I moved to the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) from the Northshore School District in 2003. In all my 43 years I had never witnessed a complete demolition of a school, followed by a total rebuild. Many times I watched as additions and renovations were made to expand and modernize a school. Yet, I watched in amazement as Juanita Elementary was razed and totally rebuilt, with a very wasteful façade placed on the outdoor basketball court.
We could — and should — build a fifth comprehensive high school, rather than a small secondary school, if the Feb. 8 Lake Washington School District (LWSD) levy does pass.
Five high schools is not too many. Going from four three-year schools to five four-year schools is still a net increase in students per school, even before factoring in the increasing student population in the years ahead.
As members of the Lake Washington School District Board of Directors, we urge you to vote yes for the district’s levy measure.
We are facing a very real space crisis. It’s just not possible to fit in hundreds more students into the system each year without some cost. With 600 more students this year and 450 more expected each year for at least the next five, we will run out of space by the fall of 2012.
I would like to thank the community and businesses of Redmond for their generous and selfless donations to help the victims of the New Year’s Day fire at the Sammamish Ridge Apartments. Some of you dealt with Teresa Lunsford, resident manager at Sammamish Ridge. And then, there were the people that contacted me. I am grateful to all of you for your quick response to the cry for help. You were awesome!
Levy will help ease space crunch in schools; vote yes
My family and I moved to Redmond 10 years ago. We decided to stay in this area for the amazing education that Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has provided our three children. Our oldest child will be attending Redmond High School in 2013.
The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has a growing space crisis.
In part a victim of its own success, more families and students want to go to our schools than the district has space. LWSD has already taken measures to use as efficiently as possible the classrooms and facilities it has now. Other low-cost alternatives to building additional space — like having students attend high schools in shifts over a longer school day —will have long-term impact to our students’ education, countless community activities, and the hard-earned district reputation.
You see the faces: A beautiful, wonderful child, born on Sept. 11, 2001, full of hope for the future when she could have been thinking the other way, gunned down by Jared Lee Loughner, who purchased his killing weapon from “Sportmans Warehouse” Tucson, Arizona.
Let us never forget her name, Christina Taylor Green, just 9 years old. If you have children or grandchildren it is so horrific it is hard to even comprehend such a senseless tragedy.
Thenos Dairy has been important to our family since we first relocated to this area in 1993.
Who is responsible for the driveway “modifications?”
This is completely nuts. Sorry to be so blunt, but I’m just getting right to the point.
After several challenges I have had in the last two years recovering from two surgeries, having my husband travel during the weekdays for work, home only on the weekends and raising my two teenagers, I recently had a shining moment in the day of being a mom.
When I opened up my e-mail on a recent morning I was surprised by an application my son had made. He is a senior at Redmond High School (RHS) and full-time Running Start student.
My daughter is a neighbor and friend to Lilly Reasor. Together we have started a donation drive for Lilly and the other displaced families. They have lost everything, pretty much.
I am writing in reply to Dec. 24 letter to the editor, “Wall helps protect residents from violent attacks.”
Everyone, whether they are Israeli or Palestinian, deserves to live in peace and security and Israel certainly has a right to build a fence on its border.
Christmas, they say, is for kids. But for many children, Christmas is the saddest time of the year.
So it was with a boy named Craig who wrote a letter to Santa Claus in December 1976. That letter never reached Santa, but it did reach a restaurant in Seattle called Francisco’s. And it reached people’s hearts. From that night in 1976, the Forgotten Children’s Fund (FCF) has grown into a group of dedicated people who enhance the true spirit of Christmas through the gift of sharing.
In response to Andrew Villeneuve’s editorial in the Dec. 10 edition, the issue is not a reluctance to pay taxes in order to collectively accomplish those things we could not do individually.
In the Dec. 10 letter to the editor, “Harsh problems in Bethlehem,” Mr. Schack notes the “great suffering … in Bethlehem … caused by a massive wall.”
I am a mom and I wanted to protest against the Gov. Gregoire’s proposal to eliminate all state highly capable program funding for the next two years. My kid is in the gifted program and is thriving well with the challenge the education provides. He actually enjoys going to school and learning which was not the case before he was accepted into the program. I also volunteer in his class and have seen firsthand how much all the kids love it there.
Andrew Villeneuve, in his Dec. 10 editorial, states that “a debate has been raging over taxes at both the state and federal level.”
According to his own figures, taxes per $1,000 of personal income have gone up by 19.5 percent since 2008, yet he doesn’t see this as a problem. Washington voters don’t seem to share his view. They shot down his beloved I-1098 income tax initiative by a 65-35 percent margin.
In his Dec. 10 column, your editorialist, Andrew Villeneuve, argues that we should fall in love with an ever-increasing tax burden.
His argument centers on two contentions. Both are nonsensical uses of words and data.
First, he equates the word “commonwealth” with “common wealth.” This is pure poppycock.
The economy may appear to be turning around, but in Washington, by the most favorable measure, unemployment is now at least 8.6 percent.
Here on the Eastside, people are still losing jobs and homes, small business are still closing, social services are reduced and families are forced to dip into their pensions and children’s college education funds to pay bills and mortgages.
I am a product of the Seattle School District graduating in 1980. I have always had a strong opinion on the need for reform in our national school system.
Why are we basing how the school year and system is set up based upon how we have always done it?
I think I have found a few ways to reduce the state’s budget shortfall.
First, I think we should put the Seattle Waterfront Tunnel on hold. All elected and employed workers should take a 50 percent cut in pay and have to pay their own medical benefits.