Skyline-Bothell Football Semifinal Action
December 2, 2009
Old library to close soon
December 2, 2009
By Ari Cetron
In less than two weeks, the Sammamish Library will be closing as part of its move to a new location.
So, for all of those nostalgic about the current building, Dec. 13 is the last chance to go in and browse the collection.
The new library, which will contain the current collection, plus an expanded number of books, DVDs, CDs and other media, will open Jan. 9.
“We’ve been given one of the largest opening day collections,” said Bobbie Daniel, cluster coordinator for the King County Library System.
In between, library staffers will be boxing up books at the current location and shelving them at the new library.
“We move those books, and we move those books,” said Daniel.
The new 19,500 square foot, $16.3 million building is next to City Hall. Construction began last December. The new facility was paid for by a 2004 bond approved by King County voters.
The existing library is one of the most heavily used in the system, Daniel said. The children’s section in particular is popular.
Children’s reading groups are usually at the top of the list in terms of the number of children who participate and how much they read, Daniel said.
At any given time, two-thirds of the children’s collection is checked out, Daniel said. (See related story, Page 6)
“We generally stock 10-20 copies of popular titles, but when you go in, you’ll only see two or three on the shelf,” she said.
The new building will allow for much more space and will include expanded meeting facilities.
Once the old building has closed, people will no longer be able to walk through and look at the books.
However, the library will be open limited hours for picking up books placed on hold (visit www.kcls.org/sammamish for a list of dates and times).
The main library won’t be open, the pick up will take place in the conference rooms.
Patrons will also be able to return books as usual through Jan. 5, 2010.
Jan. 6, 7 and 8 there will be no option for returns. Daniel said that the library will forgive any overdue fines for those days.
“If we can’t offer you a convenient place to drop off your books, we’re not going to charge you,” she said.
The new library is set to open Jan. 9, and library officials are in the process of planning opening day festivities, and setting up agreements for satellite parking when needed.
The opening day, Daniels said, will likely stretch out for more of an opening month worth of programs and activities. Details have not yet been firmed up.
“We chose to, sort of, break it up,” she said.
Library staff and trained docents will also be on had to give patrons a tour of the new digs.
Popular library programs, like children’s story times, will be on hiatus until February, but Daniel said they will return.
Editor Ari Cetron can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 233, or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com
In less than two weeks, the Sammamish Library will be closing as part of its move to a new location.
So, for all of those nostalgic about the current building, Dec. 13 is the last chance to go in and browse the collection.
The new library, which will contain the current collection, plus an expanded number of books, DVDs, CDs and other media, will open Jan. 9.
Construction continues on the new Sammamish Library, slated to open Jan.9. Photo by Christopher Huber
LWSD to put bond on ballot
December 2, 2009
By Christopher Huber
The Lake Washington School Board voted unanimously at its meeting Nov. 23 to approve two levies and one bond measure for the Feb. 9 ballot.
If district voters approve all three measures, the owner of an average value home (about $500,000) would see an increase of $170 in property taxes in 2011 — from $1,448 in 2010 to $1,618 in 2011 — according to the district.
The Educational Programs and Operations levy currently makes up approximately 19 percent of the district’s operations budget and helps fill the gap between state funding and total general fund costs. It pays for sports, transportation, teachers, instructional assistants, textbooks, supplies and other classroom necessities.
The existing levy of $1.17 per $1,000 is set to expire in 2010. A vote to renew it would increase the levy to $1.34 per $1,000 of a homeowner’s assessed value in 2011. That amount would increase annually, reaching $1.46 per $1,000 in 2014.
District officials say a 13 percent decrease in average home value district wide since 2008 means the tax rate must increase to bring in the same amount of money.
The levy would generate $49.1 million in 2011, rising to $60.1 million in 2014, according to the press release. The first year’s total alone is the equivalent of the cost of paying 612 teachers, according to the district.
