August 2009

When am I ever going to use this in the real world?
Teachers, parents and students alike know this concern all too well. For years, students have struggled to apply real-world significance to the lessons taught in classrooms. But, with the aid of a three-year $600,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, students enrolled at the Highline School District's Aviation High School are beginning to realize that real-world significance.
The district administers the high school, which also includes students from other school districts.
Between July 27 and Aug. 2, four Aviation student interns were given exclusive access to assist the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels at Boeing Field as they prepared for their annual air show during the 60th anniversary of Seattle's Seafair festival.
"[The Blue Angels] have the coolest job in the Navy and get to experience something no else really gets to," said Alyssa Hernandez, Aviation sophomore. "I want to experience something no one else in the world would get to experience."
The other interns were Amanuail Ambaye, Michelle Koy and Jenny Gao.

A coalition of community organizations and the Angle Lake Family Resource Center is sponsoring their 3rd Annual Back to School Resource Fair for SeaTac families on Thursday, August 27 from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, on the grounds of the Angle Lake Neighborhood Church and Angle Lake Family Resource Center, 4040 S. 188 Street.
The 2009-2010 school year is just around the corner and parents are gearing up to get their children ready for school. To relieve the stress and financial burden of this annual occurrence the fair will provide parents an opportunity to learn about resources and support to meet student and family needs.
This includes after-school programs, affordable childcare, and parent support and assistance programs.
Students will get off to a good academic start with free packs full of supplies, free haircuts, free well-child and dental checks, and free personal care packages. There will other free products and services, as well and fun activities, refreshments, door prizes, games, and interpreters to make the event enjoyable.
The goal is to provide more than 600 packs filled with supplies to SeaTac students, kindergarten through high school.

SeaTac lawmakers expressed opposition on Aug. 11 to Initiative 1033 that will be on the November general election ballot.
The Tim Eyman-backed measure would limit the growth of state, city and county general fund revenue to the rate of inflation and population growth.
Any additional revenue collected would be used to reduce the next year's property tax levy.
City Manager Craig Ward said the initiative would have a "pernicious impact."
"Economic development would not be useful," Ward declared. "We would receive more jobs but any windfall from economic development would count against us."
Senior Assistant City Attorney Mark Johnsen noted that if the economy improves, the city would not be able to keep the extra revenues generated if voters approve the measure in November.
"It is unfortunate that we have had a bad year because this year is the base year," Mayor Ralph Shape commented.
In other business, council members approved an agreement with the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) to pay the city $84,660 to mitigate traffic impact from the new Des Moines regional jail.

Highline School Board members approved Aug. 12 a 2009-2010 school budget that makes deep cuts in existing school programs.
The $181.48 million general fund budget was passed unanimously as part of the consent agenda with no members of the public asking to speak at a final public budget hearing.
All district personnel, except Teamster union members, will take an extra day off without pay in December. The cuts also include eliminating almost all summer school programs except for credit retrieval classes, abolishing district management of the teen parent program, and reducing the weeklong Camp Waskowitz outdoor education program by one day.
For the first time, Highline students will pay a fee to play athletics.
An additional $3 million in cuts were made during the 2008/2009 school year, including the elimination of 17 central office and school-based positions.
District funding for full day kindergarten at four schools will be retained despite Superintendent John Welch's initial recommendation to eliminate it.
Board president Bernie Dorsey praised efforts by district staffers to obtain feedback from the community.

With the groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 10 work has officially began on the controversial new misdemeanor jail being built in Des Moines.
The South Correctional Entity (SCORE) was established by the cities of Des Moines, Tukwila, Auburn, Federal Way and Renton to find a solution to the increasing problem of finding jail bed space. Burien and SeaTac joined these cities. The seven cities are all co-owners of the new jail, to be located at South 208th Street and 18th Avenue South.
Des Moines Police Chief Roger Baker, who is also the SCORE operations chair, said the jail will allow police to spend more time in the community instead of driving across the county to book an inmate.
"This is going to be a very important program for us, for law enforcement for making sure we have more time to keep the officers in the communities and not traveling clear across the county to do bookings at another facility," Baker said.
King County has said it would not renew a contract to house misdemeanor offenders when it expires in 2012. Currently some misdemeanor inmates are being sent to Yakima. Besides transportation costs the Yakima jail has been increasing the cost to house inmates there.

