Moscow Education (Idaho)

From The Washington Times:

Earlier this month, a German teen-ager was forcibly taken from her parents and imprisoned in a psychiatric ward. Her crime? She is being home-schooled.

On Feb. 1, 15 German police officers forced their way into the home of the Busekros family in the Bavarian town of Erlangen. They hauled off 16-year-old Melissa, the eldest of the six Busekros children, to a psychiatric ward in nearby Nuremberg. Last week, a court affirmed that Melissa has to remain in the Child Psychiatry Unit because she is suffering from "school phobia."

Home-schooling has been illegal in Germany since Adolf Hitler outlawed it in 1938 and ordered all children to be sent to state schools. The home-schooling community in Germany is tiny. As Hitler knew, Germans tend to obey orders unquestioningly. Only some 500 children are being home-schooled in a country of 80 million. Home-schooling families are prosecuted without mercy.

Last March, a judge in Hamburg sentenced a home-schooling father of six to a week in prison and a fine of $2,000. Last September, a Paderborn mother of 12 was locked up in jail for two weeks. The family belongs to a group of seven ethnic German families who immigrated to Paderborn from the former Soviet Union. The Soviets persecuted them because they were Baptists. An initiative of the Paderborn Baptists to establish their own private school was rejected by the German authorities. A court ruled that the Baptists showed "a stubborn contempt both for the state's educational duty as well as the right of their children to develop their personalities by attending school."

Can you image what would happen if the Legislature tried to make homeschooling illegal in the USA?

HT: Dave M.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Five-year competency reviews have been ineffective at the University of Idaho, some officials say. In the almost eight years since the Idaho Board of Education instituted the reviews to expose incompetent professors hiding behind the protection of tenure, not a single UI professor has been removed because of an adverse review.

It’s taken retirement to get rid of the incompetent professors.

Ironic, isn’t it. Tenure: Peter Principle in practice.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

All good Idaho students will get at least $6,000 during four years at the University of Idaho, and National Merit Scholars will get full rides, school officials said Monday.

As they made the announcement at Boise High School, two blocks north of the Statehouse, the pot looked to get even sweeter as the governor's proposal to create a $38 million endowment for needs-based scholarships cleared a legislative hurdle.

"We're trying to say we want to keep Idaho's best kids in Idaho because too many are leaving," said Dan Davenport, UI director of admissions.

The university expects 500 Idaho high school and home school students entering the university this fall to get at least $1,500 a year in the "Go Idaho" scholarship program. At a cost of $750,000 the first year, high school students with 3.5 grade point averages and high ACT scores of 25 or better can qualify. [DMC: Given the grade inflation, it’s a good thing that the ACT score requirement is in place. But a 25 on the ACT is still not great. According to ACT website, a 25 is a 75% in reading, 80% in English and Math, 81% composite, and 85% in science. I’m not sure I would categorize a 25 as the “best and brightest”. That’s a “B” student…]

Many students have scholarships their first year but rarely have them in following years, Davenport said.

National Merit Scholars are the nation's brightest, and the university will pay to bring them to Idaho. UI already competes well statewide. Of 15 National Merit Scholars who chose Idaho last year, 14 went to the UI. [DMC: National Merit Scholars are a different subject all together. They are few and far between, and really display excellence overall. If you wanted to get the best and brightest, sink money here.]

A full ride covers books, fees and room and board -- everything but transportation and clothing -- about $45,000 per student over four years. The UI expects 15 National Merit Scholars this fall, a cost of $150,000.

From today's Idaho Statesman:

The Idaho Science Teachers Association has come up with an official position on the possibility of teaching intelligent design in Idaho's public schools: It's not science, and it doesn't belong in the classroom.

"In a public school setting we are charged with teaching methodology that's been approved by the scientific community,'' Rick Alm, president of the ISTA's board, said Monday. The Idaho group's position — which members approved Saturday — is similar to that of the National Science Teachers Association, said Alm, who teaches science at Bonneville High School.

"It basically would be unethical to teach creation science or intelligent design because it is not science, and it does not belong in a science classroom,'' said Alm. "We're not taking a position against religion; it's just under the context of the law and the public school setting, religion has its place, and it's not in our science classroom.

Intelligent design challenges Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution with the theory that an intelligent designer — such as God or some other supernatural entity — had a hand in creating the diversity of organisms.