“EP&O is absolutely critical to our survival,” said Chip Kimball, Superintendent of the Lake Washington School District at an Oct. 7 meeting. “If this is not renewed, then the cuts … would be five times what we experienced last year.”
The Capital Projects levy’s is also set to expire in 2010.
The expiring levy is made of two components, which together are 47 cents per $1,000, said Kathryn Reith, the district’s communications director.
The proposed new levy would also be two components, which would total 49 cents per $1,000 in 2011, going up to 58 cents in 2014.
The facilities component of the levies currently generates $7.8 million per year for remodels, lighting and energy costs, among other things.
The technology component currently generates close to $8.38 million per year for computers, smart boards and other technology, as well as teacher training.
The combined levies would raise $18 million in 2011, going up to $23.7 million in 2014, according to the press release.
While renewing the levies would mean a slight increase in property taxes, passing the bond measure would mean new taxes.
If approved, it would raise $234 million and would cost $.32 to $.33 per $1,000.
It would pay to build new schools and to add on to existing schools to accommodate enrollment increases and grade-level reconfiguration proposed by making high schools for grades 9-12.
“We’re at a critical point in terms of making a decision about that,” Kimball said Oct. 7. “We have been very, very accurate in our projections in the last 15 years. Projections show we’ll have 1,300 more students by 2014.”
The Lake Washington School District has 50 schools, including nine schools that serve Sammamish residents.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.SammamishReview.com.
The Lake Washington School Board voted unanimously at its meeting Nov. 23 to approve two levies and one bond measure for the Feb. 9 ballot.
If district voters approve all three measures, the owner of an average value home (about $500,000) would see an increase of $170 in property taxes in 2011 — from $1,448 in 2010 to $1,618 in 2011 — according to the district. Read more
Schools may delay standards
December 2, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
The debate about math and science graduation requirements is heating up again.
As this year’s ninth-grade students gear up to pass the new High School Proficiency Exams as part of their graduation requirements in 2013, state Superintendent Randy Dorn is asking the state Legislature to postpone math and science requirements again.
Gov. Chris Gregoire delayed the mathematics graduation requirement in the face of low student scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exams in December 2006. The science graduation requirement was delayed in May 2007.
Dorn’s recommendation moves requiring students to pass the mathematics and science exams from 2013 until 2015 and 2017, respectively.
In his release, he said he made the recommendation Nov. 19 after seeing students’ final achievement rates on last spring’s final WASL exams.
“It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that we have a big problem in our state. Less than 50 percent of our 10th graders are passing the math and science exams,” Dorn said in a press release, noting 10th graders’ passing rates on the reading and writing exams is more than 80 percent. “We need to be fair to our students and give them time to learn the new standards. It’s simply a matter of doing what’s right.”
Additionally, Dorn said the new math and science standards for the High School Proficiency Exams are only now being implemented and won’t be assessed until 2011. Because of this, Dorn said it doesn’t provide enough time for the class of 2013 to learn the standards or for teachers and schools to align the curriculum and materials to them.
“That’s really high stakes,” said Sara Niegowski, Issaquah School District communications director. “So it makes sense for the state to take the necessary time to be certain that high school students are not being held accountable for some flaw in the new assessment system or in schools’ ability to align themselves with new standards on a tight timeline.”
Lake Washington School District officials were unavailable for comment.
In the proposal for the math graduation requirement, Dorn said he will ask the 2010 Legislature to continue the current requirement of either passing the state math exam or earning two additional credits of math after 10th grade for students up to the class of 2014.
He will also ask the Legislature to establish a two-tier bar for the math graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2015, according to Dorn’s Web site.
The first of the two bars is “Proficient,” which means they passed the state exam. The second tier is “Basic,” which means students passed the basic levels of the exam but would still need to earn a fourth credit in math to graduate with a diploma. Requiring the fourth credit in math means that students will continue to build on their math skills.
Dorn’s idea stems from the two-tier Massachusetts system, which he said, would maintain the state’s high standards but helps set a realistic bar for passing the students.
