June 2016

By Lindsay Peyton

A large number of teachers in Highline Public Schools are hanging their hats after this year – and parents and community members are taking note.

“Teacher turnover is off the charts,” parent Stuart Jenner said.

He keeps tabs on the number of faculty members resigning in the school board agendas each month. “I’m seeing the list get longer and longer,” he said. “It’s really sobering. The morale also seems a lot lower, and that’s discouraging.”

Catherine Carbone Rogers, chief communications officer for the district, maintains that the number of resigning teachers is actually not out of the ordinary.

“It’s not dramatically higher than in years past or than in our neighboring districts,” she said. “We have a higher number of teachers. Our teacher base is bigger, but our percentage leaving is actually going down.”

She explained that during the 2015-2016 school year, there were 1,419 staff members with 145 resignations, or an 11.1 percent turnover.

Proudly in it’s 95th year, the city of Burien’s 4th of July Independence day parade is the oldest and one of the best attended in King County. The parade has also been officially sanctioned by SEAFAIR as a Seafair Community Event. “Seafair believes in celebrating the traditions of our region, resources and diverse residents. The thirty festivals and parades selected as Seafair Community events are important elements of our healthy communities” says the Seafair Foundation.

Every year, thousands of spectators gather along the parade route in downtown Burien to see marching bands, floats, Seafair Pirates and much more! The parade starts at 3pm and runs approximately 2 hours.

There is still time to get your Parade entry in! Visit the website www.discoverburien.org under ‘events’, ‘summer events’. We’d love to see you!

I was thinking of my dad the other day. It happens often.

He would have been 94 a couple of weeks ago---would have been. He fell just short by thirty years.
I sure do wish he were still around. There are things I would like to ask him about himself. Things he said and did---especially around my four brothers and me. I would just want to ask him, “What was that all about?”

Before you jump to conclusions, the guy was a great dad. He was a big bear of a man---and at 6 foot 6, a gentle giant. Ever notice, by the way, how large men are described as ‘gentle giants?’ You never read obituaries describing someone as a ‘belligerent ogre.’

You also never read: “He hated kids, animals, the outdoors, spending time with his family and walks on the beach. He was a miserable wretch.”

But back to my dad, who was none of that.

He was a man who occasionally tried to impress upon us that he knew things and had powers that other humans did not possess---and that if we paid attention, we too might learn them.

To ensure that you purchase legal consumer fireworks that are both safe and high quality, visit one of the many fireworks stands operating during the Fourth of July fireworks sales period. By law, fireworks stands may only sell approved and legal fireworks.

“Don’t take any chances,” cautions State Fire Marshal Charles M. Duffy, “Stay away from high-powered illegal explosive devices such as M80’s or homemade devices. While the Fourth of July happens only once a year, these devices can cause a life altering injury that can last you a lifetime.”

Top 10 signs that your fireworks may be illegal:
1. They were not purchased from a Washington State licensed fireworks stand
2. They were purchased through an online vendor, mail order, or a listing on Craigslist
3. The person selling you the fireworks tells you they bought it in another state
4. They are not packaged in brightly colored paper
5. They do not have any safety warnings or instructions on the packaging
6. The packaging does not indicate the country of manufacture
7. It resembles a roll of coins with a fuse coming out the side
8. It is wrapped with plain brown paper

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Marques Chacon of Evergreen High School in White Center has been named as the Athlete of the Year on this year's Seamount All-League Boys Track and Field team.
Chacon earned the award as a senior after also making the Seamount first team in the 800-meter run, the 1,600 and the 3,200.

Chacon's coach Chuck Cushman, who also led the Tyee athletes on a combined team with Evergreen, was honored as the Coach of the Year.

This year Renton won the Team Sportsmanship award and Lindbergh took the team title.
Also making the first team from Evergreen was Ryan Thol in the triple jump and 110-meter high hurdles.
Foster had three athletes break onto the first team in Isaiah Ferrer in the 100-meter dash, Eric Teng in the discus and Zane Jacobson in the javelin.

