Future of our middle and high schools, bus driver, and more

From: Issaquah School District E-News [mailto:ISDe-news@ISSAQUAH.WEDNET.EDU]
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 4:39 PM
To: E-NEWS@LISTSERV.ISSAQUAH.WEDNET.EDU
Subject: Future of our middle and high schools, bus driver, and more

How shall we build our middle and high schools for the future? Come give input during a public meeting on Monday, Nov. 6, at the administration building, 565 N.W. Holly St. Voters approved building a fifth middle school on the Sammamish Plateau, but significant factors have changed since the February ballot measure: land is not available for reasonable terms in an acceptable location; professional demographic reports show we are reaching the end of District enrollment growth; and our operations budget is getting tighter and tighter. In light of these factors, administrators are looking at different options and need as much input as possible before making a recommendation to the School Board on Nov. 14.

Administrators will discuss construction options and weigh the pros and cons of each at an initial meeting from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Then at 7 p.m., participants will work to develop the recommendation for the Board. Almost 30 people gave input at a similar meeting on Nov. 2, and their input will be included in the recommendation-building process.

For more information, call Sara Niegowski, 425-837-7004.

Volunteers are needed to help Echo Glen students paint T-shirts and write friendship messages that will be delivered to Ugandan orphans through the Smile Power Foundation. Help is needed from 12:15-1:24 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, and Friday, Nov. 17. Leaders of the Smile Power Foundation will follow up with a presentation in February that shows orphans wearing the T-shirts.

Echo Glen Children's Center is a state juvenile detention facility with an educational program run by the Issaquah School District. This Smile Power humanitarian project has been life changing for many Echo Glen students in previous years, as they focus on helping others while forgetting their own problems.

Contact Susan Evans, s-evans@comcast.net or (425-313-0642), to participate.

Despite the political shadow media and politicians have cast on the issue this week, the District terminated a bus driver in June for the sole reason of unprofessional and irresponsible conduct. The District acted according to its progressive discipline policy, and this investigation began before any outside person called. Supervisors say with 100-percent confidence that they would have taken the same action with this bus driver no matter who was on the receiving end of the inappropriate gesture. At the same time, the District hopes to fully provide the driver with fair due process and is committed to protecting her privacy and discipline record. While politicians have chosen to make this a public issue during campaign season, the district and bus driver's union view this incident as a standard discipline procedure.

Dr. Ruth Parker, CEO of Mathematics Education Collaborative, presents "Will Our Children Know their Basic Facts? Teaching Multiplication for Understanding," from 6:45-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at Mercer Middle School Auditorium, 1600 S. Columbian Way, Seattle. Parker will talk about the critical changes needed in the teaching and learning of mathematics so all children have open doors to a bright future. The presentation is geared toward families and educators of third- through eighth-graders. Students are welcome.

More education seminars are posted online.

To unsubscribe from this list click here.

Please share this information with others who might want regular Issaquah School District E-News updates and messages. They can join this list at http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/list .

Please do not reply to this E-News message as it comes from an unattended e-mail address used to distribute information to the community. To contact someone about topics in this E-News, please call (425) 837-7000. Thank you.