However, the recommendation was not met with resounding support from educational groups or the governor.
“I oppose the proposal,” Gregoire said in a press release. “As our state and global economies become more technically driven, we need to ensure that our students leave high school highly-trained in math and science so they can qualify for Washington state jobs or entry into training and higher education programs of their choosing.
“Our students are capable of mastering our state’s standards in math and science,” she added. “They have shown us their capacity to meet our expectations in the past.”
Similarly, education advocates at the Washington State Board of Education also said a delay only postpones students’ ability to become proficient in math and science and could prohibit them from obtaining the state’s best jobs in those fields.
“This call for delay is not the right direction for our state,” said Mary Jean Ryan, chairwoman of the Washington State Board of Education, in a press release. “State leaders must commit – once and for all – to doing the hard work needed to help kids master math and science. Delays just create distractions. If history is a guide, more delay will only serve to distract. Three years ago the state punted on math and since then achievement levels have dropped. Delay is not a winning game plan. There is much work to do but this is not the way to begin.”
The League of Education Voters also opposes the new recommendation.
Despite acknowledging the need for students and teachers to have ample time to prepare for the new requirements, Niegowski said the state Superintendent’s office shouldn’t back off implementing and providing support so students can meet the requirements.
“The state can’t use that as a crutch—at some point, it needs to implement the graduation requirements,” she said. “We hope the Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction can work together to negotiate that balance to do what’s best for students.”
Reach reporter Chantelle Lusebrink at 392-6434, ext. 241, or clusebrink@isspress.com.
The debate about math and science graduation requirements is heating up again.
As this year’s ninth-grade students gear up to pass the new High School Proficiency Exams as part of their graduation requirements in 2013, state Superintendent Randy Dorn is asking the state Legislature to postpone math and science requirements again. Read more
Local nonprofits test out social media
December 2, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Cary Young was the first to take the plunge. She looked around at her colleagues in the City Hall meeting room, other representatives from local nonprofits in Sammamish, and confessed: She isn’t all that comfortable using social media.
“I’m too old and stodgy to do this right,” said Young, the executive director of the SAMMI Awards. Young’s solution is to bring on student interns familiar with sites like Facebook to help her organization connect with more people on the Web.
Her organization holds an awards ceremony each year that celebrates unselfish contributions to community. They have a Web site and a YouTube video, but no Facebook page, no MySpace page and no blog.
One communications expert at a nonprofit in Seattle thinks that kind of online outreach setup is going to become antiquated.
“Social networking is how people are going to interact in the future,” said Toby Crittenden, communications director for the Washington Bus. Crittenden’s job involves monitoring his group’s Facebook page and Twitter account, and contributing to a Bus blog.
“In 1996, a Web site is brilliant. But if you’re talking 2009, a Web site is just a piece of a much larger spectrum of online tools,” Crittenden said, adding that sites like Twitter and Facebook allow users to grab content and make it their own, reposting blog postings on their own Facebook pages or Twitter accounts. Social networking allows for a nonprofit’s message to go viral, he explained.
Crittenden is part of a Seattle-based organization that seeks to engage youth voters. It also canvasses on behalf of candidates and causes it has identified as progressive.
The Bus uses social media as a way to educate users about the organization, as a way to notify people about important election dates, and to make requests for donations, volunteers and political action.
Crittenden said he has found that Facebook is better than MySpace for his nonprofit’s purpose, in part because it’s designed to organize for events. He also advised that nonprofits that are exploring Facebook should make a “group” page, rather than a “fan” page, because “group” pages update its members about new events.
Dawn Sanders, volunteer coordinator for the city of Sammamish, works with local nonprofits and said there’s a lot of interest in using social media. She referenced a meeting she hosted in September where 55 nonprofit representatives attended to hear a presentation on using social media.
