King County officials announced the decision the afternoon of April 11.

“These are thoughtful recommendations that will help deliver educational excellence for our children without sacrificing the environment of our rural areas,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine in a press release.

According to the county, the School Siting Task Force evaluated an inventory of 18 rural properties owned by eight school districts in King County. The county lists one such property owned by the Issaquah School District along Southeast May Valley Road. County information does not provide an exact address.

According to the task force report, the parcel sits between Squak Mountain to the north and Cedar Hills Landfill to the south. The report describes the site as having conservation value and recommends the school district work with county officials as well as leaders in Issaquah and Renton to find urban locations for any future expansion needs.

The property is listed as encompassing just over 79 acres with an assessed value of $1.4 million.

The Lake Washington District owns four such parcels along 194th Avenue Northeast (20.1 acres, $893,000), on the north side of Novelty Hill Road (36.9 acres, $1.45 million), near Northeast 95th Street (27 acres, $426,000) and on the south side of Union Hill Road (75.99 acres, $525,000).

The Issaquah School District was closed the week of April 9 for spring break. Officials there were not available for comment.

The county described all 18 properties as “straddling” the Urban Growth Boundary, established under state law with the idea of safeguarding rural areas and preventing urban sprawl. The county states the lands were purchased by the school districts involved with an eye toward future growth.

Besides the Issaquah and Lake Washington districts, other districts involved include Northshore, Snoqualmie, Kent and Tahoma.

“The questions of whether schools should continue to be sited in rural areas has been unresolved for more than a decade,” said Louise Miller, taskforce chairwoman and a former King County Council member. “I’m happy to have been part of its solution.”

“It’s been a productive and collaborative process,” said Chip Kimball, superintendent of the Lake Washington School District. “We’re pleased to have King County and the cities as partners in supporting academic achievement.”

According to the county, the task force looked at a wide range of technical information in developing its recommendations, including perceived public health benefits connected with placing schools closer to homes so that students can walk or bike to school.

“Children can do better if they can walk to a neighborhood school rather being bussed to a remote site in the rural area,” said rural area resident John Chaney, a task force member. “I’m pleased the task force was able to take a comprehensive look at our land use planning and develop solutions that will be lasting.”

Formation of the task force stemmed from an agreement between King County, Seattle, Bellevue, and the Suburban Cities Association in November to examine the question of whether sewer lines should be extended into rural areas.

The next step appears to be for Constantine to review the task force recommendations and propose new countywide planning policies. The county council will have the final say on any new rules, possibly in September.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

Children from around the district’s 27 elementary schools submitted healthy recipes for after-school snacks to Lake Washington’s Food Services department in February. A panel of judges then whittled it down to 20 finalists to compete in several areas, including healthy ingredients, kid-friendly preparation, taste and satisfaction and table presentation.

Fionna Cissell, a fourth grader at Alcott Elementary, concentrates on cutting the apple slices for her recipe for “Healthy Almond Joy.” Photo by Lillian Tucker

“Literally five minutes after I was telling my friends that I wanted to come here I got the notice that I would,” said Fionna Cissell of Sammamish who attends fourth grade at Alcott Elementary. “Cooking brings my friends together. We all like to cook. A bunch of my friends entered but only I got in.”

For her entry, Fionna prepared a sweet treat with her own twist, “Healthy Almond Joy.” To make it she paired sliced apples with a mixture of roasted almonds, unsweetened cocoa, honey and salt. She said she originally got inspiration from a recipe for almond butter that she and her mom saw in a magazine.

“It didn’t taste right. It tasted too dark…Dark tastes like dark chocolate, bitterish. It just didn’t taste sweet and good,” said the young cook. “I put honey in it and it tasted okay but still dark. I put salt in it and it finally tasted right.” Fionna added that she only tested her new recipe once. “It was good. Then I didn’t cook it again because of my schedule with tae kwon do and everything.”

Upstairs, in the junior high’s foods kitchen, Ashley Sand’s grill was sizzling and hissing as she dropped mounds of tuna cake batter onto hot butter. A fifth grader at Blackwell Elementary, Ashley has been helping out in her kitchen at home in Sammamish since she was 7 years old. It was her invention of grilled tuna cakes that earned her a spot at this year’s cooking competition.

“My grandma would make grilled cheese but I don’t really like cheese with bread so grandma put tuna fish on there instead. So that’s where I got the idea,” said Ashley. “I like cooking because you get to make your own stuff. You can do whatever you want; it’s your own thing.”

