The Marsh Valley School District is parting ways with a K-12 administrator who serves as a member of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s indoctrination task force.
A separation agreement obtained by Idaho Education News through a public records request shows that Marsh Valley will release middle school principal Isaac Moffett from his contract on June 30, 2021 — a year earlier than the contract’s expiration date.
Moffett declined to comment on the reasons for the early separation. The agreement contains a confidentiality clause that limits the district’s responses about the agreement to “Moffett’s period of employment, years of service, placement and attendance.”
Moffett, who is in his first year at the district, is a member and presenter on McGeachin’s Task Force to Examine Indoctrination in Idaho Education.
Moffett signed the separation agreement on May 13, and will receive his regular monthly paycheck of $5,166.66 through July 20, though trustees have reduced his duties at the school to completing evaluations for certified staff remotely.
Moffett will also receive a $10,000 lump sum for the second year of the contract, along with continued benefits through the district until July 31.
Moffett presented information during a section of last week’s indoctrination task force meeting titled “Idaho Superintendents.” During his remarks, he claimed that “vague” state and Common Core standards allow for critical race theory and “other things” to move “into the classroom.” He urged greater “depth” in civics education to prevent “communist indoctrination.”
Top state education leaders have refuted claims of indoctrination. “To date, I have not seen any evidence of indoctrination in our public education system,” State Board president Kurt Liebich said in a news release sent out midway through last week’s meeting.
Moffett has been a past topic of conversation in Idaho. In 2009, he sued the state in hopes of using the Bible and other religious texts in the now-defunct Nampa Classical Academy, a school he founded. A federal district court rejected arguments for the practice in 2011, the Associated Press reported. Moffett left Nampa Classical in 2010 and has since filled various teaching and administrative positions, according to his LinkedIn page.
Idaho Education News reporter Blake Jones contributed to this story.
