BREAKING NEWS :

Congratulations to the senior class of 2010. For those attending the graduation ceremonies, below are the schedules.

For Renton, Hazen and Lindbergh high schools, the event is June 15 at the ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St., Kent.

Renton High School’s graduation is at noon with student speakers Tamthy Le and Lindsay Dacuan. About 214 students are expected to graduate. Damien Pattenaude is the principal with Renton School Board Director Todd Franceschina accepting the class.

Lindbergh High School’s graduation starts at 4 p.m. with student speakers Paula Luu and Teresa Nguyen. About 260 students are expected to graduat. The principal is Tres Genger with board Director David Merill accepting the class.

Hazen High School’s graduation starts at 7:30 p.m. with student speakers Brian Palma and Grace Bradford. About 265 students are expected to graduate. John Knisely is the principal with board Director Al Talley accepting the class.

Black River High School’s graduation will take place at the school, 7800 S. 132nd St., Seattle. The ceremony starts at 2 p.m. June 16. About 30 students are expected to graduate.

The Sartori Education Center graduation ceremony is at Renton Technical College at 3000 N.E. Fourth St., Renton. About 22 students are expected to graduate. It begins at 4 p.m., June 17. Student speakers include Antonio Cebey, Zakk Marx and Shane Omtvedt, and board president Lynn Desmarais will be accepting the class.

Wednesday the Board of Directors plans to hold a study session where Rob MacGregor, who oversees teaching and instruction, plans to review the Renton School District’s approach to the Emotional/Behavioral Disorder (EBD) and special education students.

If you’re concerned about cuts to special education or how kids with emotional/behavioral issues will be helped now that Black River High School is closing, this would be a good information session.

At the same study session, MacGregor also plans to present on the Teaching and Learning vision and Summit, which could take up most of the time. He will then go on to introduce his vision at the regular board meeting at 7 p.m. The study session is at 5:30 p.m., May 26 at the Kohlwes Education Center.

It’s only an hour long study session, and MacGregor posted several documents he plans to present. Don’t expect much time for discussion, but there seems to be a good history lesson in them.

There will not be an opportunity to comment at this meeting. It’s for the benefit of the Renton School Board, and happens to be open to the public. However, the following board meeting at 7 p.m. will provide an opportunity to speak to pretty much the same people.

If you’re short on time, keep in mind that Hazen High School Outstanding Students will be receiving their awards at the board meeting, which could take some time.

From what I’ve heard about Black River, it helped a lot of struggling students, though most of them aren’t in EBD classes.

(Carol Grimes, the horticulture teacher, even accused the district of sending a middle school student there, because they didn’t know what to do with her. The alternative middle school was closed a few years ago in a round of budget cuts.)

However, the district has said that Black River was never meant to be a last resort school, and seemed to be opposed to the idea of having one.

I think this meeting has the potential of explaining really how the district plans to help EBD students in the coming years.

On a side note, Superintendent Mary Alice Heuschel is strongly interested in having better data to understand not only the students but her teachers. There is a good chance that some of those research methods could be discussed as a part of MacGregor’s main presentation.

EBD Program Review

The Renton School District is having a community ceremony at Black River High School June 5.

The school is being closed this summer to make way for the new Secondary Learning Center (SLC).

From the press release, the goal is to give community members and former students one last visit before they tear down the facility. The event will include architectural renderings of the new SLC alongside artwork from Black River kids.

For those interested, it would be a great opportunity to mingle with administrators and learn more about the SLC. The event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at 7800 South 132nd Street, Seattle.

The current site of Black River was once the location of Earlington Elementary School, an open-concept school, with one main building surrounded by smaller buildings. Earlington was constructed in 1972, and operated as an elementary school until 1980 when it was reopened as Renton Alternative High School. The school was renamed Black River High School in 1995.

I visited Cascade Elementary fifth-graders Thursday at Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor. It was a drive, but totally worth it. I have a whole bit I’m working up for the Web site next week, but I thought I’d share this image, as I can’t help but laughing whenever I see it.

This girl, who I have yet to get the name of, was one of several making faces when one camp counselor made them hold their slimy squid before ripping its brains out in, what was for most, their first ever dissection.

Squid dissection class at Camp Seymour.

Two recent stories I wrote about science programs show two sides of a coin, and I want to draw that connection for readers.

A month ago I wrote about the horticulture program getting a timely axe with Black River High School. I want to juxtapose that story with a new one I wrote about an exciting new environmental science class at Hazen High School. (Though the horticulture program wasn’t at Hazen, it has several Hazen students.)

One program is closing, while another one is opening. It’s all under the same vision, increasing rigor. When you read them together, it shows more clearly what the district is changing in the science program.

An unanswered question I had after the horticulture program closed is what the district plans to replace it with. By several standards it was a successful class.

Teresa Coda, the Hazen science chair, mentioned that teachers looked at several courses including astronomy. (Hazen chose environmental science because the new solar panels fit well into the class.) The class, which both sparks the interest of students and maybe even federal grants, is a probably good picture of what’s going to be coming.

The Kennydale “Bookworms” team was named this year’s winner of a six-month Renton School District Battle of the Books.

The event included fourth- and fifth-graders, who read more than 15 books each and created a culminating project based on those readings.

Students from three schools participated this year, Benson Hill, Cascade and Kennydale elementary schools.

Two Hazen students were recognized for their artistic ability in the  eighth annual “Passing the Torch” metal and arts exhibition at the Washington History Museum in Tacoma.

Elisei Enache was awarded first prize for his sculpture “Johnny Apple Fish,” and Nathan Inks
was awarded 2nd prize for his sculpture “Emerald City.”

The event is open to all Washington high schools.  Their work will be on display in the museum until May 23.

Hazen High School's Divina Voce Choir

Hazen’s Divina Voce Choir, an all-girls ensemble, performed for top educators from around the state who were receiving Washington State Achievement Awards Wednesday.

I’ll have more on the awards later, though Hazen won two and Lindbergh one, but these lovely ladies closed the ceremony with a hymn.

The room, which bustled with noise throughout the ceremony went stone silent when these girls began to sing.

Divina Voce, from my poor understanding of Latin, means divine voice. I don’t know much of its history, but it seems to be a common name for top women’s choirs.

The name certainly fits these girl’s talent.

The choir has a reputation for success, and were invited to Western Washington University’s Invitational Choir Festival earlier this school year.

I thought I’d snap a few pictures of these lovely women. If anyone has their names, I’d love to add a caption.

Hazen High School's Divina Voce Choir.

I mentioned before that Hazen will be recognized among the top 174 schools in the state, but I failed to write in that post that Lindbergh will also be honored tomorrow.
It’s pretty exciting news for the district.

Hazen High School will be among the 174 high schools recognized by the state Wednesday with the added bonus of being the school hosting the ceremony.

State Superintendent Randy Dorn will join State Board of Education Member Connie Fletcher at Hazen High School, 9 a.m., May 5.

Regional celebrations will be held simultaneously around the state for schools unable to attend the ceremony in Renton.

There are 295 school districts in Washington with about 1 million students.