Kevin’s blog

Expert analysis and the latest news from award-winning journalist Kevin Richert.

Video: Making the Grade, 5.13.15

This week’s topics: Low preschool enrollment numbers, next week’s school elections and an Idaho presidential scholar.

ACLU: Cassia dress code is discriminatory

‘It is 2015 here in Idaho, but sometimes you wouldn’t know it,’ says an attorney for the ACLU. It’s the latest salvo in a dispute between the group and the district.

Interested in mastery learning? The state wants to hear from you

The State Department of Education is assembling a committee to look at the transition to mastery-based learning.

Former Homedale registrar files lawsuit

Gloria Lejardi says she was wrongfully terminated because she refused to change attendance records and a student transcript.

ACLU files new complaints in discrimination case

The complaints stem from a student election in Declo High School; a student says she was barred from running because she isn’t Mormon.

Video: Making the Grade, 5.6.15

This week: Pre-K, possible changes in high school testing — and two remarkable high school graduates.

Coeur d’Alene panel targets ‘Of Mice and Men’

A curriculum committee wants to make the Nobel Prize winner’s 1937 novella voluntary reading in ninth grade.

State looking at consolidating high school exams

State officials are researching whether a college-placement exam would also satisfy federal testing requirements.

Otter ‘reluctantly agreed’ to broadband budget shift

The Legislature shifted school broadband funding away from the Department of Administration — without Otter’s blessing.

Study cites holes in early learning — and postsecondary enrollment

Educational opportunities vary widely from county to county, according to the Idaho Voices for Children study.