I attended the recent public SD244 Superintendent Town Meeting held on June 17th, 2024 in Grangeville at the Senior Center and was not very impressed, though I do appreciate the school board putting on the event to let the public in on what is going on.

To keep this short I will address just one issue.  The candidates were asked why they thought families were leaving the district for other options.

The response was surprising to me in that all 3 candidates seemed to think that the district is doing just fine and had no clue as to why anyone might want to leave the district.

Here are a few reasons I can think of why people might be leaving:

1. Education quality in the US has been steadily and significantly declining at an increasing rate since we took prayer out of the schools.
2. The cost of public education has skyrocketed and yet never seems to achieve the promised results.
3. The recent levy is taxing individuals that are not benefiting from the system and are or have already invested their time and money into educating their own children in addition to having supported public education by force/law.  It is likely that if home-schoolers were exempt from supporting public education with taxes, that the public school system would rapidly collapse.
4. Home school test scores are significantly higher than public school test scores.
5. Idaho ranks almost lowest in the country on education quality.
6. The SD244 school district ranks fairly low relative to other school districts in the state.
7. SD244, as most districts, assert that not only do certified teachers deserve good pay and benefits but they also feel the need to buy expensive curriculum which a certified teacher should not need.
8. The general policy of the School Board announcing public meetings seems to be to follow the minimum legal guidelines for public notice.  For example, the meeting I attended was not placed onto the SD244 website (in a rather hidden location I might add) until only 48 hours before the meeting.
9. There are a bunch of angry people in this district that resent the attitude of the board in the way it conducts its business.  The Public and Parents seem to come last in consideration and respect.  At this meeting, questions were gathered, filtered and then asked.  A group of about 25 of us all asked the candidates about DEI, yet the subject was never broached in the meeting.
10. I have heard from many people that say “something is wrong here”.
11. School unions seem to have far more influence and control than does either the community or the parents.
12. Money seems to be the top issue all the time with little creativity exerted to find alternative ways to save and find support.
13. Home-schoolers I know who have tried out the public feed trough are repulsed by the quality and methodology of the system.
14. Private and religious schools in our area seem to be flourishing, paying teachers better and spending less per student overall.
15. Some of the classical private schools, such as a new charter school that is starting up in our area, promise higher standards, higher morals, and far better outcomes.

Running a public school with all the strings and special interests attached is not an easy job.

I think the best thing the board can do is to be as completely honest and transparent with the public and parents going forward as it can.

Sanford Staab