Highline is blazing a trail to "grow our own" bilingual teachers from today's high school students through a new Bilingual Teacher Mentoring Program (BTMP).

Last Saturday, teachers, staff, community members and students came together to kick off the program, a long-term strategy to develop high quality bilingual teachers who may one day work in Highline and other Washington school districts. The program admits students in their junior year and provides a mentor who works with students for two years to make sure they are college ready and are exposed to the teaching profession.

Vincent Perry, a senior at Puget Sound Skills Center, has been chosen as the Southwest King County Chamber Student of the Month for December.

Vincent maintains a 3.1 GPA while taking college-level courses as a Running Start student at Highline Community College. He has previously been recognized as a Student of the Quarter at PSSC.

Save the date - College Goal Sunday is coming January 25, 2009!

Four of Highline's high schools will be joining schools around the country in hosting College Goal Sunday - an open house forum for students and families to learn about options to pay for college. There will be financial experts and counselors on-hand to assist students and families in preparing the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA).

Three students from Global Connections High School have been selected to be a part of the 41st biennial All-Northwest Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Jazz event to be held in Spokane, February 12-15.

Carrie Floodeen, tuba - All-Northwest Band
Ashley Hale, trumpet - All-Northwest Band
Taylor Marlow, baritone saxophone - All-State Band

Sixteen Highline teachers are among the 2008 National Board Certified Teachers announced by The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Congratulations to the Mount Rainier Girls' Swim Team!

The Rams took the state title in the 200 Freestyle Relay. Molly Larson, Mackenzie Marrs, Haley Gansneder and Leona Jennings posted an All-American time and shattered a 14-year-old team record.

Highline Public Schools is continuing its efforts to develop means to support the Mount Rainier pool. Currently, operation of the pool is funded by Highline in partnership the cities of Des Moines, Normandy Park, and SeaTac. SeaTac will stop funding the pool when the new Highline YMCA pool opens in SeaTac. The city of Des Moines has agreed to continue funding the pool until the end of 2009. The pool partnership has commissioned a study to evaluate the cost of capital improvements the 40-year-old pool will need in the future.

Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler presents dictionaries to third graders at North Hill Elementary.

The Rotary Club of Des Moines made its annual visit to North Hill and Parkside elementary schools this week to give a dictionary to every third grader.

Seahurst Elementary ASB hosted a food drive for ten days in November. During that time, nearly 4,000 items were collected for the Highline Food Bank.

Nate and Alex Ferry stood outside of Albertson's one evening to ask community members for donations to help the cause. Together, they collected nearly 900 items.

Aviation High School students joined together to collect school supplies and funds for their sister school in Uganda. The money raised, over $1800, will go to refurbish the girls' showers at the school and anything left over will fund student scholarships there. This is the second year AHS has participated in this fundraiser.

This year, Highline employees responded in a big way that is truly in the spirit of giving through the United Way and Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence giving campaign. Total pledges increased 6% this year over last; add that to 13.8% the previous year and employee giving is up almost 20% in the past two years. Rexanne Forbes, this year's campaign chair, observed, "Even in these tough times, Highline employees responded to our neighbors in need with open hearts and generous spirits."

U.S. Representative Jay Inslee returned to Highline recently to pay a visit to the school he attended as a young teen. Congressman Inslee was a student at what was then Cascade Junior High in 1964, before moving out of the district to attend high school.

Shorewood Elementary School recently hosted a "Math and Market Night." It was a fun-filled night with the Shorewood gym transformed into a Farmers' Market of fresh fruit and vegetable produce stations.

Students at Shorewood Elementary School are hosting a very special instrument at their brand new school - a pipe organ! Margie Paynton, the general music teacher at Shorewood, was able to arrange for this seven-week residency because of her membership in the American Guild of Organists.

Teachers and coaches from Midway Elementary teamed up with the English Language Learners (ELL) staff to host a family homework night.

With nearly 100 parents in attendance, the staff modeled ways parents could help their children with homework. For example, a staff member how to read a book to a child, stopping to ask probing questions to test for comprehension such as, "What do you think is going to happen next?" The groups also played math games, with staff members modeling how to turn the game into learning. With the game Go Fish the teacher practiced matching numbers and then addition by asking, "If have a one and a two, and you have a two and a three, who wins?"

Four Highline High School drama students were honored recently by the ACT Theater for plays they have written.

Amber Rowe wrote a scene that was a parody of the novel Twilight. She and Cody McCann performed Amber's parody for the audience at ACT.

Cody McCann and Shelby Wunch both received an honorable mention for their plays For Real and Psychological Love.

The school board held its annual reorganization election at this week's meeting. Bernie Dorsey (pictured) was elected as president, succeeding Julie Burr Spani. Sili Savusa was elected vice-president.

Do you know a student with a great community-service project that could use some funding? The Seattle Foundation announces a special opportunity for the youth and students of Highline Public Schools.

Administered through The Seattle Foundation, the Mother House Fund's Seeds of Compassion Youth Grants Program offers $500-$1000 grants to greater Seattle-area high school student projects that demonstrate compassion, by reaching out to others in need. An application is attached, and more information can be found at www.motherhousefund.org. Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 30, 2009, and decisions will be made in March 2009.

What does reading have to do with turning Interim Principal Vi Erickson PINK?

Marvista students have taken on a reading challenge to read at least 20,000 minutes each week as a school, and Mrs. Erickson will wear a little more pink each week until everything she is wearing is pink!

More than 2,000 Highline students will benefit from MAD Grants this year through 17 projects.

MAD Grants is a program that awards small grants ($25 - $1,000) to educators in Highline Public Schools and Portland, Oregon, schools. The program was started in 2002 by two Northwesterners: Chris Blumenthal and Nanci Tangeman, a 1979 graduate of Mount Rainier High School. MAD Grants are facilitated by the Highline Schools Foundation in conjunction with their Excel Grant program. Thus far, close to 140 projects have been funded over seven years.

We just learned about a great opportunity for those of you who are "tech savvy." Verizon Foundation and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) are sponsoring a competition to identify program that help parents bridge the widening gap between adults' and children's understanding of technology. The deadline for entries is this Friday, December 12, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. (EST).

One $25,000 national award and four $5,000 regional awards will be presented at the National Conference on Family Literacy in Orlando, FL, March 2, 2009.

The Class of 2009 Graduation Toolkit (pdf) is a resource provided by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to help educators and families understand state graduation requirements. The toolkit will be periodically updated with new materials and when changes occur during the 2009 legislative session.

Information is available on a variety of graduation-related subjects including Meeting the Math Graduation Requirement, Overview of Certificate of Academic Achievement Options, and State Testing.

Click for Tool Kit (pdf file)

eHighlights provides a way for staff and community members to learn about stories and events that support the mission of Highline Public Schools. Our goal is that eHighlights will bring attention to the impact our schools have on students and the community at large.

We need you to be our eyes and ears around the district. Please send us stories that demonstrate how students are being prepared for college, career, and citizenship. Stories might be about a classroom charitable project, a powerful learning activity, an exciting achievement by a student or staff member, or any news you'd like to share with your colleagues and community.

Highline is in the process of switching to a new electronic database for student information. The new system, eSIS, will store information such as the student's home address, emergency contacts, doctor's phone number, and language spoken at home.

At elementary parent-teacher conferences, families were asked to update their information to ensure the new system is up to date. If you are the parent of a middle or high school student, you will receive a form in the mail. Please fill in your family's current information and return it to the district office.