Pocatello/Chubbuck School District

The Pocatello/Chubbuck School District No. 25 is a school district with its headquarters in Pocatello, Idaho, United States.^[1]

It serves Pocatello, Chubbuck, and unincorporated areas including Tyhee.^[2] Residents of the Idaho State University properties which house university students with dependent children,^[3] McIntosh Manor (Building #57),^[4][5] Pulling Courts (Building #53),^[6][7] and Ridge Crest Townhomes (Building #54),^[5][8] are zoned to the school district.^[2]

Schools

Pocatello High School

The district has three public high schools:

• Pocatello High School ("Poky High") is a four-year public secondary school, with a current enrollment of 1140 students. PHS was opened in 1892, and was a senior high school (grades 10–12) until recently. Its mascot is the Indian and the colors are red, blue, and white.^[9] The school's athletic teams compete in class 4A, the state's second highest classification.

• Highland High School is a four-year secondary public school. Opened in 1963, its current faculty is 72 with an enrollment of 1,465 students in four grades. The school mascot is the Ram and the school colors are black and red. Until the fall of 2002, Highland was a senior high school (grades 10–12); the graduating class of 2006 was the first to graduate after attending all four years at Highland.^[10] The school's athletic teams compete in class 5A, the state's highest classification.

• Century High School is a four-year public secondary school, opened in 2000 for grades 9–12 with a current enrollment of 971 students. The school mascot is the Diamondback and the school colors are purple, teal, black, and white.^[11] The school's athletic teams compete in class 4A, the second-highest classification.

Feeding the high schools are three public middle schools, thirteen public elementary schools, two public charter schools, and various alternative and church-based private schools and academies.

Controversy

In October 2013, the coach of the Pocatello High School girls basketball team, Laraine Cook, was fired after the Board decided that a photograph of her, and her fiance Tom Harrison (football coach at the same school), was inappropriate. The image was posted on Cook's Facebook page, and showed Harrison with his left hand over Cook's right breast; both were clothed. The image was taken at a Cook family gathering several months earlier. Cook was dismissed on 23 October, several days after the image was supplied to the Board by a person unknown; but, Harrison was reprimanded. Despite the representations of parents of the basketball team to Superintendent Mary Vagner, District 25 Director of Secondary Education Bob Devine, and District 25 Director of Human Resources Douglas Howell, the matter was not cleared up as the team went into important games.^[12][13] In early November 2013, District 25 officials went further, seeking to have Cook’s state teaching certificate revoked based on the grounds of immorality, furthering a perception of double standard and that the punishment failed to fit the offense.^[13][14][15]

Arbitration in the matter led to Cook being rehired in both positions, along with a recommendation that the district develop social media guidelines for employees. The relevant state credentialing agency found no reason to revoke Cook's teaching certificate. ^[16]

References

External links

• Pocatello/Chubbuck School District