From the Associated Press:

Legislative budget writers Monday approved Idaho's $1.34 billion share of public education funding, including money Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna had requested to pay for classroom supplies, textbooks and remedial classes for students.

"It's a great budget," Luna said after the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee concluded its two-hour hearing. He had originally asked for $1.38 billion. "If you look at what we asked for, we got 99.9 percent of what we wanted."

Education makes up the largest share of Idaho's $2.8 billion annual budget. [DMC: Which means that if you want to fix the Idaho budget issues, you have to target the biggest pot of money.]

Included in this year's package is nearly $10 million for textbooks, $5 million for classes to help kids struggling with the Idaho Standards Achievement Test that's required to graduate, and $5.2 million to give every teacher $350 to purchase classroom supplies, which had been coming out of their own salaries.

Luna was also given the green light to spend $150,000 on a school safety study. He's called for spending millions to eventually install high-tech security systems in every Idaho school.

The budget panel opted to give teachers a 3 percent raise. A Democratic-led plan to give educators 5 percent — the same amount other state employees will receive this year — won only party-line support.

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required).

A woman is asking North Idaho College to refund the money she paid for an English class, saying her instructor spent more time bashing Republicans than teaching English composition.

Linda Cook, a former aide to the late Idaho Congressman Helen Chenoweth and a longtime GOP supporter, withdrew last week from an entry-level English class taught by part-time instructor Jessica Bryan. Cook sent a letter to NIC Vice President Barbara Hanson Monday asking that the college refund her $379 course fee.

…

Cook said Bryan would make disparaging remarks about Republicans during every class period, including a statement that the death penalty should be used on anyone who votes Republican.

"I signed up for an English composition course but was dismayed to receive a level of political vitriol that I believe was strictly extracurricular," Cook's letter reads.

The letter claims Bryan said on the first day of class that "George Bush was elected president because people in this country can't read" and said Feb. 12 that "I believe in the death penalty … . First we line up everyone who can't think and right behind them, anyone who's ever voted Republican."

Bryan doesn't deny saying those things but said Cook missed her point entirely, which was to encourage debate and critical thinking among her students.

I’m guessing that Linda Cook is likely an older lady. These are no longer the colleges of her youth.

When I read these kinds of stories, I have to chuckle. A 100% increase per year wouldn’t be enough to satiate the educational-industrial complex.

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required).

Idaho's public schools would get a 5.9 percent increase in state funding next year under a budget set by the Legislature's joint budget committee Monday, but some timber-dependent counties could see school funding lag.

That's because Congress hasn't yet agreed on reauthorizing the Craig-Wyden legislation, which has sent substantial payments to Idaho counties and school districts in recent years to make up for lost federal timber receipts.

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, tried hard Monday to add a backup plan to the state's school budget to help those timber-dependent districts if Congress doesn't come through. But only one other North Idaho member of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, backed Keough, while other North Idaho members opposed the move.

CBS Sportsline is reporting that there will be an announcement today (Tuesday) about a movie deal.

There is a discussion on the Bronco forum of UI faculty council minutes which concludes that the UI is a dying university.

The council minutes seems to indicate $207 million indebtedness. 

Here is a paragraph from those minutes. See what you think. 

What about deferred maintenance? Combining the “Gen Ed” facilities and those belonging to Auxiliary Services, the deferred maintenance is now at about $207 million (and roughly equally divided between Gen Ed and Auxiliary Services). That total grows at a rate of about $8 million a year, a number which is offset by about $2 million in state appropriations for “alteration and repair.” The vice president gave two examples of large deferred maintenance problems:

1. The death of the chiller in the Education Building—a new chiller will cost some $560,000 and
2. The boiler in the Tower which leaks copiously and is well beyond its “use by” date.

On the plus side the university is in the midst of an energy study which may eventuate in some long-term savings. But the bottom line is that deferred maintenance is a big problem that affects, negatively, how faculty and staff do their jobs and affects, negatively, student recruitment (e.g., because of the antiquated furnishings of the dorms).

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required).

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee rejected legislation backed by Gov. Butch Otter to lower the supermajority required to form a new community college district if the vote takes place at a general election, and a Democratic attempt to revive the plan in the full House fell short. Both the House and Senate education committees voted overwhelmingly in favor of tougher math and science requirements for high school graduation, proposed by the state Board of Education. The House Education Committee voted unanimously to endorse state schools Supt. Tom Luna's proposed public school budget, which calls for a 7 percent increase in state funding, while the Senate Education Committee recommended additions to that budget including offsetting lost Craig-Wyden funding for rural school districts and upping funding for teacher raises and mentoring programs.