Aug. 29: North Delridge Adopt-A-Street cleanup

Participants should meet at 10 a.m. at Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way S.W.
 
Sept. 2: Southwest District Council

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at South Seattle Community College, President’s Brdrm., 6000 16th Ave. S.W. Contact: Stan Lock, Neighborhood District Coordinator, Stan.Lock@seattle.gov , Ph. (206) 684-7495.  For more info: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nsc/westseattle.htm.
 
Sept. 4: King County furlough begins for 10 days

During 2009 most of King County Government is shutting down for 10 furlough days. Limited county services and offices will remain open during those days.

Due to budget constraints, the county will shut down most of its major facilities on 10 specific days in 2009, requiring mandated leave by all furlough-eligible county employees.

Many King County services are available online during the furlough. You can license your vehicle, search for a new pet, get information about applying for disaster relief, pay property taxes, or plan your trip on metro transit.
 

Victor wins division
Emily Victor, a sophomore from Federal Way High School, placed first in the girls division of the Tacoma Golf Association Junior City championship Aug. 10-11. Victor won by seven strokes.
Federal Wau senior Kendra Nelson finished in third place.

Pacific Waves
Pacific Waves Synchronized Swim Club is currently offering one FREE synchro lesson to deep water swimmers of all ages interested in trying the Sport that Sparkles. Lesson will be at the Federal Way Community Center Pool on Saturday mornings from 9 - 10 a.m. Call LeeAnn for registration at (253) 476-1172.

Masters times offered
The Federal Way Masters swimming team for ages 19 and over is now offering three workout session times at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center located at 650 SW Campus Drive in Federal Way.
Monday through Friday a 5:30-6:45 a.m. and a 7-8 p.m.session are offered, with a 6:50-7:50 a.m. session taking place Tuesdays and Thursdays. A 10:15-11:15 a.m. session is offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Saturdays an 8-9 a.m. session is held at the Federal Way Community Center pool.

Decatur High School graduate and former Todd Beamer boys basketball coach Jarrett Mentink, Ph. D is off and running on a new adventure.
Mentink and his “Kids In the Clouds” publishing company just released a book on Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr., which is written for children but also contains a good deal of Griffey and Mariners history that older readers would enjoy.
“The Kid Returns” will be the fourth book put out by Mentink, following the initial “Alley the Cat” and two other sports books, “Alexander the Great” about the Seattle Seahawks’ Shaun Alexander and “Ka-Boone” about former Seattle Mariners star second baseman Bret Boone. The Boone book includes what it was like for Bret to be in a third generation Major League Baseball family.
Mentink wrote the book about Griffey, as well as the earlier “Kids in the Clouds” books, while Patrick Carlson of Valdosta, Georgia turned in the full-color illustrations.
One of Mentink’s original reasons for starting “Kids in the Clouds” was to provide reading material for youngsters flying on airplanes, and the books are provided on Horizon Air.

As the Federal Way Hawks Junior Football program prepares for the upcoming season, it will be with renewed hopes and dreams after a misappropriation of funds last year left it without funding.
Being the only non-school football program in the Federal Way area, the Federal Way Hawks Football Association has been in continuous operation since 1970.
“In early February, we were broke,” said Hawks president Mike Barnhart. “We were in dire straits. With the support of the community and the Federal Way School District, we are going to have a great season while beginning from the seat of our pants.”
An example of the district’s help is the fact that while Lakota Middle School is undergoing building construction that leveled the area near the Hawks’ long-time training and storage container, the district has provided the Hawks with a temporary training and storage container near the field until the construction work is finished.

At tonight’s Northwest District Council meeting, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods will team up with Imago Organizational Design to present the beginning stages of the Leadership Inclusion Project.

The project's mission is to work with each of the 13 Seattle Neighborhood District Councils to support their ongoing efforts to engage and involve all community members within their district, according to the Department of Neighborhoods.

“The Department of Neighborhoods recognizes that the groups are already doing a lot of great work, so it’s an opportunity to strengthen what’s already happening,” said Angela Powell, a primary consultant from Imago Organizational Design.

The department also said they hope the project will be a resource to build upon each districts past successes.

“This isn’t a project that says 'here’s what you’re going to do,' but instead you have some time and you have a consultant,” Powell said.

At tonight’s Northwest District Council meeting, Department of Neighborhoods and Imago will introduce the project and get ideas of what diversity means to the district, said Powell.