Friday Board Bulletin 2/26/2021

Posted Date: 02/27/2021

Board Members:

This week we completed Wave 2 of our COVID vaccination. A small Wave 3 has been scheduled to deal with those who have conflicts. There are only a handful of employees in this wave. For the most part, those who wanted a vaccination have received their first dose at this point. Final doses for both waves will occur on March 10 and 17 respectively. Here is a link to our weekly COVID update. 

It was another very busy week in the legislature. With one week before the first funnel deadline a lot of bills are being rushed through the subcommittee level. The governor's omnibus bill, SF 159 has been broken into 3 smaller bills in the House that are expected to receive subcommittee hearings next week. HSB 240; although a smaller bill from the original omnibus bill, this bill still has quite a bit in it. One of the most alarming aspects of this bill would require schools to utilize a uniform student data collection system for the management of student data. Most schools have invested a lot of time, training, and money into current school information systems. Imagine if we had to change from JMC to PowerSchool. This bill would require that. HSB 242 mirrors Division 2 of the original omnibus bill which aims to circumvent the local control of charter schools. A bill like this would permit an out of state for profit company to move into a community and set up a charter school without the consent (or control) of the local school board. Finally, and perhaps most insidious is HSB 243, which is the bill that sets up the voucher program. Please contact legislators in the House to register opposition to these bills! I might recommend this five minute video that outlines the  major action of the week. 

Here is the link to the latest video in the ‘Schools Cannot Do It Alone Network’ series. It presents the story of "mandate creep." It is 4.5 minutes long and covers the years between 1900-1960. I encourage you to watch and, if you approve, click Forward and share it widely with the people within your social networks.

Have a great weekend!

Dr. Tony Voss, Superintendent