Kennedy's 400-meter relay team of Ben Xu, Kendell Oakes, EJ Chrisanto and Chris Petralia also earned a first team position.

Petralia also made the second team in the 100 and 200, and Teng took second team positions in the javelin and shot put.

SEATTLE – Work on two major roadways is expected to have a ripple effect on traffic across the region Friday, July 8, until Monday morning, July 11.

South King County drivers should plan ahead for the first of five weekend lane reductions on southbound Interstate 5 in SeaTac as crews begin repaving a 2.7-mile section between South 188th Street and South 219th Street in Des Moines. This work is weather dependent.

In Seattle, drivers heading across Lake Washington will see eastbound Interstate 90 reduced to one lane and detoured to the express lanes as part of ongoing work to add around-the-clock HOV lanes. Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation and Sound Transit will complete work suspended during a windstorm in March, when crews reopened I-90 early after the State Route 520 bridge was closed due to storm damage.

According to the Washington State Patrol one of their sergeants helped rescue a distraught teenager from serious injury on the morning of June 28 on the 1st Ave. Bridge in Seattle. Mmultiple phone calls had come in to WSP dispatch regarding a young female, standing on the bridge.

Luckily Sgt. Dan Hefton, a supervisor of the District 2 (King County) motorcycle unit, happened to be under the bridge at the time of the call.

Sgt. Hefton arrived at the scene and spoke to the young lady whom Hefton described as "upset and confused."
When arriving, I didn’t know whether she was going to jump off the bridge or jump into traffic.”

The sergeant put his hand out and asked the pedestrian if she was “OK.” She immediately embraced him and they walked off the bridge to an accompanying patrol car where she took shelter.

WSP said that it looks like she was suffering from a panic attack, which caused her to become upset. She was later transported and released to a friend.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Evergreen, Foster, Highline and Tyee will be going from a close knit Seamount League into a traveling league when they join the 2A/3A South Puget Sound League starting this fall.

The Seamount consisted of those four area schools plus Kennedy and the three Renton schools, but the SPSL is widespread and will even divide the foursome into two different divisions.
Evergreen and Foster find themselves going into the Mountain Division, while Highline and Tyee will be in the Sound Division.

Other Mountain Division schools are Fife, Foss of Tacoma, Franklin Pierce of Parkland, Lindbergh of Renton, Washington of Parkland and White River of Buckley.
Other Sound Division schools are Clover Park of Lakewood, plus Eatonville, Orting, Renton, River Ridge and Steilacoom.

Kennedy, Mount Rainier and Hazen, meanwhile, will be jumping into the new North Puget Sound League -- which is a 4A only league.

All three will be in the NPSL's Cascade Division along with Kent-Meridian, Kentlake, Kentridge, Kentwood and Tahoma.

By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

My strawberries are really early this year, probably due to that nice spell of hot weather we had a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, early berries in commercial fields are bad news because there aren’t enough pickers to harvest them with high school students still in school.

If you are lucky, like me, you tucked a few strawberry plants here and there in your yard last year. Then you will be enjoying this short, but oh so flavorful, season. Otherwise, try farmers’ markets or local berry stands. If you are ambitious, or just love our dark red flavorful berries, head up near Carnation, Marysville, Mount Vernon or Bellingham, where you will find lots of “you pick” places. Bring berries home and freeze them, make jam, and eat them in yogurt, salads and desserts.

Besides being delicious, strawberries are high in antioxidants, vitamin C and folate, and they are a fair source of fiber and potassium, which help kidney and heart health.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle kept its hopes alive with loser's bracket wins in two District 7 Little League baseball all-star tournaments Monday.

The Westsiders pummeled host PacWest by a 24-2 score in the age 9-10 tournament and the age 10-11 team won, 19-15, over Renton.

Both teams return to PacWest to play loser's bracket games at 6 p.m. Thursday with the winners playing in loser's bracket finals at the same time and place Friday.