March 2006

Schools gaining in academics

A new report shows Seattle Public Schools posting gains in academic achievement between 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years.

District-wide WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) test results showed fourth, seventh and tenth graders achieved higher scores compared to the previous year for both mathematics and reading. The gains in reading test scores ranged from an increase of 7 percentage points in the fourth grade to an increase of approximately 16 percentage points in the tenth grade.

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Sealth robot in regionals

Students at Chief Sealth High School are hustling to complete the Iron Hawk Robot in order to participate in a regional FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, robotics competition.

This year the Robotics competition will take place in Portland, Ore. This Northwest regional competition, held during the first weekend in March, will consist of 45 high school teams, including fourth year veterans such as Chief Sealth.

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Burien crafts North Highline memo

Seattle and King County will be asked to sign a Burien sponsored memorandum of understanding on the potential annexation of North Highline.

In January, Burien council members directed city staff to pursue cooperation with cities adjacent to North Highline. According to the Burien memorandum, March 2009 has been set as the target date for North Highline to be incorporated into an existing city.

Burien Community Development Director Scott Greenberg last week presented council members with a draft of the proposed cooperative plan.

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Port electronically scans all incoming containers

Plainly visible from West Seattle, thousands of shipping containers come and go daily from Terminal 18 on Harbor Island, where they are scanned with gamma rays, scoped with radiation detectors and analyzed by computer.

The security system at Terminal 18 is designed to limit access and keep track of the movements of all containers, trucks and people throughout the facility, said Andrew McLauchlan, senior vice president of SSA Marine, a Seattle-based private company that runs the terminal.

About 250 ships call at Terminal 18 each year to load and unload approximately 800,00

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