wednesday, february 11, 2015
Volume 40 | Number 22 | 4 Sections | 60 Pages s u n
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IDAHO MOUNTAIN
Simpson wilderness plan getting smaller
GSeeallery W alk fine art in Ketchum Page C5
Page A3
Safe Haven responds to critical report
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Hailey passes strict social-hosting law Page A11
Sun Valley still divided Boise lawyer looking into councilwoman’s voting record By AMY BUSEK
S Skiers Go With Plan B
Express photo by Willy Cook
After the Boulder Mountain Tour Nordic race was canceled Saturday, skiers congregate in Starbucks café in Ketchum, doing their best not to be disappointed. Some 900 skiers were ready to descend the valley in the 40th running of the race, but the Idaho Transportation Department, local emergency services and race course directors made a joint decision to cancel the event due to hazardous road conditions and high avalanche danger. They said skier safety was the top priority. Skiers then had to come up with other plans. This marked the fourth time that the race was called off and the first since 1983. Volunteers spent much of Saturday afternoon clearing the Harriman Trail with chainsaws, as fallen trees heavy with slushy snow and ice blocked the course.
Graduation rates here likely to drop New methodology will calculate figure in School District By TERRY SMITH Express Staff Writer
The Blaine County School District’s high school graduation rate will likely take an 11 percentage point dive when results from a new calculation method are released by the Idaho State Department of Education in March. Instead of just over 95 percent, as calculated with the current method, the graduation rate for last year will likely come in at about 84 percent, according to an estimate from district Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes. Holmes said Tuesday that the two rating systems are not comparable. “We do not know if our graduation rate from last spring is an improvement or a decline, as graduation rates previously had not been calculated this way,” she said. Holmes discussed the new calculation method at a district board of trustees monthly meeting Tuesday evening. She explained the differences in a memo to the board included with the meeting agenda that was released last week. With the current system, the district calculates a graduation rate from the number of students who start their senior year. The new method, as required now by the Idaho State De-
partment of Education, is referred to as an “adjusted cohort” graduation rate. It considers the number of students who started high school as ninth-graders and compares that to the number who receive a high school diploma. The cohort number is adjusted by adding students who move into the district during their four-year high school period and subtracting students who either transfer GwenCarol Holmes out or die. The new calculation rate does not allow school districts to count as graduates students who take more than four years to graduate, who receive a General Education Development equivalent credential, commonly referred to as a GED, or who take an extra year to graduate because of a year of study abroad. Instead, those students are considered as nongraduates. The adjusted cohort calculation method is now used by most states in the U.S., but didn’t take effect in Idaho until the 2013-14 school year. See Students, Page A21
Express Staff Writer
un Valley Mayor Dewayne Briscoe still wants an outside law firm to look into a potential conflict-of-interest issue with Councilwoman Michelle Griffith, citing concerns that City Attorney Adam King is “not impartial.” Following citizen Jim Bronson’s public comment at a Thursday, Jan. 29, City Council meeting, Briscoe contracted with and promptly received a request from Boise attorney Clayton Gill to continue his research. Bronson said there is a question as to whether Griffith should have voted on the overall city budget because her husband, Harry Griffith, is the executive director of Sun Valley Economic Development, an organization that is allocated funding annually from the city. Gill’s firm, Moffatt, Thomas, Barrett, Rock and Fields, has served Sun Valley on a contractual basis over the past several years, on matters related to employment law and specifically lawsuits involving former City Administrator Sharon Hammer and her husband, attorney Jim Donoval. At a Feb. 5 City Council meeting, attorney Jim Laski spoke during the public comment period and questioned the mayor’s choice to conduct the analysis, especially with an out-of-town law firm. “I was pretty alarmed, as an attorney with a fairly decent background in municipal law, at the goings-on at the [Jan. 29] meeting,” he said. Laski cited Idaho Code pertaining to the appointment of attorneys by the city, duties of the city attorney, the mayor’s powers and the passage of resolutions to contract with outside law firms. “Some people might conclude that the engagement of Moffatt Thomas to review a conflict-of-interest matter without the consent of the City Council is beyond the powers of the mayor,” he said. Former Sun Valley Mayor Dave Wilson said it was “disgusting” to read in the newspaper that the city was “demeaning” city employees by contracting work out. Councilman Peter Hendricks said he couldn’t find Briscoe’s contract with Moffatt Thomas and formally asked for a copy of the contract. He said, after a year of increasing transparency, councilors are now in a “black hole,” and alleged that the mayor is controlling their interactions with city staff and King.
Tension has been building The issue stems from Griffith and Hendricks blocking the nominations of two council nominees to fill the seat vacated by Franz Suhadolnik in late September 2014, Briscoe said, which put any and all potential conflict-of-interest issues front and center. Candidates Jake Provonsha and Chris Thiessen were turned down because See City, Page A20