 

 

 

 

 

“What history should be taught in schools”? Isn’t that asking “what history should not be taught in schools”?

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The Idaho Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Idaho in Moscow will sponsor a lecture titled "Patriotism and History," as presented by social historian Gary B. Nash at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the UI Administration Auditorium.

Nash is a professor emeritus at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has long been at the forefront of the debate over what history should be taught in schools, who should write it and how tests should be devised to promote historical literacy.

From the Seattle Times:

National health officials are moving toward recommending flu shots for all children older than 6 months as the disease's impact on kids has become more apparent in recent years -- including the deaths this month of two Seattle-area girls.

In meetings this week in Atlanta, top immunization advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention renewed discussion of expanding the current recommendation, which stops at age 5 for most kids. And CDC officials and other experts said they may make it official in time for the 2008-2009 flu season. The agency routinely adopts the recommendations of the committee, as do private physicians, clinics and public-health departments.

"Over the next year or so, this is going to happen; I'm confident," said Dr. Ed Marcuse, associate medical director of Seattle's Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center. Until recently, Marcuse was on the 15-member immunizations committee that advises the CDC.

About 100 children in the U.S. die of influenza complications annually, according to CDC estimates. Closer tracking of deaths in children began in 2003.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

A ground-breaking for the new addition to St. Mary's School in Moscow is scheduled for Monday.

The event begins at 9 a.m. and will include an official from the diocese in Boise and Sister Margaret Johnson, the school's principal, Father Joe Schmidt of St. Mary's Church and other school supporters.

The school's conditional use permit was unanimously approved Thursday by the city's Board of Adjustment.

The school has been working on the expansion of its Monroe Street building since 2003.

The project involves a 12,000-square-foot addition that will include a gymnasium, multi-purpose room and several classrooms. It also includes a remodeling of the school that was built in 1956.

The public is invited to attend.

The following article by Steve McClure appeared in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. This is the consensus of the Daily News editorial board.

Concerning grade inflation: if teachers give everyone in their classes “A’s”, that doesn’t mean that everyone is an “A” student. That’s why there needs to be an objective standard to determine how well the kids are performing. And that needs to take into consideration the “value added” by the district.

Great article, Steve!

National report card shows there’s still work to be done in classroom

Most people would like to think test scores and grade-point averages of high school graduates would go up at a similar pace.

That’s not happening, according to a pair of national reports, and that should be alarming to folks.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a large percentage of high school graduates across the country are graduating with a better grade-point average while putting up weak scores on reading and math tests.

That’s hard to jibe, even after you consider elements like test anxiety by some students, and point to the continued need to examine how education is delivered.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which was released Thursday, is considered by some to be the nation’s report card because it’s the only national yardstick for how students perform.

The numbers in the report are based on 2005 tests and an examination of high school transcripts from the class of 2005. Test scores in reading haven’t changed since 2002, and the math scores show almost 40 percent of high school seniors scored below the basic level.

The reports didn’t provide any definitive answer on whether the results were based on improved student performance in the classroom or grade inflation, but someone ought to dive in and find the answer.

The overall grade-point average of high school graduates has risen from 2.7 (on a 4.0 scale) to a 3.0 in the last 15 years. Meanwhile, universities, which base a good portion of their admissions on high school grade point averages, have reported spending more time on remedial classes in recent years to get students ready for the rigors of higher education.

Test scores and grade-point averages don’t measure precisely the same things. One is the result of a performance on a given day, while the other is extended out over the course of a school year. The two numbers, however, should be running parallel to each other.

Students aren’t receiving any favors when the two are going in opposite directions.

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

You can tell that Gier is a union boss and not an economist. You cannot compare the University of Idaho to (say) the University of Washington or Harvard. There are many other considerations: cost of living in Idaho; quality of life; etc.

Of course, Gier is on the no-growth kick. That really hurts the University of Idaho since it spuriously raises the cost of living in Moscow without providing all of the other economic benefits.

Bottom line: his economic policies are what are driving professors away.

We noted with great interest one of your top stories from 1982 (Daily News, Feb. 16, Page 2) regarding noncompetitive University of Idaho faculty salaries.

