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Michael Dunne: Oregon schools have had a rough go of it lately. Budget cuts and layoffs have plagued schools around the state. A huge reason for this economic challenge is declining enrollment in both urban and rural schools. But there might be an even bigger challenge related to fewer kids at school than low enrollment: our historic absenteeism rate. Today on the show, you'll hear about how Oregon is a national leader in absenteeism, and hear how a University of Oregon study is recommending some basic steps to hopefully get kids and schools back on track. Then in the second part of the show, you'll hear how bluish Boise is finding creative ways to get around a pride flag ban imposed by the deep-red Idaho state Legislature. KLCC's Zac Ziegler, thanks so much for coming in and chatting.
Zac Ziegler: Yeah, no problem.
Dunne: I want to talk about two stories you've done recently. Let's start with one that's not such great news, but you've tackled this issue that we've seen for quite some time. It's Oregon's chronic school absenteeism. Just tee it up. What did you find out?
Ziegler: In the last school year, the number of students who were chronically absent, meaning they missed 17 or more days in a year, was about a third. That's pretty high. Actually, the second highest of the states that have reported those numbers so far, behind Alaska. The District of Columbia is also ahead, but with D.C., it's hard to say with these rankings whether you include it as a state or not. That has led to a lot of thought about these things. The University of Oregon's HEDCO Institute recently released a summary of a soon-to-be-published meta-analysis of 49 studies. A meta-analysis is when a scholar takes a look at everything that's been published on a topic and tries to condense it down. The HEDCO Institute condensed it even further into something more easily accessible for busy educators.
Dunne: By condensing it down, they can read it in less time. Give us an idea of what it's saying.
Ziegler: There are five areas that were effective at reducing chronic absenteeism in these studies. The first one was making curriculum more engaging. Any parent will look at you and say, yeah, that's not a surprise. Keep my kid from getting bored, and they'll be more interested in showing up. There was also the idea of fostering relationships and mentoring. It could be an older person showing you the ropes, or something borrowed from the world of exercise: an accountability buddy. The same concept could work for schools. There was also talk about increasing family connections with the school. Schools can be like these amorphous blobs to a family. Giving them a face, a person that represents the school, could help. That was actually something I heard when I did a story when these numbers first came out, at the Crow-Applegate School District. Their superintendent told me about trying to give parents a better connection. There was also talk about better messaging around absences. When I was in high school, there were just automated messages because I went to a large school. What I was told is that you can still use those, but there needs to be more information than just, your son or daughter missed one or more classes at whatever high school. Tell them how many absences a student has, what qualifies as chronic, where they're trending. The last recommendation was to not just try one thing. Try multiple approaches.
Dunne: Historically, Oregon has had a challenge with absenteeism, and then many states saw their rates go up during COVID and afterward. Is there any data suggesting that these five categories are in response to the shock of COVID, or is this general counsel that resonates regardless of what era we're in?
Ziegler: It's a bit hard to say. Some of these are more tried-and-true methods that have been used over the years. I mean, when I was in high school in the late '90s, they had those automated messages to let parents know if their kid ditched a class. Sometimes it's just the case that a parent forgets to call in an absence, and that's your evening reminder.
Dunne: Talk a little more about this idea of mentors. I think that's fascinating. You and I work in an office setting, and there's always talk in the workplace about having mentors. This sounds like it could be somewhat revolutionary for schools.
Ziegler: There is some concern that students may not want to show up because they're having challenges, or maybe they don't see the value in attending school. That's always a concern. A little mentorship, having an adult or an older student who can help them through problems or show them why it's important to show up to school, can often make a real difference.
Dunne: One of the quotes in your story was that schools are inundated with so many things to do. It seems like both parents and kids have never been busier. Talk a little about that. Does all that busyness contribute to kids just punting and saying, I'm not going?
Ziegler: That can always be an issue. It's one more thing for school administrators to keep track of. That's really why the HEDCO Institute decided to boil this down. Taking a soon-to-be-published meta-analysis, which can be quite lengthy, and condensing it to just a handful of pages with graphics makes it approachable. It's like, OK, I can read this in a few spare minutes, and now maybe we can start talking about implementing these changes now, rather than waiting until next school year and having the paper get forgotten.
