School district addresses levy criticisms

SANDPOINT — School district officials have received several complaints about the May 20 plant facilities levy election.

One complaint involves high school students receiving extra credit to vote, while another regards what one voter said was misleading information placed on a reader board at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School (See sidebar).

District Supt. Dick Cvitanich said questions are all part of the election process.

When Carol Thomas and her husband went to vote at Sandpoint High School, she said they noticed a number of students registering to vote and asked them what they were doing.

Thomas said the students told her that they were getting extra credit for voting.

“I’m really, really upset about it,” she said. “I don’t think kids should be rewarded for voting. If they’re taking a government class, I agree.”

Thomas said she has registered young voters in front of Wal-Mart who said it had not even occurred to them to register.

She said she does not believe students should be given credit for registering on election day.

The right to vote is a privilege — one that should be discussed in class — but it also is a right that students should respect and act upon without having a reward tied to it, Thomas said.

“I think it’s their freedom,” said Thomas, a grandmother of five who feels strongly about her grandchildren being involved in civics.

SHS principal Dr. Becky Kiebert said teacher Derek Dickinson requires his students to complete a number of civics-related tasks each quarter, ranging from attending city council, school board and county commissioner meetings to attending the February caucus.

Students in his class who exceed the number of points required can opt to complete further activities for extra credit, according to Dickinson, although those points are minimal, he said. How teachers determine extra credit is an individual choice.

How students choose to fulfill those points are up to them and they do not have to vote if they do not want to, he said.

“Of course, most of them have turned 18 so they are excited to try out this responsibility,” he said.

What teachers do not do is tell students how to vote or ask how they voted, Kiebert said. In fact, educators must adhere to Idaho’s Professional Standards Commission rules which require them to present both sides of an issue.

“The district goes to great lengths to be neutral,” she said, adding that she has sat in on many government classes and has never witnessed anything but professional behavior from the teachers.

Dickinson said he never tells students how to vote. “I am always super careful to remain unbiased.”

His job is to encourage and motivate students to be active in civics so they will do so as adults, he added, saying he teaches a unit on the dangers of apathy and low voter turnout.

What does bother Kiebert, however, is Thomas’ questioning of the students.

“The patron asked them how they voted. I think that’s highly inappropriate,” Kiebert said. “We don’t ask kids how they vote. It’s not something we should know.”

Thomas said she did not ask the students how they voted, nor does she care. What she is concerned about is the motivation behind why they voted.

Dickinson said his students receive credit and extra credit not only for voting, but also for serving as attorneys and jurors with Bonner County Youth Court, attending byway hearings and government-related movies like “No End in Sight” at the Panida Theater.

Several students also attended the sheriff’s candidate forum and voted in the May 27 primary.

However, Kiebert said that next year SHS students will not be given extra credit for attending civic events so that people do not misconstrue the teachers’ intent. Instead, civic participation points will be given as a regular part of a student’s grade.

The issue really is about encouraging students to become adults who participate in government, said Supt. Dick Cvitanich.

Teaching civics as part of government class is included in Idaho’s teaching standards because the number of people who vote has dropped alarmingly in the past 10 years, he said.

“I think we should be encouraging kids to vote,” Cvitanich said.

He cited low voter turnout in the Tuesday’s levy election as a perfect example of why teaching civic responsibility is important. Of 16,000-plus registered voters in Bonner County, only 28 percent voted, he said.