POCATELLO - The Idaho State Board of Education will hold its regular meeting Thursday, December 1 at the Idaho State University campus in Pocatello, Idaho.
The Board will begin its meeting at 7:30 a.m. with an executive session. The regular session will take place in the Salmon River Room in the Pond Student Union Building. To view the agenda, go to the State Board of Education's website http://www.boardofed.idaho.gov and click on "board meetings."
Highlights of the agenda include:
Boise State University: The Board will consider several requests from BSU, including remodeling a current classroom into a physics laboratory and hiring an architect to design skyboxes at Bronco Stadium and design a new parking structure.
Idaho State University: In addition to hosting the meeting, ISU will request approval to contract with an architect to design a building for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES.) As part of Battelle Energy Alliance's contract to manage the Idaho National Laboratory, Battelle committed to establish CAES to advance energy science and technology.
Student Health Insurance: The State Board of Education implemented a policy effective July 2003, mandating that full fee-paying students be covered by health insurance and requiring institutions to provide the opportunity for students to purchase health insurance. The Board recently requested that staff, along with representatives from Idaho colleges and universities, determine whether a statewide consortium for purchasing student health insurance coverage for Idaho college students would be more economical. The Board will review the report compiled by a student insurance study group that included administrative, financial, student affairs and college health leaders from the institutions.
School for the Deaf and the Blind (ISDB): In July 2005, the Board organized a committee to examine education programs in Idaho for the deaf/hard of hearing and blind/visually impaired students in Idaho. The committee has listened to stakeholders and experts in the fields of special education and deaf and blind education. The committee invited public comment and conducted a public meeting in Gooding, Idaho to seek further stakeholder input. The committee will finalize its recommendations on Monday, November 28, and present them to the Board.
Idaho Content Standards: The State Board of Education will review the State Department of Education's first draft of revised Idaho academic content standards for kindergarten through tenth grade. The standards more clearly define, to teachers and administrators, what students should know and be able to do. If the Board approves the standards, the State Department of Education will facilitate meetings with stakeholders to gather additional input. The standards will then come before the Board in February 2006.
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