“I think they all want to use them and are trying to figure out exactly how they fit in,” Sanders said. “It’s something that’s changing so quickly. We want to make sure we’re doing it the right way.”
Karissa Sams said it was likely that at least one social media tool would be useful to an organization.
Sams works for Weber Shandwick, an international public relations company with a Seattle office.
Sams said each nonprofit should consider its target audience and what resources are available to engage that audience. She added that her company is seeing nonprofits use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Ning.
Some Sammamish nonprofits are already becoming more Internet social.
Faith in Action, a nonprofit that supports senior independence, has a Facebook “cause” page, with the hope that it will drive traffic to its Web site, according to Executive Director Claire Petersky.
With added traffic, the organization hopes to find more volunteers and receive more donations, Petersky said. Faith in Action has volunteers who go into Issaquah, Sammamish, and some surrounding parts of unincorporated King County. The volunteers help seniors with trips to the grocery store and the doctor’s office, plus yard work and housework.
Petersky pointed out that the average client-base is 83, not a “Web-savvy crew,” but social media might connect Faith in Action with potential volunteers and contributors.
Faith in Action’s staff size is about one and half people, with 100 volunteers and about 158 clients, she said. She pointed out that Faith in Action doesn’t have enough paid staffers to monitor a Twitter account or Facebook page.
The Rotary Club of Sammamish has waded into the world of Twitter, and successfully so, according to Norm Bottenberg, the club’s president.
The club organized a week-long Halloween event, Nightmare at Beaver Lake, and set up a Twitter account to drum up interest.
Readers could see the string of Twitter postings by going to Twitter.com and typing in “:NABL” in the search engine.
“It’s not part of our normal communicative style,” Bottenberg said, adding that he hoped people who visit Nightmare at Beaver Lake would then post about their experiences.
“The question is just staying on top of the current technology and making sure you’re using it right,” he said, adding that it was especially tricky for an older generation that didn’t grow up with online social media. “How do you drag the people who are not accustomed to that, kicking and screaming into the new century?”
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
Cary Young was the first to take the plunge. She looked around at her colleagues in the City Hall meeting room, other representatives from local nonprofits in Sammamish, and confessed: She isn’t all that comfortable using social media.
“I’m too old and stodgy to do this right,” said Young, the executive director of the SAMMI Awards. Young’s solution is to bring on student interns familiar with sites like Facebook to help her organization connect with more people on the Web. Read more
Issaquah Schools study potential high school changes
December 2, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
Issaquah School District officials and high school principals are investigating a flexible high school schedule option this year as part of their Optimal High School Experience project.
“It is a very broad topic, but something we believe may help our students,” said Patrick Murphy, the district’s executive director of secondary education. “It has to do with looking at our class offerings in schools and online, the time of day they’re offered, like zero-hour or after school, having educational experiences on and off campus, the flexibility to share staff across the district and in different buildings. Basically, things that will help students balance their schedules.”
Flexible scheduling options will give students greater access and control of their academic career, according to the group made up of Murphy and the district’s high school principals — Dana Bailey, Mike Deletis, Lisa Hechtman, Ed Marcoe and Paula Phelps.
The group was formed in summer 2008 to discover what types of experiences students are having in the high schools, what is missing and what can be added to make their experiences better.
Our mission talks about “how students live in a dynamic global community,” Murphy said of the project’s importance. “Our principals believe they have the ethical responsibility to prepare students for that dynamic global world they will be going into.”
The project grew out of a suggestion in spring 2008 to create a uniform high school scheduling system, since Liberty High School had a different schedule than both Issaquah and Skyline high schools.
However, the move to a uniform schedule was delayed after community concerns surfaced.
It also grew from changes to the minimum number of credits high school students need to graduate, from 19 credits to 24.
