Bow Lake Elementary Dedicated

Bow Lake Elementary students and staff hosted over 400 members of their families and community on January 24 to celebrate the grand opening of their new school. Students provided entertainment and served as tour guides as friends and neighbors streamed in to see the new facility. One particular item of interest was a large mosaic art piece in the hallway - the work of Bow Lake students.

Scott Hogman of BLRB Architects provided a photo documentary of the project from demolition to students making good use of their new school.

The school is organized into five pods or wings - each representing a biome of the earth; taiga, desert, grasslands, rainforest, and alpine. Two of the wings have cooking facilities located in the shared space and all have access to an outdoor area for use when weather permits. A dedication plaque provided by BLRB features artwork to signify each of these five biomes.

The school is a model for cooperative effort with the local government. The City of SeaTac helped fund a community room in the building and staffs an after-school program there for Bow Lake students.

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Highline Schools Foundation Awards Annual Grants

The Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence has announced its Excel and MAD grants. The Foundation will give nearly $37,000 in grants this year, a 26% increase over last year.

Among the 64 grants awarded are:

WISH - Walking in Steps for Health - Madrona Elementary
WISH is a program that teaches students about exercise and healthy eating habits. The Foundation provided funding for socks and shoes to allow all students to participate in the walking/running element of the program. Many of the students had shoes that did not fit properly and were at risk of injury.

Comic Life Mania - Parkside Elementary
The grant provides funding for installation of Comic Life software on 50 computers. Comic Life allows students to design their own comic books. This program focuses on students that are below grade level and do not like writing but love comic books. The strategy is to transfer their love of these books into a love for writing.

Math link addition to school's website - Chinook Middle School
Grant funding will allow the Chinook math department to put a link on the school website that connects with math classes. Students will be able to see copies of the pages from the book they were assigned each night, samples of student work, demonstrations, assignments, grades, and any other useful information to help students and parents make connections at home.

Welcome to Highline, Angus Mairs

After an extensive national search, Angus Mairs has been hired as the new Executive Director of K-12 Curriculum Design and Alignment. Mr. Mairs has been in K-12 education for the past 20 years, as a math teacher, educational technology consultant, university researcher, and central office administrator. For the past few years, he has been deputy director of the High School Transformation Project in Chicago, with a focus on instructional design. He will begin in Highline officially on March 3 and is eager to get out to schools to talk with teachers and principals.

Toyota Family Literacy Program Opens in Highline

Patricia Pineda, left, group vice president of Toyota Motor North America, reads with kindergartner Dallana Torres, as her mother, Maria Mora, looks on. White Center Heights, Beverly Park, and Mount View elementary schools were awarded a $600,000 grant by Toyota to fund a family literacy program, aimed at boosting the literacy skills of Latino and other immigrant children and their parents. Parents of students enrolled in the program spend several hours each week learning to read English along with their children in the classroom. Parents also receive English instruction separate from the children.

Early Learning Opportunities Expanded

Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $11.7 million to expand early learning opportunities in White Center.

This unique collaboration of public agencies, community groups, and private caregivers aims to ensure all children birth to 5 have access to positive learning environments.

Whether at home with a parent, in the care of a family, friend, or neighbor, in a childcare setting, or in preschool, all children and families in White Center will benefit from the White Center Early Learning Initiative.

The initiative will provide:
• Nurse home visits to expectant families; play and learn groups for toddlers; and literacy resources for parents.
• Expanded Head Start services, as well as services to families with younger children.
• A quality rating and improvement system for childcare providers in White Center; providers will be given incentives to improve their learning environments.

An early learning center will be built with a combination of public and private dollars, including funding from the Gates Foundation, Thrive by Five, an expected $2 million appropriation from the state, and federal tax credits. In addition, the early learning center will house federally and state-funded programs, including Head Start.

Thrive by Five is an organization dedicated to excellence and innovation in the supports that help young children's development.

Student Information System Update

Highline Public Schools is in the process of developing an online student information system (SIS) that will store all student data – grades, testing information, emergency contacts, and much more. The new system will allow teachers and administrators – and later, parents—quick access to information that will help them meet students' educational needs.

Seahurst Elementary is the pilot site for the SIS this year. Currently, Seahurst student data is being moved from the current district database over to the new SIS. Staff from the department of technology services are being trained on the new system. Seahurst staff will be trained next.

Other elementary schools and middle schools will be moved to the new system starting in May. High schools will be converted during the 2008-09 school year.

Global Connections Student Presents at State-wide Conference

Senior Gabriela Osorio presented two sessions at the annual Latino Educational Achievement Progress (LEAP) conference in Tacoma in January. In her first presentation, "Rejected Dreams," Gabriela spoke to an audience of 400 about how she used her senior project to educate the community about the DREAM Act—a law that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented students who graduate from college in the U.S.

The next day, Gabriela spoke to a room of 800 people about the importance of parental involvement in a child's education.

Gabriela plans to attend college and become a writer. "I want to one day be able to publish fiction books that were inspired by my life and the people who have been a part of it," says Gabriela.

Seattle Sonics Help Sylvester Celebrate Black History Month

Sonics players Kevin Durante, Damien Wilkins, Jeff Green, and Kurt Thomas came to Sylvester Middle School for a celebration of Black History Month. The players recited excerpts from the powerful and inspiring story, The Eagles Who Thought They Were Chickens: A Tale of Discovery, while youth performers from Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center acted out scenes of eagles who gain self-esteem and learn of their culture and heritage.

