BREAKING NEWS :

Left: seventh-grader David Grieve. Right: Wife Shami and David Grieve now live in Marion Indiana.

A Midwest pastor sent the Renton School District a letter of confession and a $100 check of contrition for stealing food from a student store when he was a seventh-grader at Nelsen Middle School.

In 1988, David Grieve was navigating life as a bespectacled preteen and trying to fit in with the cool kids.
That year Grieve got his big chance: he was assigned to the student store, selling food and school supplies to students during the school day.
The big-selling items at the store were beef jerky and pepperoni sticks. His adviser instructed him and others that if any food items fell on the floor, they were to be tossed out.
The boys soon began to crave the pepperoni sticks and eventually succumbed to the allure of meaty goods. They began eating the food, claiming that the jerky and pepperoni would mysteriously and without help unwrap and fall to the ground. The boys also started to pocket some of the money from sales.
Now, fast-forward more than 20 years. Grieve has moved to the Midwest and become a pastor at New Life
Community Church in Marion, Indiana.
Recently, while talking to fellow church members about having a clear conscience with God, Grieve remembered his time in the student store at Nelsen Middle School and all of the food he and the cool kids consumed, along with the change they pocketed.
Guided by faith, he wrote a letter of contrition to the staff at Nelsen, confessing his transgressions. To make amends, he also included a check for $100 to replace the lost income.
Grieve told the district he now feels better after confessing his antics. Even more though, he says, it was the right thing to do. He learned to practice what he preaches.

The Renton School District announced Friday that it’s planning a special meeting to discuss the Lindbergh Pool closing at 6:30 p.m., March 16.
Last week swimmers, parents and community members swamped a budget meeting at Lindbergh to show their support for the pool.
The district is facing an about $6.1 million budget cut, and county funding for the district-run pool dries up this year.

Below is a district press release.

Second LHS Pool Meeting Planed-3!4!2010

Although most schools are at or above ideal capacity, thoughts of reopening Honey Dew Elementary could be stymied by next year’s inevitable teacher layoffs.

About 35 Renton teachers could lose their jobs next year, about 2-3 from each elementary school.

Although children may be able to fill another elementary school, staff cannot, said spokesperson Randy Matheson.

It could mean the $1 million the district is expected to pay to reopen the school may be saved to keep more teachers on staff.

Last year the district looked at opening the elementary school, but held off to spare further budget cuts.

In February the Enrollment Review Committee recommended that the school district open Honeydew, but the final decision is up to the Board of Directors.

Below is the power point. The boundary review committee would decide the final lines on how the neighborhoods would be divided.

However, take a look out how each school is over capacity on page 11. On paper it looks pretty tight.

PP ERC 2-10-10 R

Six high school students are proving their genius at Stanford and with NASA this month.

Lindbergh junior Anna Tatelman was chosen to participate in a Stanford University scholars program in the intensive study of Japan,

She’ll spend five months learning Japanese history, literature, religion from ambassadors and experts throughout the United States.

The Reischauer Scholars Program only selects about 25 students nationwide, and offers participants five credits.

Five district high school juniors have been accepted to participate in this year’s Washington Aerospace Scholars program.

Hazen students Dat Nguyen and Seann Smallwood and Lindbergh students Patricia Garcia, Christian Phillips and Stephanie Wagner will join the program, which uses a NASA-designed curriculum.

Students will complete ten lessons, submitting quizzes, math solutions, essays and graphics each week. Scholars will also independently select a topic of interest for a final project.

The Renton School District is asking for input on what to do about its $6.1 million budget gap.
A public survey is available online until Feb. 28. The district uses this survey to decide their priorities.
Community budget sessions are also planned through next week.
Hot topics this year include the closing of the Lindbergh pool, cutting full-day kindergarten and the opening of Honeydew Elementary, which would cost about $1 million.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see parents of students with learning disabilities, as the state cut 100 percent of the funding for the Highly Capable program.
About a month ago I talked to Rich Moore, the assistant superintendent of business, about these meetings. He said he’s having parents from all grades meeting together this year, because in years past their suggestions have been to cut each others programs. It will be interesting to parents from different grade levels interact.

The meeting schedule:
7 p.m., Feb. 23, Hazen High School, 1101 Hoquiam Ave. N.E., Renton
7 p.m., Feb. 25, Lindbergh High School, 16426 128th Ave. S.E., Renton
7 p.m., March 1, Renton High School Commons, 400 S. 2nd St., Renton

Below is the budget cut presentation Moore offered about a month ago. My story on the budget cuts is also good background.

10-11 budget development 1-11-2010 (2)

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.

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.

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.