What you need to know if attending House Leadership Town Hall or Charter Commission Meeting
/Hi Everyone! Looking forward to our opportunity to advocate for school choice on Thursday, August 15th, at the first Commission meeting post-Attorney General's decision on the illegal April PCSC Executive Session; and on August 20th at the Idaho Legislature’s GOP Leadership Town Hall in Meridian.
If you can be there to talk about why school choice is important to you-- we really need you to!
A few things to note:
1. Recall that the illegal executive session revealed the commission's intent to close several schools. Some of the schools discussed are the only option a parent has for their child.
2. Also recall that we posted on our website a contrast between what the staff and commissioners say in public meetings versus private meetings. In Public- they say they can't close the schools.... in private, they spend two hours talking about how they will skirt the law to close them, how the governor's office/SBOE/ and legislators can be manipulated into agreeing with them. This is something the commission's staff has been trained by national organizations to do-- manipulate our elected officials.
3. Don't forget the commission held a special meeting to allow the parents to "vent"; and in this meeting they passed a resolution written by staff to accept the Attorney General’s investigation recommendations (which found they violated open meeting law on several counts- read each one here). THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE SORRY FOR PLOTTING TO CLOSE OUR SCHOOLS WITHOUT DUE PROCESS FOR THE SCHOOLS DISCUSSED.
4. In the testimony at the special commission meeting on April 1st, we heard from school after school that claimed the commission's staff has a hit list-- and the schools on that list have experienced their data being manipulated by commission staff in an effort to paint their school as failing-- and, there is no process to have it corrected-- even after pointing it out to the staff it is still presented to commissioners incorrectly.
5. In odd news: We would share the link to the audio/video of the special meeting but Idaho Public Television tells us the commission's staff specifically asked them not to save it on their website. We've requested the audio from the meeting and will have it on our website as soon as it is received.
Parents, we need you now more than ever. Just being present will go a long way! Hope to see you there.