Sylvester students and parents attended the evening event.

Pictured in photo:(l-r) Sonics Kurt Thomas, Kevin Durante, Jeff Green.

Award-winning Vietnamese American writer visits Odyssey, the Essential School

Award-winning Vietnamese American author Bich Minh Nguyen visited Odyssey this month to read from her new book and answer questions from the student body.

Nguyen's memoir Stealing Buddha's Dinner, explores her growing up as an immigrant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the 1970s. The book won her the prestigious PEN/Jerard Award.

Nguyen's visit to Odyssey was sponsored by the non-profit Writers In/The Schools (WITS). WITS brings local creative writers to public schools to inspire students to discover and develop authentic writing and performance skills.

Evergreen Football Players Headed to College

Evergreen football player Vincente Cordova has received a full academic scholarship at the University of Washington and has been invited to turn out for the Husky football team as a walk-on.

Six of his teammates signed letters-of-intent to play for college teams.

Corey Laufasa signed to play for the Army Cadets at Westpoint next season. Luther Leonard and Senio Kelemete will play for the U.W. Kirt Terry-Springs, Kyle Tunney, and Johnny Jackson will wear the colors of the Western Washington University Vikings.

"All seven of these scholar athletes have all excelled in the classroom as well as on the football field," said Evergreen Athletic Director Daylene Boehm. "We are very proud of them."

Pictured in photo: (l-r) Luther Leonard, Corey Laufasa, Kirt Terry-Springs, Senio Kelemete, Kyle Tunney, Vincente Cordova, Johnny Jackson

Mount Rainier Soccer Player Headed to the U.W.

Mount Rainier senior Sarah Martinez will go to the University of Washington this fall, and has signed a letter-of-intent to play soccer for the Huskies.

Darren Rawie, athletic director at MRHS observed,"Sarah has been an outstanding role model for athletes at Mount Rainier. She competes at the highest level, never complains about her environment, and is a great person to have in class. We will miss her at Mount Rainier, but our loss is the University of Washington's gain."

Basketball Benefit Raises $5,000 for Gloria Strauss Foundation

A February 13 basketball game organized by Mount Rainier High School Student Leadership brought in $5,000 for the foundation established in honor of Gloria Strauss, daughter of Kennedy High School boy's basketball coach Doug Strauss. The tournament pitted South King County Fire District against the Des Moines Police Department and Kennedy staff against Mount Rainier staff.

"This is something we wanted to do for the Kennedy High School community to benefit the foundation established in Gloria Strauss' name," noted Mount Rainier leadership student Ashley Slater.

Tragically, Gloria passed away in December at the age of 11. Her battle with neuroblastoma was chronicled in the Seattle Times.

Parent Leadership Training Offered

Recently Highline's community engagement team trained staff and parents from nine schools as well as representatives from community-based organizations in a parent leadership curriculum developed by the Mexican American Legal and Educational Defense Fund (MALDEF). The curriculum helps parents learn about the American school system, focusing on a broad range of topics from talking with teachers about their child's progress in school to running for school board.

More trainings will be offered in the coming months.

Camp Waskowitz Seeks Help with Fundraiser

Last year, the family of Stephen Magnenat donated $50,000 to create an endowment for a Waskowitz scholarship fund. The interest from this endowment will be used to provide needed funds to Highline Public Schools sixth-grade students who can not afford the Waskowitz fee.

The Puget Sound Youth Foundation, which exists to support Camp Waskowitz, is planning to develop a fundraiser to add another $50,000 to the Stephen Magnenat Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund. The Foundation is seeking community members to help develop the fundraiser.

If you are interested in supporting Camp Waskowitz and ensuring that all sixth graders can go to camp, please come to the planning meeting Wednesday, March 5, 5-6:30 p.m. at the school district central office in Burien.

Questions? Contact Kent Horton at sciman3@comcast.net or 206-242-4432.

The Steven Magnenat endowment fund was established by Marvista teacher Jennifer Kolbe in honor of her brother.

Equity in Education Speaker Series

Puget Sound ESD and Seattle University present the Equity in Education Speaker Series. These workshops will engage you in a thoughtful and compassionate exploration of racism and how it manifests in our culture. Each session will leave you with an awareness of the degree to which racism and other diversity issues impact student learning.

"You Mean, There's Race in My Movie"
With Frederick Gooding and Khalid Patterson
February 29, 2008
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 P.M.
Location: WEA Building in Federal Way
(May be inappropriate for some audiences due to strong language as depicted in film clips.)

Karate Chops, Geishas, Nerds, & the Asian Invasion: Asians & Asian Americans in the American Media With John Palmer
April 18, 2008
Time: 1:00-4:00 P.M.
Location: WEA Building in Federal Way

Register early. Class size is limited.
Visit www.psesd.org to register.

New Fred Meyer Donates Books to Des Moines and Midway Elementary Schools

Des Moines Elementary Principal Karin Jones and Midway Elementary Principal Ben Gauyan join principals from nearby elementary schools and Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke at the grand opening of the new Redondo Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer donated 1,000 books to each elementary school in the area to celebrate the store's opening.

Kindergartners at Beverly Park get a Lesson in Emergencies

Kindergarten classes at Beverly Park had a visit from the State Farm 'Neigh Bear' to teach students when and how to call 911. Students talked about the differences between emergencies and non-emergency situations, learned a chant to help them remember "911," and practiced calling 911 on a phone with a simulated dispatcher. State Farm Insurance Company donated their time and resources to make the lesson possible.