You reported that the dean of Law complained about not being able to fill two positions because his faculty’s salaries were $5,000 behind the regional median. Twenty-five years later those salaries are a whopping $27,104 behind the average for law professors at Research II institutions.

Among 19 peer institutions UI full professors rank third from last and UI associate and assistants rank dead last. All UI faculty salaries and our analysis can be found at users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/salaries.htm.

Over the past 10 years at least 37 UI faculty from 11 disciplines have moved on to greener pastures. Plant, soil, and entomological sciences reports a 20 percent attrition rate, and about a dozen faculty are actively looking for jobs elsewhere. Biological sciences has lost eight faculty, and they report three failed searches because of noncompetitive salaries.

Another factor in the decline of faculty morale is the huge increase in UI administration salaries. Since 1982 they have increased 274 percent while full professor salaries have gone up 175 percent. (The Consumer Price Index for those 25 years was 202.) President Tim White’s $280,030 represents a 390 percent raise over President Richard Gibb’s 1982 salary.

In 1995, when the faculty union pointed out that UI administrative salaries were outpacing the faculty, the response was a quick reduction in administrative raises. President White deserves credit for responding once again to last year’s union survey by taking a 1.7 percent pay raise and limiting his top management team to an average 2.2 percent, while the faculty averaged 7.7 percent.

Those who did not receive a hard copy of our 2007 salary survey can get one by calling (208) 885-8956 or (208) 882-9212. Any other interested area resident can have one as well.

Dale Graden
Nick Gier
Moscow

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Pullman police say dangerous over-consumption of alcohol appears to be on the rise among Washington State University students.

Commander Chris Tennant says officers have taken 37 students to Pullman Regional Hospital this school year for alcohol poisoning.

That compares with 33 last year and 19 in the 2004 school year.

Tennant sees a troubling trend. He says students seem to begin their drinking earlier in the week and continue into the weekend.

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

The State Board of Education heard about University of Idaho plans to build a satellite campus in Sandpoint with a $20 million gift from the private Wild Rose Foundation. No board action was taken, but the UI will continue to work with the foundation to develop the campus.

"What we have here is a situation where need meets opportunity," UI President Tim White said. Studies have shown a need for more academic programs in Idaho's panhandle, officials said, and the proposed Sandpoint campus could help deliver them.

Under the proposal, the board would sell 77 acres it owns in Sandpoint to the Wild Rose Foundation for about $6.25 million. The foundation would then build the infrastructure and one or two buildings totaling about 50,000 square feet before turning over the campus to the UI.

UI horticulture programs already on the site would be relocated to a nearby 15-acre parcel to be donated by the foundation.

Advertising is important. But wouldn’t it be better to work on academic and research quality and reputation rather than on “friendly squirrels” advertising?

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

The University of Idaho on Thursday won unanimous State Board of Education approval to hire 19 new staff members to help it raise $300 million in private funds over the next several years.

The UI is in the initial stages of the largest fundraising campaign in state history, a seven-year effort President Tim White called essential to maintaining and expanding the quality of university programs and the services it provides to faculty and students.

To achieve its goal, White said the university will have to double the amount of gifts it receives each year.

UI has enough money for a $70+ million events pavilion and multiple millions to upgrade the Kibbie Dome, but not enough money for the Wheatland Express?

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

University of Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear told the State Board of Education Thursday that new facilities are key to turning around losing Vandal teams.

"We have a vision in our department to become a premier athletic program," Spear said at the board's regular meeting at Boise State University.

New venues like a proposed $70 million events pavilion will go a long way toward recruiting the best athletes, Spear said.

"We have a small window to make a first impression," he said. "Thank God for our residential campus and our outstanding academic programs, because we can sell that."

The board unanimously approved the UI's request to spend up to $1.6 million from a federal grant to proceed with conceptual designs for the proposed 6,000-seat, multipurpose pavilion. It would give a new home to Vandal basketball, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and other activities.

From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

“I have only seen the Salmon River frozen over three times in 48 years,” wrote Daily News reader Annette Barton. “Last month when temps dipped to 12 degrees at Riggins was one of them.”

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Cindy Bechinski wanted to be a teacher since she could hold a crayon. She also wanted to be a “plate-spinner” like the ones she saw on the “Ed Sullivan Show” as a child.

Little did she know that pursuing a career in education would allow her to be a success at both.