The group evaluates the high school experience using five guiding beliefs:
u Access: Students must have maximum academic access to courses, programs and instruction that best meet the needs of those students.
u Connectivity: Students must feel connected to their school through relationships with faculty and peers.
u Citizenship: Students must have learning opportunities for service that allows them to think beyond themselves and builds compassion and respect for others.
u Resiliency: Students need a safe environment that allows them to move out of their comfort zones and take informed risks that allow them to grow while experiencing success and failure.
u Expression: Students must have multiple opportunities for self-expression in the classroom and during extracurricular activities.
Last year, the group gathered community, student and employee information about the experiences offered at Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus; Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline high schools; and the district’s alternative high school, Tiger Mountain Community High School.
Nearly 200 parents, students and school employees commented, offered suggestions and their experiences from which the idea of investigating flexible scheduling came.
“We plan to use this school year to do our investigative work,” Murphy said, adding the group will study other creative options used throughout the state and nation.
After the investigation and review “We’ll look to see how we can adapt what we find out and create something that will help our students reach the goals set out in our guiding beliefs.
“Our one fear, though, is that people hear the word flexible schedule and they think we’re just talking about bell schedule,” he added. “This is not solely about bell schedules.”
“Flexible scheduling touches on so many aspects of the educational experience. This could involve, as an example — daily schedules, online learning, seat time, use of facilities,” Phelps, Issaquah High School principal, wrote in an e-mail. “In the past, we would have viewed each of these issues individually. Now, we will look at them as a whole through the lens of the Optimal Experience. The work this year around flexible scheduling will be exciting and, ultimately, has the potential to be very rewarding for our students.”
During the coming year, Murphy and the principals will look more closely to develop working solutions for students, which could include before and after school courses and online course work similar to the district’s new online health course. Something else they are looking at is offering districtwide high school courses.
For example, Liberty has a culinary program, unlike the other two schools; principals may look into offering those classes so students across the district may be able to take them.
During their investigation, they’ll design a model for how it may be done in Issaquah and how to appropriately fund it.
Reporter Chantelle Lusebrink can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 241 or clusebrink@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Issaquah School District officials and high school principals are investigating a flexible high school schedule option this year as part of their Optimal High School Experience project. “It is a very broad topic, but something we believe may help our students,” said Patrick Murphy, the district’s executive director of secondary education. “It has to do with looking at our class offerings in schools and online, the time of day they’re offered, like zero-hour or after school, having educational experiences on and off campus, the flexibility to share staff across the district and in different buildings. Basically, things that will help students balance their schedules.” Read more
Library’s use grows with recession
December 2, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
If the Sammamish Library feels a bit more crowded than it used to, that’s because it is.
The Sammamish Library’s usage has grown by 11 percent in the past year, said Marsha Iverson, a spokeswoman for the King County Library System.
In September 2008, there were 54,956 checked out items compared to 81,218 this September.
The system’s Bellevue Regional Library is always the busiest. It had 116,455 checked out items this September. The system has 43 libraries, mobile services, technical labs and a call center.
Issaquah wasn’t the only library to experience growth. Libraries, like the one in Federal Way, grew by 164 percent in checked out items. However, Iverson pointed out that the library had just reopened after remodeling.
The library system had several libraries closed during remodel or construction projects, so when they reopen, their rate of growth in checked out items is great, she said.
The system’s Issaquah, Snoqualmie and North Bend libraries also experienced similar growth.
In Issaquah, the library’s number of checked out items went from 41,130 in September 2008 to 65,275 this September.
Similarly Snoqualmie’s library went from 14,391 checked out items in September 2008 to 14,915 checked out items this September and North Bend grew from 19,773 checked out items in September 2008 to 20,861 checked out items this September.
“We attribute most of the growth to the economy,” Iverson said. “Collectively libraries across the nation have seen a dramatic increase in use. We started to see the spike in September of last year, when the financial crisis hit.”
People began turning to the library more because it’s a free source of information, and here in King County, Iverson said, librarians took that to heart and launched a program last spring called Look to Your Library.
The program kept libraries open extra hours, provided special seminars about re-education, job searching, resume building and how to financially plan for tough times.