Ashley shared her display table, with its sign advertising tuna cakes at market price, with her friend Lauren Wells, who is also a fifth grader at Blackwell. Lauren said the day before the application for the cook-off was due she still hadn’t decided on a recipe. She settled on buttermilk muffins but switched her stand-by addition of chocolate chips for blueberries.

“I have never made the blueberry or tried the blueberry so I am kind of nervous,” said Lauren. When she finally did try her own baking she smiled. “It’s just kind of fun. After you did all the hard work you get to it.”

2012 winners of Kids Can Cook

• Use of Healthy Ingredients Award: Ryan Koshy, Alcott Elementary, “Healthy Veggie Bites”

• Kid-Friendly Preparation Award: Surbhi Jain, Wilder Elementary, “Fruit Train”

• Tasty & Satisfying Award: Rabeeya Asif, Rockwell Elementary, “Mixed Pancake Surprise”

• Best Table Presentation: Silvana Segura, Rosa Parks Elementary, “Surimi Boats”

• Judges Choice Award: Ella Mainwaring Foster, Wilder Elementary, “Ella’s Silly Sandwich Sticks”

Reporter Lillian Tucker can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com

The Lake Washington School District announced on March 29 that it’s new Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school will open in the fall of 2012 but not in its intended location. Eastlake High School will be its temporary quarters because the permanent building, which is set to be located off state Route 202, near Alcott elementary, will not be ready in time.

According to a press release sent out by the district, permit delays are to blame. Last week two appeals to the conditional use permit approved by King County to build the school were denied. After a 21-day waiting period, the district will be able to move forward with construction if there are no more legal challenges.

The project will be built in three phases, with the first phase providing classroom space for the ninth and 10th grade, up to 300 students, who will be the inaugural classes in the new school. However, that first phase is now not expected to be built until late fall or early next winter. When those classrooms are complete the STEM students will be moved to the permanent location using weekends and possibly a school holiday to make the transition easier.

The district said that Eastlake will have room for the STEM students because of the district’s change to four-year high schools in the fall. With the reconfiguration comes the moving of the Renaissance school to portable classrooms, freeing up a wing at Eastlake. Couple that with the space that will be created by the on-going construction at the high school and the district believes Eastlake’s capacity will increase to 1,840 students.

“I am disappointed that this new school will be in temporary quarters for a while,” noted Dr. Chip Kimball, superintendent, “but we are fortunate that Eastlake will be able to host it this fall. In future years, Eastlake will need that space.”

Before picking Eastlake for the STEM school’s temporary location the district said it looked at several alternatives, including renting retail and warehouse space and partnering with neighboring school districts to house the students.

“I know the Eastlake staff, students and parents will be gracious hosts for their STEM school counterparts during this short-term stay,” noted Dr. Kimball. “I recognize the inconvenience involved and appreciate their understanding.”

The STEM school is a magnet program enrolling students from across the Lake Washington district. Admissions are based on a lottery system, which has already run its course for the upcoming school year.

The Lake Washington School Board has named Dr. Traci Pierce as the next superintendent of the school district. Pierce received the unanimous vote at the Monday, Feb. 27 school board meeting.

Currently Pierce is serving as the deputy superintendent of instructional services, a position she has held since 2010. She will replace Dr. Chip Kimball who is departing the Northwest to become superintendent of the Singapore American School July 1.

Traci Pierce

Pierce comes to the job with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, principal certification, Master of Education in educational leadership, a superintendent credential from the University of Washington and a Doctorate of Education in educational leadership and policy studies.

As a resident of Sammamish, Pierce is not a newcomer to the district. Beginning in 1994, she taught language arts and social studies at Inglewood Junior High. From there she broke from the classroom to work as a district instructional technology staff development specialist before returning to Inglewood to serve as assistant principal and eventually principal. Pierce was named chief schools officer in 2007.

“I was pleased to hear her describe her leadership style as one of inclusion and collaboration,” said board member Siri Bliesner in a press release from the Lake Washington School District. “She recognizes the importance of public, transparent processes that engage the public early on.”

Kimball, who has served as the district’s superintendent for 16 years, announced in September that this would be his last school year here. For several months now, Pierce has been the board’s preferred candidate for his replacement. Selecting someone from within the district has been important to board member Doug Eglington, of Sammamish.