Bechinski, 54, was the only person in the state to receive the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Idaho School Superintendent’s Association for her work as the Curriculum Director in Moscow School District. In this position, Bechinski keeps a separate “plate” spinning for each of the different tests the state requires students to take.

“It’s the original multi-tasking,” she said with a laugh.

Bechinski began teaching in 1973, but throughout her career she’s also worked as a migrant resource teacher, a university instructor and adjunct professor, a gifted and talented program facilitator and a counselor. During this time, she followed a path through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas before stopping in Moscow, where she has been since 1989.

The coach of the worst basketball team in Vandal history will return as coach next year, dispelling rumors that former U of I head coach (and current Minnesota coach) Dan Monson would return to Idaho.

Says AD Rob Spear: "Despite our record, we've made progress."

I have a ton of questions about this. First and foremost: where are they going to find $70 million in donations?

Second, is this a wise way to spend $70 million when we have decreasing student enrollment? Wouldn’t it be better spent in shoring up UI’s strengths?

The following article ran in today’s Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

MOSCOW -- The University of Idaho will try Thursday in Boise to get one step closer to building a new events pavilion.

It will ask the State Board of Education for permission to spend up to $1.6 million on conceptual designs and a financial feasibility study for the planned pavilion that would provide a new home to Vandal basketball and a multitude of other activities.

"These funds cover only a portion of the total planning and design costs," for the pavilion, which has a projected cost of $70 million, UI spokeswoman Tania Thompson wrote in a e-mail to the Lewiston Tribune. "None of the funding may be used for construction."

A previous study by Opsis Architecture of Portland, Ore., and Hastings & Chivetta Architects of St. Louis concluded the pavilion should be situated north of and attached to the Kibbie Dome. According to board documents, the UI has spent $124,000 to date on that initial study.

In addition to basketball games, the pavilion would host speakers, conventions and plays. And it could provide a new home base for the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival that starts today, according to UI documents provided to the board.

According to Thompson, the UI hasn't yet figured out how to pay for the pavilion, but a majority -- if not the entirety -- of the money is expected to come from private donations. The pavilion would cost about $62 million, with an additional $8 million to develop the site and provide parking and additional outdoor playing fields.

The pavilion would seat at least 6,000 people, according to the architects' study. And by attaching it to the Kibbie Dome, the pavilion could share infrastructure, like restrooms, elevators and concessions.

• Institute for Justice Pledges to Defend Universal School Choice in Utah: Governor Signs Nation's First Universal School Choice Bill
• Utah's Revolutionary New School Voucher Program

The following editorial by Jim Fisher ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

Jim Fisher certainly sees thru it all. He’s got Moscow’s Intoleristas pegged.

Now that New St. Andrews College has more than met Moscow's requirement that it acquire additional parking places for its students, you wonder where the school's opponents will turn next in their crusade to drive it out of town.

The parking issue was always a phony, so the Christian college's critics might as well make up something else.

Sure, proprietors of some downtown businesses complained that New St. Andrews' students were responsible for lost customers because of the perceived parking shortage. But some proprietors of businesses in downtown Lewiston say they suffer from a parking shortage too.

In Lewiston, that's laughable. In Moscow, it's just wrong.

Although there are times when people have to plan ahead, or look a while, to find parking near Moscow's Main Street businesses, it is rare that anyone cannot succeed. No, it might not be on Main between Third and Sixth streets, but it won't be in Troy or Genesee either.

Lewiston should be so lucky. Parking is almost always available along Main Street any time of the day, testimony to the weakness of commercial activity downtown. Yet when some complained it was not, members of the Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency refused to trust their own eyes and ordered a $33,000 study of the matter.

The consultants returned with the unsurprising news that available parking in the downtown core is never more than 49 percent full. "I would have said where is the problem?" one of the consultants conceded upon delivering the news.

In Moscow, less available parking represents a more vibrant downtown, a district whose storefronts are nearly filled with retail establishments, many of them well established for years; restaurants; theaters; coffee houses; bars; and, yes, that pesky college.

But they are not the only attractions to downtown. Main is also home to a lively street scene, with people strolling, sitting and visiting up and down the sidewalks in both the day and evening hours.

Some of those people are even New St. Andrews students.

Nevertheless, last September the city told the small college it must get 42 parking spaces just for its students. Thursday, the college said it had leased 60 spaces.

That sends the school's critics back out cruising, searching for an issue to park on.