Dunne: You pointed out that the recommendations say don't just try one of these things, try a multiple approach. Is the hope that the vast majority of schools in the state will adopt these? Because it sounds like these don't necessarily cost a lot of dollars. It's really just a commitment, right?
Ziegler: Yes, that is always one thought: just finding the time and that little bit of capacity, because schools are so strapped for any resource, be it cash or free time for staff. Using multiple approaches is really about making sure a student doesn't fall through the cracks. To go back to what I was saying, I had a bit of an attendance problem when I was a sophomore in high school, and I would try to intercept those automated calls. Then when my report card came out and my parents saw the number of absences, that's when I got in a lot of trouble. The hope is that if a student is doing that, the better messaging option won't be enough on its own, so having some other way to communicate that absences are a problem, whether it's an in-person connection or increased family outreach, could help. There are loopholes in all of these that someone might fall through.
Dunne: Reading and listening to this, it brings to mind the oft-used cliche that it takes a village. Obviously schools have a responsibility, but so do parents.
Ziegler: Yeah, and that is often the case. One other thing I heard when talking to schools when this data first came out: sometimes it is about transportation. Sometimes a parent just can't get a student there that day. That's always something it boils down to. What can we do to make sure parents see education as a high priority? Suddenly it becomes, no, I need to talk to my boss because I need to get my child to school. I can't necessarily make that shift start when they want, because education needs to be a priority.
Dunne: We're talking about absenteeism in the Beaver State, but I want to switch gears to another story you did that I really enjoyed, about trying to figure out the relationship between humans and beavers in Corvallis. Talk about that story.
Ziegler: Yeah, it was a fun trip up to the Corvallis area. Specifically, it was Bald Hill Natural Area. There's a multi-use path off Oak Creek Drive where, along Muddy Creek, some beavers had come back into the area. Before trapping, this whole area was covered in beavers. They were all over the creeks and rivers in the Corvallis area and really much of the Willamette River Valley. Hence Oregon State's name, right there. The problem was people were happy to see beavers return, but where they built their dam, it was flooding the multi-use path, which is a really nice, accessible walkway. When I was there it was kind of a rainy day, and I still saw people on many modes of travel using the path. Well, if it's underwater, that's not going to work. So they found a new, simpler way to allow water through and prevent the flooding.
Dunne: And what is that?
Ziegler: It's a process called a notch exclusion fence, and it's one of those things where when you hear about it, you think, why didn't someone think of that before? To the folks I talked to, this was the first use of it in Oregon. Which, the Beaver State, you'd think it would have traveled here quicker. But it's really simple: you go to a spot on the dam and say, it'd be nice if the dam were a little lower. You carve a notch into it, not all the way down, but you cut down a couple of feet. Then you take something like chain link or chicken wire, with holes big enough for a small fish or other animal to pass through, but small enough that a beaver can't get back in and repair it. You put that around the notch, and all of a sudden you have a kind of permanent bypass for the water that acts as a spillway. Once the water gets over the level you desire, it spills through. The beavers don't seem to mind too much. You still get that nice wetland that a beaver dam creates. When I was there, I saw salamanders and ducks and the animals that take advantage of that aquatic habitat, but I also saw a nice dry path.
Dunne: Beavers fill an incredibly important role in the ecosystem. It sounds like this is in some ways a grand bargain between two-footed people and four-footed flat-tailed animals.
Ziegler: Yeah, exactly. It allowed the beaver to live in the area, have the habitat they like to create, and chomp and chew through trees and build on that dam, but still allow both to coexist. That's really the best term for it, and it's working really well. It was a fairly easy solution to put in place, as opposed to drainage systems where you put a culvert under the dam, which can often create issues and clog up more easily. Their goal is still someday to put in something like that on this dam, but this other method proved to be really easy and is doing the job they hoped it would.
