, from the least capableto the most capable, the best education we can afford. I think that’s reallywhere we need to go now. I do agree, I have talked to people at Hayden Meadows,I think they have moved on. But I would also agree with Tom, that if the parentsof Hayden Meadows wanted to pursue PYP, I would be open to letting them do that.

But the new Common Core — and this is an issue I know — the new Common Core isvery similar to PYP. It’s just that it is homegrown. I say that we move forward,and move our kids forward as well.

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Posted By on Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 9:42 AM

HERE

A new Washington state bill, supported by Spokane Valley's Sen. Mike Padden, would allow religious couples to refuse service to certain people because of their religion. Like, say, florists can refuse to serve same-sex couples. (AP)

How do you know if your house is haunted?* *By meth. (KXLY)

Moses Lake could be a key part of the droneospace industry. (SR)

Former Police Chief Scott Stephens is getting paid $120,000 to just leave already. (SR)

THERE

Our long national nightmare of airplane delays is nearing an end. (Washington Post)

Another shot at gun control. (NYT)

Poker, the Russian mob, and an innocent ambassador. Interested yet? (Atlantic)



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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Posted By on Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 1:41 PM

After Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart joined an anti-coal group that launched this week, the city put out a press release to make sure everyone knows Stuckart wasn't acting on behalf of the city.

The release specified that Council Members Nancy McLaughlin, Mike Allen, Steve Salvatori and Mike Fagan aren't speaking out against some proposed plans to transport coal through Spokane to be exported to Asia

Fagan, for one, is doing the opposite. 

"It's putting people back to work, it's generating revenue, it's growing the tax base to participate in overseas commerce," he tells the Inlander of increased coal transport through town. "It's a win-win."

Last year, the EPA called coal dust an environmental and human health concern. Fagan says he and other council members await government studies about potential health hazards from coal dust, but until then he's not convinced it's harmful because local air quality officials haven't expressed concern.

From the release:

“Our city will not support efforts to politicize the transportation of goods and commodities – an essential piece of commerce and job growth for our region," the majority of the councilmembers said. "The state and federal government are currently conducting a thorough environmental review. We support the timely completion of that ongoing process.”

The group Stuckart joined, the Leadership Alliance Against Coal, includes the mayors of Seattle, Shoreline and Bainbridge Island, chairmen of the Tulalip Tribes and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and others. Its goal, according to an announcement from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's office, is to advocate against coal trains and coal exports with hopes of getting state and federal agencies to deny permits for companies hoping to export coal through the area.

Stuckart sent the following statement to the group to use in its announcement:

"The City of Spokane cannot afford to have additional coal trains coming through that disrupt truck routes, emergency services and the health of our citizens," said Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart. "In addition we must address climate change as elected leaders and must take action. I am proud to be part of the Leadership Alliance and look forward to working with Tribal and elected leaders across the state to represent our communities."

Stuckart says he's not surprised by the other council members' opposition or the city's statement. He says an Associated Press story about the group mischaracterized his support as broad support from the city, causing officials to feel misrepresented. The AP story, as it appears here in The Oregonian, ends with, "City leaders are from Seattle, King County, Spokane, Edmonds, Marysville and others."

Fagan says he's since received emails from constituents concerned that the council and city had taken a stance against coal trains, as Stuckart has. 

 "I think they're just clarifying," Stuckart says, "so nobody thinks the City of Spokane is joining that alliance or has done anything as radical as I have."

More City Hall Eyeball right here.


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Posted By on Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 9:19 AM

HERE

Coeur d'Alene moves to add "sexual orientation" to its non-discrimination list. (SR)

Officer Tim Moses, tangled up in the Otto Zehm case, has been charged with making a false-statement. He resigned from the police department, and pleaded guilty, in exchange for not being charged with a felony. (SR)

Is a missing work glove a good reason to shoot a man? (KREM)

THERE

Check out Boston Magazine's most recent cover. (The Atlantic)

Doctors say that charging cancer patients $100,000 a year for drugs is unacceptable. (NYT)

No, Bill Clinton says, he does not think he'll be asking George W. Bush to paint his portrait. (Salon)

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Posted By on Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 1:04 PM

After years of blues, rock and lots of dancing, the music at Bluz at the Bend is ending this week.

Earlier this month owner Maryanne Snyder announced the business, which had been for sale for several months without a buyer, would close down. In the announcement, Snyder cites personal issues and other financial commitments.

“Maryanne Snyder, Don Parkins and the entire staff of Bluz at the Bend would like to thank each and every one of our faithful patrons for your years of support and caring,” the announcement says. “This has been a wonderful experience for all.”

The last hurrah is tomorrow, April 25, with Sammy Eubanks performing and a retirement party (from the restaurant industry, anyway) for Parkins.

Uncle D’s Comedy Underground — upstairs from Bluz — will continue to have professional comedians every Friday and Saturday, along with open mic night on Thursdays.


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Posted By on Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 12:36 PM

Last week was a very bad week, from Boston to West, Texas to Iran. Beyond the breaking news, here's some of the most thoughtful coverage we've seen of the week's events so far.

