BREAKING NEWS :

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.

I’m going to do a profile story on Barbara Madsen, a former Hazen graduate recently elected the state’s Chief Justice. She graduated in 1970, and has been pretty busy.
She lives in Olympia now, but it’s worth a story.

Barbara Madsen

Here is the press release:
Hazen High School alum Barbara Madsen has been elected as the state’s newest Chief Justice to Washington’s Supreme Court. Justice Madsen, who graduated from Hazen in 1970, was first elected in to the Supreme Court in 1992, and re-elected for a third term in 2004. She has served as a public defender in King and Snohomish Counties, and a Seattle City attorney. The chief justice presides over the court’s public hearings, serves as the administrative head of the state’s judicial branch, and is the court’s main spokesperson.

Lindbergh High School is hosting its first annual fashion show Thursday, called “Get Your Fash’On.”
Students in the DECA club hope to raise $5,000 this year for Global Partnerships, which provides micro loans in Latin America. The Renton Rotary Club plans to match their effort by $5,000.
“We are going to feature many different types of clothing such as winter wear, college prep, blast to the past, cultural and more,” said student spokesperson Cynthia Pham in an e-mail.
The show is open to the public. Students are selling tickets during lunch and at the door.

Where: Lindbergh High School, 16426 128th Ave. S.E., Renton
When: 6-8 p.m., Dec. 17
Cost: $5, $7 for VIP seating

Below is Pham’s press release.

Press Release

Students throughout the district will have an opportunity to attend the third annual Lindbergh High School Apprenticeship and Trades Fair Dec. 3.

The fair gives Renton School District students ideas for job training and apprenticeships. Several of the fair participants will have hands-on activities for students.

“They are our future workforce, and providing information to help them prepare and train them in this very competitive job market is key,” according to a press release.

The fair is open to all high school students and buses will be transporting students from different schools.

The fair is from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with a complimentary lunch from the Lindbergh culinary arts students.

Governor Christine Gregoire visited Dimmitt Middle School as part of a public relations tour to promote Washington in a federal grant competition.

The visit was a few minutes behind schedule. After a classroom visit, we left the classroom to be surprised by a bell that flooded the hallway with students, all eager to shake her hand.

Below are a few images I got from the event. I set me ISO at 800 to accommodate low lights and a lens with a 4.0 aperture, which is why the photos are so grainy.

Governor Christine Gregoire at Dimmitt Middle School

Governor Christine Gregoire at Dimmitt Middle School

Briarwood Elementary, which is in Renton but a part of the Issaquah School District, has a program this year that gives kids the chance to try acting in just one week.

Auditions are planned for Monday, Nov. 30. Students then rehearse during the week, and Friday, Dev. 4, they put on a performance for the school and parents.

The plays are updated versions of fairy tales. This year they’re planning on “Pinocchio.”

The second one comes straight from spokesperson Randy Matheson:

Kennydale Elementary School students in Norm Brecke’s Story Club will bring literature to life in two upcoming performances. Nearly 25 students in third- through fifth-grades read folktales, and then are trained in various memorization skills and dramatic movement techniques to perform the stories for audiences. This is the second year for the dramatic performances, which will be offered first to students and again for families on Dec. 10 in the school’s commons.

Starting with the class of 2013, all students must pass the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE, the new WASL), before receiving a diploma.

Only about 40.4 percent of 10-grade students in the Renton School District passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) last year, sending the district scrambling to improve math performance. Whereas 45.5 percent of Washington state students passed the math portion.

Right now students who fail the standardized test in 10th grade can retake the exam or take an additional two years of math. This option will no longer be available for the class of 2013.

The graduating class of 2010 is only required to take 2.0 credits of math. As I reported last week, starting with the class of 2013, students are required to take an additional credit, totaling 3.0 credits. The district doesn’t know how many more math teachers it will need to hire to provide enough courses for students.

There is a chance this could impact elective courses, but I’ve heard conflicting opinions from district administrators.

Right now it appears that the state legislature is phasing in higher standards. First for reading and writing, where the district performs well, and now with math scores. Currently, all students must pass the reading and writing portion of the HSPE or WASL to graduate.

I’m working on an in-depth story looking at the impact of these higher standards on the school district and the students. Feel free to give your input, I’d like to know parent and teacher concerns.

The Renton school board accepted new state math requirements for the graduating class of 2013.

Freshmen this year will need to earn 3.0 credits of math instead of 2.0 credits.

One credit is equivalent to taking one math class for an entire year, or 0.5 credits for one semester. Students will be required to take three years of math instead of two.

To balance the new standard, the district reduced its elective requirements from 7.0 to 6.0 credits.

This change will not impact current sophomores, juniors or seniors. The district still requires 22 credits to graduate, although students typically complete 24 credits.

Administration isn’t expecting this to improve WASL scores by much, as students are tested in the 10th grade. The changes will likely effect students their junior and senior years.

I spoke with Kathleen Bailey on the subject for a formal story. I hope to write it for RentonReporter.com Monday.

*A change was made to this blog post about public involvement at meetings. Scribd finally worked, so I also posted a document with the schedule below.*

‘The committee that will examine school boundaries and the potential opening of Honeydew Elementary School was approved at Wednesday’s Renton School District board meeting.

At the meeting it was suggested that this would include boundaries between McKnight and Dimmitt middle schools, though it wasn’t included in the report.

The advisory committee also hopes to finalize Renton High School service areas and boundaries for Bryn Mawr, Lakeridge and Campbell Hill elementary schools.

Alongside considering the opening of Honeydew next year, the board will discuss if portable classrooms are needed for 2010-2011.

The 2009 Enrollment Review Committee will be lead by Lou Pappas, who has worked with the district on this issue before.

The committee will be made of 30 parent representatives from the district alongside two elementary principals, a middle school principal and principal Damien Pattenaude of Renton High.

Director David Merrill requested that Pappas also find a representative in the Honeydew area, though Honeydew doesn’t have a boundary, as it isn’t open.

Pappas agreed to have someone living nearby the school on the committee, and suggested that someone already likely was.

The meetings, which start Nov. 17, will be open to the public. The public can comment, but only during a specific time in the meeting.

They’re to be held in the facilities conference room, below is the schedule.

Nov. 17 – introduction, scope of work, background, information, enrollment projections
Dec. 8 – individual building use reports, elementary and secondary
Jan. 12 – begin deliberations and develop preliminary observations and recommendations
Feb. 9 – finalize observations and recommendations
Feb. 23 – finalize recommendations
Feb. 24 or March 10 – presentation to the Board of Directions

Enrollment Review Committee Board Presentation