Sammamish Forum February 10
February 9, 2010
By Administrator
Why the wetlands closed
Room 5 fourth-graders at Discovery Elementary are working on a project to help a bird called the killdeer nest successfully in the Discovery wetland. We have done some important things to help the killdeer.
One big thing we did is talk to Keith Simmonds, the head of the Issaquah School District maintenance department. Our class made a list of questions to ask him. Some of the questions included locking the public gate and getting informational signs and garbage cans.
As a result of this meeting we have now locked the public gate and posted “No Dogs” signs. We locked the public gate because when people come into the wetland, they bring their dogs.
The reason dogs are a problem is because killdeer nest on the ground where dogs run. We got “No Dogs” signs because dogs are destroying the Killdeer nests.
This does not mean that you cannot visit the wetland. It just means you cannot bring your dogs. You can still access the wetland through the school gate.
We hope the community understands why we did this. We want to help the killdeer that are an important part of the ecosystem.
Discovery Elementary Room 5 Fourth Graders
Patriotism does not require belief in a god
Marvin Taylor wrote in his letter in the Feb. 3 issue of the Review “To the few that hold to the religion of atheism, … they show a marked level of rudeness, ignorance and insensitive behavior attacking our founders and forefathers for allowing us to live such a wonderful free existence to become all that we can.”
Marvin, you and I appear to have something in common. I am a patriotic citizen of America. I served in the U.S. Military and show the American flag in front of my house. I always vote and am an active participant in local and national politics. I feel the patriotic sentiments that you mention well up inside when I recite the Pledge of Allegiance or stand with my hand over my heart when the American flag is paraded by.
A difference between us, reading between the lines of your article is that I believe in one less god than you do. In other words, I have no belief in a god, while you happen to believe in one out of the tens of thousands of available gods.
Atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in a god. It is not a religion — it has no membership rules, meetings or ritual.
By my own example, a citizen can be very patriotic without believing in a god. Our founding fathers knew this and provided for a separation of the two realms within our constitution.
The Pledge of Allegiance is not based upon our constitution, but is rather an oath of loyalty composed in 1892. The words ‘under God’ were added much later, in 1954.
So, I encourage you to respect the freedoms granted to us by the constitution and to recognize that patriotism and atheism are not mutually exclusive.
Michael J. O’Connell
Sammamish
Math curriculum should go
Dear school board,
I am a parent to two children in Discovery Elementary. I have had the misfortune of being the victim of the Everyday Math adoption, which I can personally testify was extremely confusing for both of my children.
I have had to do an astonishing amount of remedial tutoring at home, an experience that seems to be widely shared by parents across the district. The areas which I have had to do the least tutoring have been the ones where teachers seems to have bravely bypassed
Now we are likely to experience the same in middle & high school based on the district’s plan to adopt “Discovering Math”. As you know this program has been rejected by Washington State Board of Education as “mathematically unsound.” It has now been questioned by the King County Superior Court.
Curricula should not be adopted based on the opinions of self-appointed “experts,” but instead on hard evidence, plenty of which is now available, and which clearly indicates that this discovery-based style of math education simply does not work and, in fact, leads to significant declines in math ability and test scores.
It is worth mentioning that the Issaquah School District adoption committee consists entirely of district teachers, with no parent representation and no independent outside voice at all.
For instance, professors at the University of Washington are finding their incoming students stunningly deficient in math. An adoption committee that included a UW science or math professor would be less insular and more open to criticism.
After all the quality of a curriculum cannot be measured by introspection, but only by the final product, namely what are the math abilities of the Issaquah district high school graduate.
This is something that can (and has been) measured, but plays no role in the adoption committee’s thinking.
The job of the school board is to represent the students, parents and taxpayers of the district, not entrenched vested interests pushing a discredited dogma. Please do your job and put a stop to this runaway train.
Arul Menezes
Sammamish
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