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News at 6 AM, stories by Brooke Nicholson:

The Washington State Supreme court will hold Court in Nespelem at the Colville Tribes Government Center as a part of the statewide community outreach program according to the Tribal Tribune.

On May 7 the members of the Washington State Supreme court will meet with students and community members and the following day the community can witness oral arguments. This unique opportunity will be held at the Lucy F. Covington Government Center. For more information visit colvilletribes.com.

Washington state legislature has increased the school-employee salaries by a $1 billion dollars due to the McCleary ruling that mandated an increase of state support of schools according to the Seattle Times.

With the model system for salaries changed, the labor negotiation for teachers’ salaries will be a long bargaining process over the summer. District Unions will negotiate contracts while the Washington Education Association is pushing for a 15 percent increase for teachers and 37 percent raise for administrators.

The other issue for consideration is the decrease in money from levies with $11 million dollars less from collection in property taxes. Levy money can be used for items not listed under basic education such as tutoring, mentoring, giving up a planning period to take a class or overseeing extracurricular activities.

Enhancements will be the primary argument for salary negotiations and how the districts interpret the new state formulas.

News at 4 PM, stories by Judith Spitzer

Court Rules on Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Cuts

Last week a federal Court in Spokane ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to end grants to Planned Parenthood’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program called Get Real were unlawful. Program topics include biology, abstinence and delaying sex, protection methods including the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and skill-building around healthy communication. It gives students accurate information, helps them develop healthy communication skills, and promotes family communication, all key ingredients needed for healthy relationships, to delay sex, and protect ones’ health, according to Planned Parenthood.

Last June the Trump administration (not to be confused with school administration) faced outrage across the country when it decided to terminate the program two years early.

Sex education is widely supported in the country according to Planned Parenthood whose research shows more than 90 percent of parents support programs in both middle and high school.

In a related story, Spokane public school administrators, parents and a citizen’s advisory committee have been involved in a two-year controversy to narrow down and update the district’s sex ed curricula to align with Washington state standards[PV1] that prohibit State schools from teaching abstinence-only programs. A decision on a final program has yet to be agreed upon, but will be presented to the school board at tomorrow’s meeting.

While the district acknowledges that it has been decades since SPS revamped its sex education curriculum, last year, after the committee voted to send the curriculum to the school board for approval, the board “pulled the curriculum from the agenda just two days prior to the vote last June, in response to last-minute concerns,” according to a story in the Spokesman Review. In September 2017, the committee voted again to approve the curriculum, but administrators again sent it back. Committee members voiced their concerns at the most recent board meeting, saying the curriculum is not very inclusive of LGBTQ students. Others argue the proposed lessons state that abstinence is the safest way to avoid STDs, but doesn’t use examples of how abstinence might be physically, emotionally, and ethically beneficial, according to KHQ News. Others find the curriculum controversial because Planned Parenthood wrote a portion of it.
The committee said in April, it wants to again review and make recommendations to some of the 100 lessons before they vote. Ultimately it may be another year before a decision is made.

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