Idaho State Board of Education president issues statement on comments at McGeachin task force

During Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s education indoctrination task force meeting yesterday, members expressed some outrage that members of the state Board of Education and representatives of the state Department of Education weren’t there in person to answer their questions.

Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, the task force co-chair, said she had a long conversation with them and they declined to appear. The hand-picked volunteer task force members then railed against “public servants” not appearing to answer their questions.

While the meeting was still going, state Board of Education President Kurt Liebich released a statement on why he chose to submit written answers to questions posted by the task force rather than appearing before the group in person on Thursday. Here is his full statement:

“On June 8, the Board’s Executive Director, Matt Freeman, and I participated in a phone call with the Lt. Governor and Representative Priscilla Giddings, during which we were asked to make a presentation and answer questions at the June 24th task force meeting. I was noncommittal, expressing my concern about statements made by some task force members during the first meeting and its overall tone. Last week, on June 16th, we informed Rep. Giddings and the Lt. Governor that we would instead provide written responses to their questions, rather than appear in person.

“The State Board is focused on helping our schools and students rebound from the global pandemic. Literacy, unfinished learning, student achievement and student mental health are key areas the Board is actively working to address. As a state and a society, we cannot allow the impact of the pandemic to create a lost generation of students. We remain focused on understanding the achievement gaps and working on developing accelerated learning strategies to ensure all students are receiving a uniform and thorough education.

“We will continue to follow the work of the task force. To date, I have not seen any evidence of indoctrination in our public education system. As a State Board, we have confidence in our local school boards and communities to address any issues should they arise.”

During Thursday’s meeting, presentations from task force members and others, including state superintendent hopeful Branden Durst, focused on continued claims that Idaho’s public schools are forcing a leftist agenda on students.

One parent of a student at a Meridian charter school, Mark Hodges, who was among the day’s invited speakers, spoke out in favor of racial profiling, declaring, “If I see a group of non-whites drinking beer … I know what’s coming next, so I walk the other way.”

A group of local high school students attended the meeting wearing T-shirts imprinted with the slogan “Hands Off Our Schools.” They weren’t allowed to speak.

McGeachin said, “The agenda that has been put together has been carefully constructed.” She said, “Because there is no proposal before the committee, there is no public testimony. … When we do get to that point where if and when we make any proposals, recommendations, our whole purpose is to be open, honest and transparent with the people of Idaho and there will be public testimony.” Her office currently is resisting a request to release information submitted electronically to the panel by citizens under the Idaho Public Records Act, a legal fight that may end up in court.

At one point, McGeachin tried to get the students to move from their seats so their T-shirts wouldn’t be visible on the live stream of the meeting; the students refused, as several audience members sided with them, calling out, “Leave them alone” and “First Amendment,” as reported by Blake Jones of Idaho Education News.

Urging decorum, McGeachin said, “This is not a dialogue.” The meeting proceeded with the students staying in their seats. You can read Jones’ full report at idahoednews.org on the task force meeting.

Betsy Z. Russell is the Boise bureau chief and state capitol reporter for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Group. Follow her on Twitter at @ BetsyZRussell.