It also featured an extensive online component, which linked people with such services, reference materials, books and databases.
“It was mostly to help our patrons,” Iverson said. “We’re here and we work to provide the resources we’ve always had.
“Our librarians recognized a need and they were profoundly determined to help,” she said.
The library system’s public and community relations team recently won a national award for the outreach program. They were given the NonProfit PR award, sponsored by PR News, in Washington D.C. Nov. 2.
The library system also recently received $50,000 in grant funding to develop and launch an online resource center to help struggling and small business owners and entrepreneurs, which will make the libraries’ resources even more accessible.
The new site, InfoBiz, will offer streaming videos, tutorials and podcasts at the convenience of users. Those include detailing business strategies, resources and concepts presented by local business experts, according to a press release.
The project is a partnership between community agencies providing content and the library system.
Librarians will organize on-demand videos that will be more convenient for users, allowing them to view subjects when and where they choose.
Topics for the InfoBiz site will be selected in consultation with organizational partners and the reference librarians working on the project. Topics for consideration include:
u How to create a business plan.
u How to find and keep customers in hard times.
u Collection strategies for small business.
u How to fund a start-up.
u How to utilize library materials for market research.
u Marketing a small business through online social networking.
u Introductory pieces about how various partner agencies can assist small businesses.
Librarians will also create online videos and tutorials to teach small business owners to use the library’s resources to help their businesses succeed.
By making useful information easily accessible online at any time, InfoBiz will resolve a variety of obstacles and connect small business owners with the assistance they need.
InfoBiz was created with funding from the Washington State Library as part of the Renew Washington Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
“As people find new needs, we’re able to find more ways to help them use the library,” Iverson said. “We want to take the search out of research.”
Reporter Chantelle Lusebrink can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 241, or clusebrink@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
If the Sammamish Library feels a bit more crowded than it used to, that’s because it is.
The Sammamish Library’s usage has grown by 11 percent in the past year, said Marsha Iverson, a spokeswoman for the King County Library System.
In September 2008, there were 54,956 checked out items compared to 81,218 this September. Read more
Lake Washington schools secretaries want a raise
December 2, 2009
By Christopher Huber
School secretaries in the Lake Washington School District are demanding a 10 percent wage increase.
District officials and the union representing approximately 178 secretaries have been negotiating the terms of a new contract since March. The latest contract expired in August.
At its gathering Nov. 10, more than 90 percent of the union’s members voted to tell their bargaining team they would not be willing to ratify any settlement that does not improve their pay by at least 10 percent, a union press release said.
“We‘re just asking for a fair share of the pot,” said Sheila Nokes, past president of the union and current member of the “living wage” campaign steering committee.
A 10 percent raise could cost the district around a few hundred thousand dollars per year based on a 200-day contract.
Even as it is asking for a 10 percent pay increase, the union says a 15 percent raise would still not come close to paying a living wage for some, Nokes said.
A living wage is “the hourly wage and the resources necessary for a person to be a fully functioning member in the community without having to be dependent upon friends, family and government for economic assistance,” according to the union’s Living Wage Calculations sheet for fall 2008.
“The district doesn’t want to discuss Living Wage with us,” Nokes said.
The group bases its request on data collected by the national Living Wage campaign, which has estimated the cost of living in the Lake Washington School District at about $4,000 per month. And according to its calculations, a Lake Washington secretary or office assistant would need to make between $23.05 and $24.55 per hour to be a functioning member of the community.
“I just think I’m worth more money,” said Becky Whelchel, office manager at Inglewood Junior High School. “We want to be able to live in this community.”
She said she’s one of the lucky ones. Her husband makes a good living and they are able to support their daughter. But many of her co-workers and counterparts at other district schools, who are single with children, struggle on their current wages. Some hold down another job or two, she said.
“The district says to us, ‘we’ll give you what we gave everybody else,’” Whelchel said. “I wish they felt we deserved more.”
