After the three-hour listening session wrapped up Thursday night, Richard Westerberg got another earful. Flanked by two staffers, the State Board of Education member was buttonholed by about a dozen opponents of Common Core, the academic standards on track to launch in Idaho classrooms this fall. Several of the Common Core critics had already testified earlier in the evening, but they weren’t going to leave without making another appeal for Idaho to ditch the standards. The impromptu discussion was, in a way, a good metaphor for the education reform task force’s seven-city tour, which concluded Thursday. Assigned to hit the road to glean ideas from Idahoans — a first step before drafting bills for the 2014 legislative session — Gov. Butch Otter’s 31-member task force fielded complaints about Common Core, something lawmakers approved 27 months ago/Kevin Richert, The EDge. More here.

Question: Is the concerns re: Common Core more paranoia from the uber-cons? Or legitimate? Are you up to speed enough on the issue to answer?

The Idaho State Board of Education voted Friday to give the University of Idaho authority to become a Football Bowl Subdivision independent and negotiate and accept an invitation to the Big Sky. The board's motion also allows Idaho to join the Big Sky in football. The board voted 5-1 with the only no vote coming from State Board President Ken Edmunds. Edmunds wanted Idaho to have to return to the board if it chooses to place its football program in the Big Sky. Idaho President Duane Nellis and Athletic Director Rob Spear — who joined the meeting via telephone — argued that they needed flexibility in case they were not able to schedule FBS games. Spear said he was “quite confident we are able to do this (in regards to scheduling)”/Brian Murphy, Statesman. More here.

Question: AD Spear seems optimistic that Idaho can fill out a Football Bowl Subdivision schedule as an Independent in 2013 & 2014. What do you think?

The University of Idaho's plan to seek state funding to expand its Boise law program won approval Thursday rom the Board of Education, but not without concerns from one trustee that the cart was getting ahead of the horse. The Moscow university is now offering third-year law courses in Boise and school officials ask the board at a meeting in Pocatello to request $400,000 from the state in 2013 to grow the program to include second-year classes. The expansion of the law program in the state capital has so far been “a great success,” said Don Burnett, the dean of the university's College of Law. Burnett noted that board members were convened in Pocatello exactly four years ago when giving the university permission to bring a portion of its law program to Boise/Jessie L. Bonner, AP. More here.

Question: Did someone in your family graduate with a law degree from University of Idaho?

Faculty leaders at the University of Idaho want the state Board of Education to reconsider removing the term “flagship” from the school's mission statement. The board approved updated mission statements for Idaho's public universities in February. The University of Idaho in Moscow was founded in 1889 and is the state's oldest. The word “flagship” was added to a proposed new mission statement last year, though school officials have long used the word to brand the university. The board, however, didn't deem the term appropriate and it was struck/Eye On Boise via AP. More here.

Question: Has there been any positive fallout for the University of Idaho as a result of this controversy?

Seems Richard Westerberg eschews that “single, outdated word” that has caused a furor among Vandal fans since its removal from the University of Idaho mission statement: “flagship.”   The Idaho Board of Education prez said so in a guest opinion in Idaho newspapers last week. But 5,000 Vandal Nation petition signers disagree as they lobby to have the collegial designation reinstated. Also, University of Idaho Associated Student Body prez Samantha Perez is calling for the head of Milford Terrell, the Ed Board trustee whose term expired Thursday. Terrell, an ex-Boise State booster club prez, led the charge to remove “flagship” from UI’s mission statement. Some say Vandal Nation hasn’t been this upset since July 2010 when BSU prez Bob Kustra labeled UI culture “nasty” and “inebriated.” P’haps UIdaho is lucky that the BSU Broncophiles on the Ed Board didn’t add those words to the mission statement/DFO, SR Huckleberries. More here.

• The Slice: Yes, ink on paper still tastes great/Paul Turner
• Boise: Legislative races shaping up, Rammell files/Betsy Russell
• City news beat yields attorneys, police, being Dunn in/Doug Clark
• Idaho lawmakers need more than invisible, ethical line/Shawn Vestal
• Smart Bombs: Medicare hangover on tap/Gary Crooks
• Gonzaga came out ready, steady against BYU/John Blanchette
• Birds soon to be looking for cavity nesting sites/Rich Landers

Lost amidst all the controversy over the State Board of Education not allowing the word “flagship” in the University of Idaho's mission statement is the fact it was only there for five months. Some statements from board and university officials - not to mention media reports out of the board's meeting last week at Boise State University - led many to believe the board was stripping a word that had long been a part of the UI mission statement. But the word “flagship” was only added during a Sept. 9, 2011, special board meeting that was conducted via teleconference. And board minutes from the meeting indicate the mission statements of the UI and other four-year public schools were approved in haste because they needed to be submitted to an accrediting agency/Joel Mills, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Ah, are you still upset that “flagship” was removed from the UIdaho mission statement?

Tradition and pride since 1889, so says University of Idaho Student Body President Samantha Perez who started an on-line petition to keep the word “flagship” in the school's mission statement. And she insists it's about more than just bruised ego. “Flagship to me means we're the first in the state,” Perez told KBOI 2News. “It means we're the lead institution and that means a lot. It's part of our identity.” Perez says she hopes the thousands of supportive signatures (more than 2,000 in just two days) will convince the State Board of Education, which recently ordered the word “flagship”, removed from the university's mission statement to change its mind. The state Board of Education revised mission statements for all of Idaho's public universities during a meeting a Boise/Scott Logan, KBOI2. More here.

