[Vision2020] Race for Idaho Schools Chief Puts Focus on Role of Office

[Paul Rumelhart]

I'd like to see some serious discussion about the candidates here.  For 
example, all I know about Bouma is that Tom hates him.  Who should I 
vote for?  What are their strengths and what are their weaknesses?

I don't know much about the candidates, except that I know Tom Trail and 
know that he is extremely dedicated to doing the right thing.  I find 
myself agreeing with him on a lot of issues, though not all of them.

I agree with Stan Olson that focusing on improving scores over 
everything else is a bad policy which, I think, has been showcased with 
the "No Child Left Behind" policy.

Oh, yes - if we could actually keep this a civil conversation, that 
would be great.

Paul

keely emerinemix wrote:
> Stan Olson gets it.  He understands that only an educator can direct a 
> State Department of Education with an eye toward truly improving 
> schools -- not just improving scores, which, as he correctly noted, is 
> an incorrect focus of ultimatum -- and only a fellow teacher can call 
> bulls--- on any excesses from the unions.  He and Keith Allred would 
> be a Dream Team for Idaho.
>
> The Moon, the Worker, and the River Critter (Luna, Labrador, and 
> Otter)?  Not so much. 
>
> Meanwhile, I'm saddened at the lack of debate, here and elsewhere, 
> about the relative merits of Dan Schmidt and Gresham Bouma, not to 
> mention Shirley Ringo and Ike Young, for two seats in the Legislature 
> from Latah County.  (I think both Tom Trail and Judith Brown would do 
> well; I cannot say that with Ringo's and Schmidt's opponents).
> I've said this 'til I'm blue in the face, here and elsewhere again, 
> but Schmidt won't win if he presumes that voters will simply compare 
> him with Bouma and judge, correctly, I believe, that Dan is the better 
> candidate on every count.  Bouma has pulled a neat hat trick, 
> effortlessly winning the support of secular Libertarians, the 
> Kirk-Libertarians, and two many voters, including some first-timers, 
> who represent two bastions of the Religious Right in Latah County that 
> aren't often aligned with Christ Church, Trinity Baptist and the 
> Nazarene Church.  That Schmidt's supporters view themselves as more 
> politically savvy and better-educated than Bouma's is irrelevant -- 
> and will be in November.  As for Young . . . uhhhhh . . . I'm sure his 
> mother loves him.
>
> Keely
> www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:51:12 -0700
> > From: thansen at moscow.com
> > To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> > Subject: [Vision2020] Race for Idaho Schools Chief Puts Focus on 
> Role of Office
> >
> > Courtesy of today's (August 29, 2010) Spokesman-Review.
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Race for Idaho schools chief puts focus on role of office
> > Businessman Luna faces longtime educator Olson
> > Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review
> >
> > BOISE – The first non-educator to head Idaho’s public school system is
> > running for re-election, and he’s being challenged by one of the state’s
> > most respected educators: the just-retired superintendent of the Boise
> > School District, the state’s second-largest district.
> >
> > The race between state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna, a Republican
> > businessman, and Stan Olson, the Democratic challenger who calls himself
> > “apolitical,” is raising issues about what Idaho’s schools really need,
> > from politics to professionalism. And it’s coming at a time when schools
> > are struggling with huge and unprecedented spending cuts.
> >
> > “I think it’s easier to lead educators when you are one,” said Steve
> > Casey, the retired Coeur d’Alene High School principal who ran
> > unsuccessfully for state superintendent as a Republican four years 
> ago and
> > now works for North Idaho College. But he said of Luna, “I think 
> he’s done
> > a good job given the environment that we’re in. … I think this is
> > going to be a good opportunity for two quality candidates to deal 
> with the
> > issues, and I think that’s good for our state.”
> >
> > Jerry Evans, former longtime GOP state superintendent of schools, 
> strongly
> > believes the position should be filled by an educator.
> >
> > “We’ve been struggling with a strong and consistent voice for 
> education, a
> > place where you can go and find out what the needs of our schools 
> are and
> > have some confidence that it’s based on some reality,” he said. He 
> hasn’t
> > endorsed in the current race; he said he tries to steer clear of 
> politics.
> >
> > Luna, a college dropout who spent 25 years working for a weights and
> > measures business – and obtained a bachelor’s degree, the minimum
> > requirement for the superintendent job, online just before he first ran
> > for the post – said, “My goal is to improve education so that every 
> child
> > benefits, and run it so that it’s responsive to the customers of
> > education.”
> >
> > Based on his background in measurement science, he’s focused on 
> measuring
> > and improving student achievement and says the numbers show it has 
> worked.
> > For example, the percentage of Idaho schools making “adequate yearly
> > progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind law has more than
> > doubled, an improvement other states are viewing with envy.
> >
> > Olson says the AYP standard is “based on a false premise.” He said, “By
> > 2014, every child in the country has to be proficient in language 
> arts and
> > mathematics; even if your IQ is 6, you have to be proficient. I want to
> > tell you: It ain’t gonna happen.”
> >
> > Proficiency has been defined as between the 15th and 23rd percentile on
> > the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, Olson said, which he called 
> nothing
> > to “ballyhoo … as a significant achievement.”
> >
> > He points instead to disparities between large school districts in the
> > state and small ones, which struggle with funding uncertainty from 
> year to
> > year that forces stops and starts in their programs. “We don’t do very
> > well as a state,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the 
> intelligence of
> > children or the abilities of teachers – it has to do with a plan and a
> > focus and getting kids ready for not just low-bar standards, but 
> high-bar
> > standards.”
> >
> > Luna says he’s kept his top campaign promises: Establish a “longitudinal
> > data system” to track student achievement, a multimillion-dollar project
> > that’s now being phased in; launch a math initiative, which has included
> > running 5,000 Idaho teachers through an innovative one-time training 
> class
> > and adding a computerized math practice program to every classroom; his
> > “classroom enhancement package,” which lawmakers funded before the 
> current
> > downturn to pay for such items as textbooks and teachers’ supplies; and
> > addressing the “technology gap in our rural communities” through the 
> Idaho
> > Education Network, a multimillion-dollar statewide broadband system 
> that’s
> > in its early stages and already has linked 80 Idaho high schools.
> >
> > Olson decries those as “silver bullets” rather than systemic 
> reforms, and
> > says there’s been no strategic plan for improving Idaho’s schools 
> for the
> > past four years. As proof, he points to Luna’s recent move to drop a new
> > high school science test; science graduation requirements were increased
> > five years ago, he said, with the idea of schools being ready for 
> the test
> > this year, but Luna did nothing to get schools ready.
> >
> > “It has been very, very evident that we have had no leadership of the
> > field,” said Olson. “Our field has been focused primarily on political
> > ideology rather than educational leadership.”
> >
> > Luna disagrees, saying the science test simply wasn’t a good measure of
> > achievement. He said he’ll submit a budget proposal to lawmakers 
> this year
> > to increase funding for science education to try to help schools 
> meet the
> > new graduation requirement. Luna has been a strong supporter of charter
> > schools and performance pay for teachers and has prominently endorsed
> > various Republican political candidates. That prompted Olson to say the
> > superintendent’s position “has been politicized beyond belief in the 
> last
> > four years.”
> >
> > Olson, however, is running as a Democrat, though he says he’s 
> nonpartisan.
> > Of his politics, he said, “I have supported the people who have been 
> able
> > to really deliver the goods.”
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya round Town, Moscow.
> >
> > Tom Hansen
> > Moscow, Idaho
> >
> > "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to 
> change
> > and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> >
> > - Unknown
> >
> >
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