More may be tough to find. State funding, which makes up the lion’s share of the school budget is already down, and state officials recently predicted that next year’s state budget will be another $2 billion short.
Some school officials say that even cost-of-living adjustments may not be in the cards.
“We are concerned about the potential for another round of major budget cuts from the state after the Nov. 19 announcement on the state budget shortfall,” said Kathryn Reith, the district’s director of communications.
Under the current contract in Lake Washington, union secretaries make from $13.53 per hour to $20.80 per hour.
In the Issaquah School District, school secretaries and support staff start at $15.34 and earn as much as $19.95 per hour. In Bellevue, employees in those positions make between $13.13 and $19.63 per hour. Administrative secretaries and assistants make more in all three districts, but are not on the same contract, according to the districts.
As talks stall and the parties try to find a middle ground, Lake Washington officials are comparing wages for similar positions in districts in the area and of similar size, Reith said.
“As with any of the bargaining groups we work with, our approach to negotiations is to investigate what the wages are for similar positions in other area school districts and use that information to help us figure out what will be a competitive wage that will enable us to recruit and retain quality employees.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com Comment on this story at www.SammamishReview.com.
School secretaries in the Lake Washington School District are demanding a 10 percent wage increase.
District officials and the union representing approximately 178 secretaries have been negotiating the terms of a new contract since March. The latest contract expired in August.
At its gathering Nov. 10, more than 90 percent of the union’s members voted to tell their bargaining team they would not be willing to ratify any settlement that does not improve their pay by at least 10 percent, a union press release said. Read more
Group is dedicated to allowing any child to help
December 2, 2009
By Christopher Huber
When Sammamish resident Anne Ginther thought about how best to describe the nonprofit organization she helps run, she told a story about how one child’s idea can affect change for many.
A couple of years ago, when Ginther still lived in Iowa, a child from the inner city e-mailed her about wanting to help a friend’s family, which was about to be evicted from their apartment.
Ginther and her fellow organizers at RandomKid equipped the youth with the proper resources and within two weeks, they had raised $20,000, a car and a free home renovation for the family, she said.
And that was just one of the dozens of projects RandomKid has been a part of since December 2005.
“It’s been amazing what we’ve accomplished in the last four years,” Ginther said. “When kids are your boss, anything is possible.”
The organization, which operates nationally and has done humanitarian and fundraising projects in nearly 20 countries, is holding a new and gently used toy sale 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 12 at Samantha Smith Elementary. The event is in conjunction with the school PTA’s Winter Wonderland Sale, which includes a variety of gifts. Donors can also drop off toys at the school between 3 and 5 p.m. Dec. 11, Ginther said.
Students from Sammamish came up with the idea and are involved in the toy drive, which gives struggling families the opportunity to buy gifts, but at discounted prices, Ginther said. The proceeds from the sale of those items will benefit Seattle’s First Place, an organization that helps homeless students and families.
“There’s a lot of kids helping out,” said Margaret Mead Elementary sixth-grader Mariana Cuevas. She has been working with a few Sammamish youth to plan the toy drive and sale.
Cuevas said people seem to be drawn to RandomKid because they see children taking action, rather than adults telling them what to do — they see youth empowering each other.
“It’s focused a lot on kids,” she said. “If they see kids, it’s like, ‘oh wow, we can help out.’”
RandomKid began when 10-year-old Talia Leman, of Iowa, had a vision to raise $1 million for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late summer of 2005, according to Ginther and the organization’s Web site.
Leman organized a national “Trick-or-Treat for the Levee Catastrophe” campaign through e-mails and a Web site.
She garnered corporate support, as well as support from “random kids” around the country.
Leman appeared on national television and radio.
Ginther, living in Iowa at the time, heard about Leman’s efforts and decided to partner with the Leman family to found RandomKid.
“A lot of us felt compelled to do something,” Ginther said. “We got so much traction right away that the governor of Iowa invited us to a photo op.”
