A rebuttal: ‘Their claims are baseless and the slander and smear campaign needs to stop’

My name is Krista Hasler and I am running in Race #1 as a Trustee for the Boise School board. Yesterday an article was written by previous Trustees and Superintendents stating that the “other side of the ballot”, meaning the challengers, represent “grievances including Covid 19 safety precautions, classroom content conspiracies, book banning, and other radical special interests.” I do not fit into ANY of these categories. I will speak for myself in stating their claims are baseless and the slander and smear campaign needs to stop. 

I am running because I am concerned about our schools.  I was a therapist and I specialized in helping teens. I was the treatment team lead in a program for teens who could no longer live at home or attend regular school.  In this facility, we used a value based model that helped these youth find positive interpersonal skills, coping tools, and confidence to face their challenges. I know how to help kids thrive and can bring that expertise to our District to help our youth build and find success.

 I find it interesting that these authors of this unfounded article are coming out so strong.  While convincing us of the amazing leadership from the Board and making false and unsubstantiated claims about the challengers. Are they attempting to distract us from the policies and choices that the current Board has made? For example: the radical policy that our School Board had on the table in June for the dress code that stated only the “nipples, the groin, and the buttocks had to be covered to remain at school”, which somehow made it to a first reading without any wide-spread parent or staff input? Or maybe the classroom content conspiracies could link up to a statement on the City’s website saying they would “collaborate with Boise School District to teach sex ed from prek-12th grade,” assure the public you are not collaborating now, nor will you be.  Finally, the Board’s recent decision to add full day kindergarten without any parent and staff input. District Administration and Trustees have the responsibility and duty, to communicate openly and honestly with the public. The fact that there are so many challenging the incumbents suggests that people aren’t happy with the current Board’s leadership, and that they need to step outside of their echo chamber to see why. 

Throughout my campaign I have focused on our existing District and school values and called for greater emphasis in instilling these values in our students and yet the authors claim that my agenda does not align with the District values?  I want to ensure we are teaching students to live by respect, kindness, courtesy, honesty, and hard work. Clearly I want to build up our school system and I see our District and school values as a key way to do that. 

Go to my website, listen to what I am saying, read my survey and listen to my interview with Idaho Ed News to find out more about why I am running. Learn about each of the candidates. Then make your choice about who you think will best represent students, staff, parents and the community. Don’t let all these fear-based tactics and endorsements with false claims sway your reasoning.  I love our public schools, our teachers, our students, our parents, and I want to help make our system better for everyone including my four kids in the District. And if along the way I have to use my voice and say “no, that isn’t right,” you better believe I will. Just like I am doing right now. I will stand up and I will say “ENOUGH!”

Krista Hasler

Krista Hasler

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