Question: Do you plan to sign the online petition?

The University of Idaho “serves as the state’s flagship … and it always will,” two university supporters wrote in a guest opinion. Jeffry L. Stoddard, chairman of the University of Idaho Foundation, and Michael Higgins, president of the University of Idaho Alumni Association, wrote the guest opinion in response to the State Board of Education's decision Tuesday to strip the word “flagship” from the university's mission statement. “The University of Idaho is Idaho’s flagship research university,” they wrote in a guest opinion, which also will appear in Tuesday's Statesman. “That is an undeniable fact. It is the state’s founding university, it generates 73 percent of the competitive research dollars in the state and it is the state’s land grant university.” Stoddard and Higgins liken the flagship status to Boise State University's success on the football field — an analogy, I suspect, that won't go over too well with some Bronco backers/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: There's some talk of a petition drive by UI boosters to regain the word “flagship” in the university's mission statement. Do you think the state Bored of Education would pay attention to such a tactic?

In a clumsy, method-to-madness way, the State Board of Education spiced up what could have been a dull discussion about mission statements. Just remove the word “flagship” from the University of Idaho’s mission statement, and it’s like football season all over again. Vandal haters went online to talk smack and share a few virtual fist bumps. Vandal faithful, stunned and blindsided, looked around for a referee to boo. A role played happily by the State Board, which started rewording the universities’ mission statements Wednesday, one day before pointing a torpedo at the U of I’s flagship. The board’s idea was to remove wording that gives one university preeminence over the others — to level the proverbial playing field/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: Did this level the playing field for all Idaho colleges? Or simply set up a situation — like BSU President Bob Kustra's dig at UI fans — that'll be remembered for years?

From blog by Kevin Richert/Idaho Statesman, a statement by UI President Duane Nellis re: Idaho Bored of Education decision to remove “flagship” from UI designation: “I have just returned to Moscow from the Idaho State Board of Education meeting in Boise and let me tell you it feels great to be “home.” I am very disappointed in the board’s decision today to remove the word “flagship” from our mission statement. This edit does not change who we are or how we will operate going forward. We are THE University of Idaho. I agree wholeheartedly with ASUI President Samantha Perez who said today that “flagship” is a factual definition of who we are at our core. Thanks to all of you for your support and good wishes as we work through this disappointment.”  Full post here.

Question: Do you think this move by the Bored of Education has anything to do with Boise State's football dominance?

The University of Idaho will no longer be the state’s “flagship” university — at least in its mission statement — after the State Board of Education voted unanimously to remove the word from the Idaho’s mission statement at Thursday's meeting. Idaho President Duane Nellis voiced strong opposition to the move before the vote. Nellis said the removal of the world could have “negative connotations” for the Moscow-based university. “I think flagship is reflective of what we are,” Nellis said. He said the state's other schools were worried about the designation. “I think there were reasons that were brought forward by other institutions concerned they're at a point in history where they feel our designation as 'flagship' is unfair to them,” Nellis said. “That doesn't reflect reality. … We are the state's flagship research university. There is no question about that”/Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: Do you agree with this move by the Idaho Board of Education?

Mark Browning, the chief communications and legislative officer for the Idaho State Board of Education, has been named the new vice president for community relations and marketing at North Idaho College. He was selected after a nationwide search, to replace retiring Vice President John Martin. Browning has been with the state board since 2007; prior to that, he was news director for KBCI CBS 2 News Boise, where he supervised a staff of 40; he also worked at other news organizations in southern Idaho and is a former president of the Idaho Press Club/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

DFO: Eye on Boise bud Betsy Russell gave Mark Browning two thumbs in a brief chat with HucksOnline a few minutes ago. Sez she'll miss him in Boise. And his social media savvy. Big time.

Apparently, Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde is dismissing the overwhelming testimony against online education at 7 hearings around the state. Reports Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise: “He dismissed the negative testimony at the public hearings, saying, 'I don't know the makeup of the people that testified. … I was there for the Coeur d'Alene testimony, and without exception, every person that testified was either an educator or a former educator. And I think that is just consistent with their insistence that education reform is a bad thing.'” Betsy goes on to report that Goedde's subcommittee of the state Board of Education voted today to approve a two-online-course requirement for high school graduation in Idaho, starting with next year's freshmen (the class of 2016). Story here.

Question: Do you feel that Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, represents your interests on the issue of online education that faces a refendum vote in fall 2012?

Idaho’s State Board of Education has set seven public hearings around the state on a proposed new online learning requirement for high school graduation, which would require two online credits to graduate. One of the two must be an “asynchronous” course, defined as one in which the teacher is not in the classroom with the student during instructional periods and both students and teachers participate in the course on their own schedules, rather than at a fixed time. The hearings start today in Idaho Falls; they include one Monday in Coeur d’Alene from 4-8 p.m. at North Idaho College, in Room 102 of the Meyer Health Building; and one in Moscow Aug. 16. Additional hearings are scheduled over the next two weeks in Pocatello, Fruitland, Nampa and Twin Falls/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Do you plan to participate in these Board of Education hearing re: proposed new online learning requirement?

Idaho high school students would no longer have to pass a standardized test in science to graduate from high school, under a rule change pushed by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna and approved by the state Board of Education yesterday; lawmakers still must sign off on the change, which would take effect with the class of 2013. Luna said it wasn’t an accurate measure of how students are performing in science/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Should the standardized test in science for graduation be scrapped?