Leman asked the governor to tell the nation’s governors to spread the word and it worked. Her campaign eventually raised $10 million.
Cuevas said she joined because she wanted to help people, but also found inspiration in the fact that a child formed the organization.
“One thing I liked about RandomKid is that any kid can come up to the organization with any random idea and they’ll try to make it happen,” Cuevas said.
At age 13, Leman received the 2008 World of Children Founders Youth Award, also known as the Children’s Nobel Prize.
Today Ginther runs the organization from Sammamish with Leman acting as the CEO in Iowa. Children from around the world e-mail or post ideas to the RandomKid Web site and the non-profit’s organizers connect them to necessary resources.
“We truly help any random kid help others,” Ginther said. “You don’t have to be the conforming, perfect child. You just be who you are and do what you do and you’ll do it best.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
When Sammamish resident Anne Ginther thought about how best to describe the nonprofit organization she helps run, she told a story about how one child’s idea can affect change for many.
A couple of years ago, when Ginther still lived in Iowa, a child from the inner city e-mailed her about wanting to help a friend’s family, which was about to be evicted from their apartment.
As part of an effort to generate money for RandomKid, Anne Ginther agreed to catch some fish at Pike Place Market. Contributed
Put down the controller: Expert explains game addiction
December 2, 2009
By Ari Cetron
Do you worry that your child likes their Xbox a little too much or maybe they spend a bit too much time on Facebook?
They might be addicted, according to Dr. Hilarie Cash, a psychotherapist who is working to help people kick their electronic habits.
“All addictions are the same,” Cash said. “It’s something that goes on in the brain.”
Cash, who is part-owner of a nearby clinic devoted to video game and Internet detox, will be speaking at the upcoming meeting of the Sammamish Kiwanis.
The idea of Internet and gaming addiction is likely to strike a chord with some Sammamish parents, said Robert Keller, vice-president of the Sammamish Kiwanis.
So, when he heard about the work Cash does, he invited her to speak to the Kiwanis members.
“Internet gaming is becoming a youth’s focus,” Keller said. “I think there are a lot of parents who would say they’d love to get their kids away from computers.”
Cash acknowledged that the psychological community does not yet formally recognize electronic addictions, such as the Internet, video games, social networking and pornography. However she said research is ongoing in the field.
She said that while there is not much evidence, there have been some formal studies of the phenomenon.
In these, she said researchers found that in some cases, people’s brains have a similar reaction to using the electronics as they would to other more widely recognized addictive substances.
“The brain scan result is the most convincing,” she said. “It’s the same pleasure.”
Cash, who has co-authored a book about the topic, says that there are some warning signs parents might want to look for in their children, or in other adults.
One symptom would be spending more and more time playing the game, or using the Internet. As with substance addictions, a person can need more and more stimulus to get the same feeling, Cash said.
“Your body develops a tolerance and can go into withdrawl,” she said.
Children giving their parents a hard time about logging off, and being deceptive about the amount of time they spend engaging in the activity can be another warning sign, Cash said.
For parents who want to head off potential addictions, Cash recommends curbing the amount of time children spend playing games or on the computer. For children under 7, she says there should be no time at all.
Brains are fragile at that stage of development and even limited exposure can have long-term consequences, Cash said.
“You really want to limit this during childhood,” she said.
After that, she would suggest about one hour per day until students reach middle school. for middle and high school students, Cash says no more than two hours a day.
That time des not including more mundane tasks, like research or reading news, but the more pleasure-oriented tasks.
Cash says that people who spend fewer than two hours a day in those activities are least likely to develop an addiction.
Editor Ari Cetron can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 233, or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.Sammamish Review.com.
Do you worry that your child likes their Xbox a little too much or maybe they spend a bit too much time on Facebook?
They might be addicted, according to Dr. Hilarie Cash, a psychotherapist who is working to help people kick their electronic habits.
“All addictions are the same,” Cash said. “It’s something that goes on in the brain.” Read more