“The time it would take to get a new superintendent in place, familiar with out culture and really able to demonstrate their ability to lead our district is time we can ill afford,” he said in the press release.

Pierce’s new job as Superintendent of the Lake Washington School District officially starts July 1.

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has given a $400,000 grant to the Lake Washington School District to help support the district’s new science, technology, engineering and math school.

The money, part of $6.6 million in grants the foundation made Feb. 2, is earmarked to support development of a curriculum for the school.

The foundation was set up by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Jo Lynn Allen in 1988.

The as-yet unnamed school is set to open next fall. It is located just north of Sammamish City Limits on state Route 202.

A snowed-out meet-and-greet with the preferred candidate for the Lake Washington School District superintendent position has been rescheduled for Feb. 7.

Dr. Traci Pierce will be at Sammamish City Hall before the Feb. 7 council meeting, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Pierce has worked as a teacher, principal and central administrator for 17 years in Lake Washington schools. The district’s board of directors recommended her as Kimball’s replacement at its Dec. 5 meeting in part because she will bring familiarity with district systems and vision to maintain continuity while executing the district’s numerous current initiatives, the district said.

Pierce is currently the Lake Washington district’s deputy superintendent of instructional services.

Snow continues to fall in the Puget Sound region, but some forecasts expect the majority of the snow to stop by about 1 p.m.

In Sammamish, snow continues to fall and a few inches are on the ground. While snow amounts are enough to be annoying, they are far less than the 6-14 inches predicted a few days ago.

Roads are slippery and officials recommend not driving unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Both school districts are closed, and neither has announced a decision about school tomorrow.

The city has kept its parks open, for people who want to enjoy the snow, but the parking lots have been closed, according to the city website. Officials say that in the past, people have driven into the parks to do doughnuts in the snow, which has damaged city property.

For details on the snowfall, including links to a map of which roads the city makes a priority for plowing, go here.

And don’t get too used to the snow. Forecasts call for rain Friday to wash it all away.

Parents of students in Lake Washington schools heading into ninth or 10th grade this coming fall may learn more about the district’s newest choice school at the meeting at 7 p.m., Jan. 19 at the LWSD Resource Center. The meeting gives families the opportunity to learn about the application process for the district’s numerous choice schools, as well as stay up-to-date on deadlines and admissions processes.

Applications are due Jan. 27 and the choice school admissions lottery is Feb. 3 for schools with more applicants than spaces available.

The district’s resource center is located at 16250 NE 74th Street in Redmond (Redmond Town Center). Call 936-1200 to learn more about the choice school application and admission process. Learn more about each choice school in the Lake Washington School District at www.lwsd.org/Schools/Choice/Pages/default.aspx.

As the district reconfigures the grades — bringing in a whole freshman class to Eastlake next fall — administrators had considered moving the choice school for junior high-age students. But instead, Renaissance will move from its roost on the second floor of the high school building outside to a mini-campus of portables. The classrooms, just like those to be used at BEST High School for Northstar Middle School, will have plumbing and water. Renaissance students will continue to use the Eastlake gyms and library, the district said.

The district’s initial enrollment projections for Eastlake’s new ninth-grade class led administrators to seek a new location for the magnet school. But the plan encountered problems like insufficient building space in the eastern section of the district and limitations on building a new school in rural King County.

To accommodate just the incoming ninth-graders, the district is expanding Eastlake’s gym and adding 12 new classrooms.

Residents in north Sammamish will get a chance to meet and chat with the Lake Washington School District’s preferred candidate for district superintendent at two seperate events.

Traci Pierce, of Sammamish, will be introducing herself to the community from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 in the Bytes Café in Redmond City Hall and from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 17 at Sammamish City Hall. She is slated to replace outgoing superintendent Chip Kimball, who took a school superintendent job in Singapore.

Pierce has worked as a teacher, principal and central administrator for 17 years in Lake Washington schools. The district’s board of directors recommended her as Kimball’s replacement at its Dec. 5 meeting in part because she will bring familiarity with district systems and vision to maintain continuity while executing the district’s numerous current initiatives, the district said.

Pierce is currently the Lake Washington district’s deputy superintendent of instructional services.

For more information on the open house, contact Melonie Anderson at 425-295-0511 or manderson@ci.sammamish.wa.us. To learn more about Pierce or the search process, contact Kathryn Reith at 425-936-1342 or kreith@lwsd.org.