Dunne: From school absenteeism solutions to beaver dam solutions, he covers it all. Zac Ziegler, a reporter with us here at KLCC. Zac, thank you so much.
Ziegler: No problem.
Dunne: Boise is a lot more liberal than the surrounding state of Idaho, and that divide is showcasing itself in a strange way. Pride flags and a local reporter explain next. Carolyn Komatsoulis, a reporter with The Idaho Statesman. Carolyn, thanks so much for coming on and talking with us.
Carolyn Komatsoulis: Thanks for having me.
Dunne: I was interested in a story you wrote about what I'd call a workaround that the city of Boise is using with regard to a pride flag ban in Idaho. Tell us what's going on.
Komatsoulis: This is the second year in a row that Idaho and Boise have been dealing with legislation like this. In 2025, a northern Idaho representative brought a bill that prevented governments from flying most flags. Last year, there were some exceptions in the law. You could fly the U.S. flag, official government flags, or the official flag of a foreign country to commemorate special occasions. The city of Boise, in 2025, bypassed the law by making the pride flag and an organ donor flag official city flags. This legislative session, a different Idaho representative from an equal Boise suburb came up with a new law. What this law does is ban official city flags added after Jan. 1, 2023, with a $2,000 fine per flag per day. It would also allow the attorney general to sue.
Dunne: For point of clarification, what does the city of Boise want to do? Have they expressed that they want to be able to display pride flags?
Komatsoulis: Yes. Boise Mayor Lauren McLean was one of the people who testified in opposition to the bill during the legislative session, and she said at a press conference after testifying that she was committed to ensuring that the city is doing all it can to make clear that everyone is welcome.
Dunne: If I read your article right, the city has also found other creative ways to display flag-adjacent art or symbols around Boise. Is that correct?
Komatsoulis: The city of Boise took their pride flag down the same day Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed this year's bill, which was March 31. But now, if you were to walk by Boise City Hall, there are rainbow-striped wraps around the flagpoles that go almost all the way up to the flags themselves. There's also a large white sign with the progress rainbow colors that says, I believe, "Creating a city for everyone," displayed on the windows of City Hall.
Dunne: Our audience is mostly in western and central Oregon, and I'm wondering if you could explain the political divide between Boise and the state Legislature. Is there often some contention between what the most populous city in the state wants to do versus what a predominantly Republican Legislature wants to do?
Komatsoulis: That's a great question. What I can say is that there have been laws specifically pertaining to Boise that the Legislature has passed over the years. For example, a few years ago the Legislature passed a bill requiring by-district elections for cities above 100,000 people, which at the time was only Boise. There is also a saying, "The great state of Ada County," which I think represents the idea of the urban-rural divide in Ada.
Dunne: We see that here in Oregon as well. Eastern Oregon and Portland, for example, are very different politically. Carolyn, when you put your piece together, did you get any statements or comments from elected officials, legislators or the city council?
Komatsoulis: Yes. I talked with the person who brought the bill, Rep. Ted Hill, and he said it's too early to tell whether lawmakers would bring a bill to address what the city of Boise ended up doing. But he told me he was expecting something like this, and that he thought Mayor McLean was insulting everyone else. He asked, "Is that city hall or some activist pride hall?"
Dunne: Are pride celebrations held in the city of Boise? Are there parades? Is the city more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community compared with more rural areas of the state?
Komatsoulis: Interestingly, Boise's Pride festival actually takes place in September, not in June like a lot of places. This year, it's Sept. 18-20. And I have done some previous reporting, from a few years ago, where activists said that LGBTQ+ Idahoans living outside Boise don't necessarily have the same resources, support or acceptance.
Dunne: It's going to be interesting to see what happens with this. Carolyn Komatsoulis, a reporter with The Idaho Statesman. Really appreciate you coming on and talking about this very interesting situation in Boise.
Komatsoulis: Thanks for having me.
Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon on the Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Monday on the show, you'll hear about a new study suggesting that despite Oregon's anti-business reputation, more businesses have been opening in our state than closing over the past few years. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon on the Record. Thanks for listening.