From Phoenix’s The American Daily:

One of their favorite arguments: "Why, we can't trust the free market to educate our children - the very idea! The free market excels at many things, they say, but it does not guarantee education "equity" for our kids.

What is this “equity” public-school apologists talk about? It means a guarantee that all children get a “quality” education and “equal opportunity” to learn. “In the cruel free-market,” the public-school bureaucrat says, “the rich get the best schools, the middle class the mediocre, and poor kids get left in the dust.”

That, they say, is not fair, not “equity.”

But why not apply their “equity” theory to food, clothing, and housing? Shouldn’t all homes, food stores, and clothing factories also be owned and operated by government to ensure “equity?” After all, the rich eat better, have warmer clothes, and live in finer homes than the poor or middle-class. That’s not fair, right?

…

Nature makes all men and women different — different talents, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. It has always been this way since human beings came out of the trees and started walking upright. To stamp your foot at disparities of income is to stamp your foot at human nature, which is to stamp your foot at reality.

If “equity” for all people is our goal, then for every “inequality” between poor, middle-class, and rich people, whether in food, shelter, health care, or education, government must loot financially more successful people with taxes to remedy what they did not cause, and which is not their fault. This notion of “equity,” extended to all aspects of our life, will turn America into a socialist or Communist economic police state. In such a police state, the successful are punished and “leveled” by progressive income taxes, so that all of us end up miserably equal and equally miserable.

Joel Turtel has many more politically incorrect things to say.

Public-school employees can have the best intentions in the world. So what? What matters is results. For all practical purposes, public schools therefore create only inequity for our children by giving them a third-rate education, especially inner-city kids. Our government-controlled public schools condemn millions of children to a lifetime of failure, while school officials mouth pious goals about creating education “opportunity” for all kids. Could our children be any worse off if public schools were scrapped, and low-cost, competent, free-market schools or tutors taught our kids?

In order to guarantee “equal education” for all children, you have to create a massive, public-school system to enforce this guarantee. Once a government monopoly takes control of your children’s education, quality education for your kids goes out the door. Demand education “equity” and we condemn millions of children to a miserable future.

HT: Dave G.

This quick 13 minute video shows Red Cross files that are incredible....for those who deny against reason.

HT: Bill J.

An alert from the Lewiston Tribune.

Suspended Gonzaga center Josh Heytvelt is being charged with felony possession of a controlled substance following his arrest in Cheney, where police alleged they found hallucinogenic mushrooms in a gym bag in his car, prosecutors said Tuesday.

I have been informed that there are 12 cases of Scarlet Fever in the Pullman School District.

It’s a strep throat infection that mutates into Scarlet Fever.

It is highly contagious, and the doctors say you have to stay isolated for 5 days after the fever breaks.

We saw the first cases of Scarlet Fever in Southern Idaho a week ago.

Here are the symptoms. If you have school-aged kids, I suggest you be on the lookout.

• Fever of 103 to 104 degrees F.
• Fatigue
• Sore throat
• Headache
• Nausea or Vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Flushed face with perioral pallor (circumoral pallor)
• Tachycardia (rapid pulse)
• Lymphadenopathy (enlarged lymph nodes)
• Punctate red macules on the hard and soft palate and uvula (ie, Forchheimer spots).
• Scarlet fever also produces a bright red tongue with a "strawberry" appearance.

• There is a characteristic rash which:

• is fine, red, and rough-textured; it blanches upon pressure
• appears 12–48 hours after the fever
• generally starts on the chest, axilla (armpits), and behind the ears
• is worse in the skin folds
• Pastia lines (small linear petechiae) appear and persist after the rash is gone

• The rash begins to fade three to four days after onset and desquamation (peeling) begins. "This phase begins with flakes peeling from the face. Peeling from the palms and around the fingers occurs about a week later and can last up to a month." Peeling also occurs in axilla, groin, and tips of the fingers and toes.

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required).

Moscow School District was not included in this article.

School districts across North Idaho are preparing for something that has proven difficult for some in the past: asking voters to pay more of their property taxes to schools.

Six districts – Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, West Bonner, Lake Pend Oreille, Wallace and Boundary – have levies coming up, and two others – Post Falls and St. Maries – are early in the planning stages. Plummer-Worley has yet to decide if it will seek one this year.

All but West Bonner are going for renewals of supplemental maintenance and operation levies that fund school programs and other operational needs not covered by state money.