September 2011

Highline Public Schools students in grades 3 through 8 made significant gains on the state math exam, Measurements of Student Progress (MSP), Highline administrators have reported.

Highline's gains on the 2011 exam were greater than the state's overall growth in math at every grade level tested. Last year, 48.3 percent of Highline students in grades 3 through 8 met the state math standard, compared with 41 percent in 2010.

Cascade and Chinook middle schools made double-digit improvements in math scores. Both schools had been designated as "schools in need of improvement" two years ago under No Child Left Behind, the federal education law.

"We have laid out a clear framework for what every student should learn at each grade level, we assess students regularly to check their learning, and we're using interactive computer programs to boost learning," says Interim Superintendent Alan Spicciati. "It's gratifying to see our work is paying off."

At the elementary and middle school levels, reading scores remained flat, with 55 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 meeting standard.

Menchie's frozen yogurt is coming to the Admiral Junction in late October in a new retail space on California Avenue as part of the new Safeway complex, and promises to be a unique and customizable experience for those seeking a frozen treat. Mix it up Northwest is the company and the owner Leslie Castanha is excited about bringing the company to West Seattle.

A franchise of a national company the location at 2620 California Ave s.w. will offer indoor and outdoor seating and a "mix it up" yourself experience.

Menchies is a self-service, interactive, and customizable frozen yogurt cafe where customers dispense their own yogurt from a choice of over 100 rotating flavors of yogurt (16 rotating daily flavors), and move through lines to select from over 70 rotating “wet” and “dry” toppings. You are free to add as little or as many toppings as you want, then your unique treat is weighed and paid for by the ounce.

2011 Expectations are sky high for the preseason state ninth-ranked Class 3A John F. Kennedy Catholic High School football team.

Please click the photo above for a slideshow

On Friday, September 2, at Federal Way Memorial Field, the Seamount League Lancers looked the part, unleashing destruction, in a 47-6 thumping of a game South Puget Sound League Decatur Gator squad.

Lancer head coach Bob Bourgette was pleased with the opener.

"The effort was really there," he said. "It's always good to win the opener. With a large number of young players, the mistakes we had can be corrected. It was good to see them play against a physical team. We need to work hard and we can really accomplish a lot of things so we can play the way we do. As a team, we really played hard on both sides of the ball. I was pleased with our offensive line play and the way (UW commit on defense) 6-3, 195 pound Jason Thompson at quarterback ran the offense."

Beginning Nov. 1, Des Moines residents and businesses will see bright green trucks collecting their garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste as CleanScapes, a Seattle-based solid waste and recycling company, assumes solid waste/recycling hauling service for the city of Des Moines.

On Thursday, Sept. 8th, Chris Martin, the President of CleanScapes, will brief the Des Moines City Council on the status of Des Moines' solid waste service transition.

Under the new contract, CleanScapes will use hybrid compressed natural gas trucks, making Des Moines the first community in King County to use this type of green fleet.

CleanScapes will also expand the range of recyclables collected including plastics, motor oil, bottled kitchen fat/oil/grease, scrap metal, household batteries, and fluorescent tubes. Additionally, all Des Moines residents will receive new containers and carts.

Two major events for the Highline Music4Life program are being held in
Des Moines in September. The Poverty Bay "Blues & Brews" event will be on Saturday, Sept. 10th at the Des Moines Beach Park beginning at noon and will feature several prominent "Blues" groups, including Left Hand Smoke, Rod Cook & Toast, Little Bill & the Blues Notes and the Fabulous Roofshakers.

The second event will be the Highline Music4Life "Instrument Collection Day" on the following Saturday, Sept. 17th, at the Des Moines Marina. This will be the first of what are intended to be annual springtime events to ask adults who have unused musical instruments in their garages or attics to donate them to the Highline Music4Life program. Both events are community-wide activities that are inspired by Des Moines Rotary with the active support of the Burien-White Center and SeaTac Rotary clubs.

Today is the first day of the new academic school year for 47,000-plus Seattle students and 2,753 teachers in 94 schools.

Seattle Public School celebrates this new year with a districtwide focus on raising expectations – through strong teachers and principals, a central office committed to serving schools, improved long-range planning and a pledge to ensure that students graduate ready for college, careers and life.

The District also is beginning the new year celebrating academic achievement:

Results released last week by the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction showed SPS students outperforming the state average on spring 2011 tests. In fact, Seattle students met or exceeded standards on the state exams at a higher rate than the statewide average in every tested subject in grades 3-8, and also demonstrated strong year-to-year growth, showing improvement in nearly all tested subjects.

Press release:

Sustainable Burien Gathering
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Burien KCLS Library
2:00pm - 4:00pm
doors open at 1:30
come join us for learning, exploring and more....www.sustainableburien.org
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SOLAR? ELECTRIC CAR? FOR YOU?

Sustainable Burien will have two presenters for our September meeting.
Ready to go solar? Not sure if your home is right or if you can afford it? Come by Sustainable Burien for answers to all your solar questions. Presenter will be Eric Thomas, NABCEP Certified Solar Installer and founder of Solar Epiphany, a local electrical contractor focused on solar power. Bring your electric bills for a free solar analysis of your home.

Electric cars. Steven Lough, President of the Seattle EV Association, will be speaking on the past, present, and future of Electric Tranportation. Steven has been working on education, demonstration, and proliferation of electric cars for 30 years. Bring your questions and comments.

Please join us!

Press release
Group Health members can now email their doctors while on the bus, make an appointment with a doctor while waiting in line for a latte, and even check on the wait time at the closest Group Health Lab and Pharmacy. With the new Group Health mobile app, Group Health offers its members a first-of-its-kind free mobile app with convenient access to their personal health and medical team.

“Group Health pioneered access to online medical records and ability to email doctors more than nine years ago,” said Gwen O’Keefe, MD, chief medical informatics officer for Group Health. “Today, when most health care systems are adopting electronic medical records, we’re able to take the tools our members have come to know and love on MyGroupHealth, and move them to the mobile environment so members have the freedom to engage when, where, and how they want.”

The freeGroup Health mobile app includes five key health features:
·Mobile access to medical records (including the ability to check test results, view visit summaries, check immunization histories and more),

·Direct access to call or secure message a consulting nurse 24/7,

Senior residents of Park West Care Center hosted a day-after-Labor-Day party Tuesday for babies from All About Kids, a nearby daycare center, both on North Admiral. Although their ages differed vastly, they found common ground, as is apparent with the party's theme“I’m All Done --and I’m Too Young to Work”.

About 10 babies arrived at 10:00 a.m. chaperoned by daycare workers and moms who brought toy firefighter's and police hats, nurse caps, and more.

I nearly fell out of my chair Saturday when neighbor John Richards pounded on my backdoor to display a silvery Pink Salmon he'd hooked moments before off Three Tree Point. The shiny scales glistened in the half-light. Stunned with delight I needed details for the paper.

John is a consummate fisherman casting either a spoon or fly from the gravelly shoreline. This plump 4-lb. beauty hit an aptly named pink Buzz Bomb(r) giving John a tussle for several minutes before gliding into his net on the beach.

Last week the Pink Salmon run made its way down the saltwater coastline from the Straits of Juan De Fuca through the San Juan Islands, passed Everett and Whidbey Island to the inner reaches of Puget Sound.

Our coastline is in the path of the journey as the fish make their way up the variety of streams and rivers that feed Puget Sound. It creates a Highline and West Seattle fever. Fishermen line the beaches.

Daughter Linda caught the fever hooking her own Salmon but failed to land it when the line snapped. She's a novice but not a quitter. Each night she tries her luck.