The day after the bombings at the Boston Marathon, Grantland.com (a sports and narrative journalism hub) ran this essay from Charles Pierce about the scene and the lingering question of what it means for the future of the race. 

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein wrote about the perseverance of marathon runners

The New York Times compiled a simple, but powerful look at one image from the Boston finish line as one of the blasts went off. It pairs portraits of those in the photo with audio and writing about how they felt and what they did in that terrifying moment. (Also from the Times, an essay about why we've been so obsessed with the suspects' online lives.)

Much of the other coverage of the bombings has focused on the media's mistakes and the public's efforts at vigilantism. The Atlantic breaks down how misinformation about the suspects spread so far and fast, and this week's Chicago Public Radio show "This American Life" starts with the story of one of the Redditors who combed through photos and video of the scene looking for people who could be suspects. 

There hasn't yet been as much from West, Texas, where the death toll from a massive explosion at a fertilizer has reached 14 with 200 others injured, but Reuters has reported that the Department of Homeland Security was unaware that the plant housed 270 tons of ammonium nitrate (they're supposed to be notified if a plant has 400 lb or more of the substance). Bloomberg reported that the plant's last OSHA inspection was in 1985, leading some to speculate about lax regulation for the disaster.

Texas Monthly has a fascinating story about another disaster — the deadliest industrial accident in American History in Texas City way back in 1947 — and what lessons it may hold for the West story.

Mother Jones wrote about a tiny Czech bakery that kept operating as the town burned to feed victims and volunteers.

Elsewhere, photojournalists have been covering massive earthquakes in northwest Iran and China's Sichuan province. And the BBC delved into a failed terror plot in Canada.

Find more GOOD READS over here

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Posted By on Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 9:01 AM

HERE

Giving all of Washington state full-day kindergarten isn't easy. (SR)

In the halls of Washington State University, a naked man lurks. (Daily Evergreen)

A shooting shakes Browne's Addition. (KREM)

A woman goes missing in Post Falls. (KXLY)

THERE

Officers come from across the country to attend the funeral of the MIT officer shot by the Boston bombers. (NYT)

The federal government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep open bank accounts without a dime in them. (WP)

The Associated Press's twitter account was hacked — and the errant message it sent out had political consequences. (The Atlantic Wire)

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Posted By on Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 4:07 PM

If you frequent this website or our paper or our Facebook page or have encountered me in the past month, you likely already know that The Inlander is hosting a screening of Teen Wolf tomorrow night at the Bing Crosby Theater. Here are all the details.

What you might not know, however, is that this film invented a sport called van surfing. Essentially, all you need is a van (a delivery truck will do, if you find yourself vanless) upon which to stand while your unreliable friend drives through busy suburban streets. I'm not finding any hard statistics but it's almost impossible if the inclusion of van surfing in Teen Wolf didn't lead to the death of at least one impressionable teen in the 1980s.

Don't van surf. It's terribly illegal, not to mention tacky. And, just because Michael J. Fox does something, that doesn't mean you should. I mean, you wouldn't travel back in time just because of Back to the Future would you? Time travel is hella dangerous! Probably more dangerous than van surfing.

So, yeah, don't do this. Instead, watch videos of it and shake your head at the recklessness that was 1985 in America.

And yes, there are idiots who actually tried this.


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Posted By on Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 8:58 AM

These Parts

Idaho's health-exchange board just started meeting, but already, here come the lawsuit threats. (SR)

An investigation shows a contractor at Hanford should have known the double-walled tank was leaking a lot earlier. (King 5)

The last drive-in movie theater in Eastern Washington is about to close. (KXLY)

Those Parts

Israel has officially accused Syria of using chemical weapons against its own people, while the international community twiddles its thumbs. (NYT)

Max Baucus, Montana's long-time Democratic Senator, will retire rather than seek re-election. Baucus has polled poorly recently, and made waves by predicting the implementation of Obamacare would be a train wreck. (Washington Post)

Watch this! 

Thor, has a new movie coming out. That's right, the fourth best Avenger!


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Monday, April 22, 2013

Posted By on Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 1:48 PM

A couple of updates from local talent on this sunny Monday afternoon.

First up, female emcee Jaeda (who The Inlander named a Band to Watch in 2010) dropped a brand new video this week for her song "The Real Thing." If you've seen Jaeda perform, you'll remember this song — it's one that always seems to get the crowd dancing and singing along. And it's the perfect introduction to her positive, stress-free brand of hip-hop.


Also, local rock outfit Tabletop Joe kicked out a video for its song "Last Time I Saw You" in the last couple of weeks. It's a cute, sing-song track — and the video shows the band driving around in a VW van and stopping in a Spokane alley to jam out to a bunch of friends.

And in case you haven't heard it, Cathedral Pearls released a new track recently, called "Give Lend Share." You can hear it here. The band also announced today that they'll have a new eight-song record out on May 14. Watch the band's Bandcamp page for that to pop up.

Also, not to toot our own horns or anything, but did you see the news about our Volume lineup this year? We think it's going to be one heckuva good time. Check out the artists playing this year on the event's Facebook page, and be ready to buy tickets online this Thursday.

If you're a local musician with a new song, video or piece of news you would like to share, send it along to leahs at inlander dot com. 

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