Renton Education Blog

New Horizon School will host its public open house 7-8:30 p.m., Feb. 24.
The private school, whose mission is to provide a successful learning environment for students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders.
The evening will feature performances by the dance team along with presentations by faculty and service providers. Students will lead the tours and refreshments will be provided.
They’re located at 1111 S. Carr Road, Renton, new-horizon-school.org.

City University plans to offer an online program for school principals seeking to earn their Washington certification.
It’s the first online principal program in the state.
“The new model also allows us to serve professional educators in search of a certificate program but who cannot attend classes in person because they live in smaller, rural communities or have conflicting family and career responsibilities,” said Judy Hinrichs, dean of the Albright School of Education.
The hope is to establish another community of students who live outside the Seattle area.
The university has a Renton location, and will be available to Renton students.
Founded in 1973 in Seattle, CityU is a private university that has awarded over 45,000 degrees and certificates worldwide.

Students at St. Anthony’s learned about bullying through a Taproot Theatre production Wednesday.

I had the opportunity to visit and watch the play, and there is a full story in the Lifestyles section.

The troupe kept on message about how to handle being bullied and how not to lash back. As it turns out, it was a small part of the many things they do to prevent bullying at St. Anthony’s.

I was also impressed by how well the actors did. They’re all pretty young and work exclusively in the traveling group.

I asked them if they had been bullied as kids, and they all said they were either bullied or the object of a terrible gossip scene.

Here are some pictures that didn’t make the Web site, but I think are worth sharing.

Kiana Manzano, age 6, watches the play Super School by the Taproot Theatre Roady Company at St. Anthony's School. The actors taught students about bullying and how to prevent it.

Lakewood firefighter Nadrece Robinson dons his protective gear as part of a presentation to Nelsen Middle School students during Impact Day. Photo by Randy Matheson, Renton School District

About 40 professionals took over Nelsen Middle School for its annual Impact Day.
The about 1,050 sixth, seventh and eighth-graders listened to presentations and asked questions about what it’d be like to have different careers, Jan. 28.
The school hosted an FBI agent, a Boeing engineer, a parkour athlete and a Coast Guard boat builder.
Students were encouraged to take notes and to think about what kind of job they’d like to pursue and how different classes could help them achieve those goals.
Presenters explained what students should study to be employable in specific jobs, and that good education can be found at four-year and technical colleges.

Kennydale Elementary School

I blogged about Kennydale Elementary’s Martin Luther King Jr. mural the other day, and went to go see it last night.

I must say, I’m really impressed with what these elementary kids did.

This mural is made of several small pieces of paper carefully cut out and glued. I’m going to talk to the art docent who helped Ms. Luder’s kids put it together for a short story in the paper.

Around the mural are short “I have a dream” speaches by the kids. A few talked about not smoking cigarrettes, polution and illness.

I was in Olympia yesterday interviewing Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, when I ran into a group of about 2,000 immigrants and refugees (all legally here) rallying in front of the Legislative Building.

I later discovered a group of Renton Tech ESL students traveled down to join the rally. It gave them hands-on experience with a democratic (non-tyrannical) government.

Ironically, but not intentionally, the rally happened just a few days (or maybe weeks, you never know)  before the Senate is expected to release its initial budget.

I showed up a bit early, and decided to tour the state capitol on my own.

It was crowded, but beautiful. After spending time in D.C. and Rome in the past few years, it was like a cute little miniature of the more powerful capitols.

I’ll have a story online later filling out the details of the rally, but here are some of the pictures:

A third-grade class made a 12-foot mural of Marti Luther King, Jr. entirely from slivers of construction paper.

Kennydale Elementary students in Michelle Luders’ classroom completed the project with help from a Kennydale parent and art docent Kevin McPherson.

McPherson has thought about creating the massive art display for about a year.

Students worked for weeks in groups to measure and cut various colors and shapes to fashion the display into square glass frames that are suspended by wire and attached to a wall in the school’s entry way.

A Renton teacher is asking for community donations and volunteers for a Haiti dinner auction fundraiser.
“The country of Haiti did not have much to begin with, and now they have nothing,” said Dave Black, McKnight Middle School teacher, in an e-mail. “I was hoping we could do our part to make their lives just a little bit better.”
The March 5 spaghetti dinner will include live entertainment from local bands and a silent auction in the McKnight commons.
Black is asking businesses and groups to donate baskets and auction items.
He’s also asking people to donate food items and decorations.
Black’s goal is to raise $15,000 $25,000 for the Red Cross Haiti fund. He’s raised at least $1,000 so far.
Organizers are meeting 7 p.m., Feb. 9 at McKnight to plan and organize the fundraiser.
“The more we raise the more help we can send,” Black said.

Every student in the district will receive a four-pack of spiral-bound notebooks thanks to a Christian nonprofit.

Federal Way’s World Vision is expected to donate 15,000 notebooks to the Renton School District.

World Vision selected Renton  because of their relationship with Tiffany Park Elementary School teacher Lauri DeWhitt.

World Vision is a relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.

Renton High School senior Tia Barnes learns of her immediate acceptance into Washington State University during an interview in the high school principal's office with Wendy Peterson, director of the Office of Admissions at WSU. Peterson interviewed Renton High students on campus for admission into the university.

Renton High School’s new principal Damien Pattenaude did it again.

A WSU alumnus, he lured the Washington State University director of admissions, Wendy Peterson, to campus to interview seniors for admission into the college Jan. 25.

Thirteen students received acceptance letters on the spot, while others were given advice on how to strengthen their applications.

A handful of those accepted also received an Acheivement Scholarship, which ranges from about $2,000-$4,000 each year.

Renton High’s counseling staff prepared packets of information on each student, which included everything applicants normally submit.

The hope is to “to offer these students a personal message that says ‘We want you at WSU,” Peterson said in a press release. “We think the students at Renton High have the capacity to excel at Washington State University.”

This isn’t the first time Pattenaude connected his high school with WSU. In November, Pattenaude brought WSU staff
to Renton High to teach classes as part of the university’s Imagine U @ WSU program.