To The Editor
February 16, 2010
By Contributor
Tent City 4
Thank you for a story that shared the little-told stories of the residentsThank you for the story “A night of ‘houselessness’” in the Feb. 3 paper. It was by far the best article I have read about Tent City. Giving the resident’s faces and telling their stories has to ease any concerns community members could have about hosting a Tent City in their neighborhood. With today’s economy, any one of us could be moving into tent city tomorrow.
It is great that Chantelle Lusebrink and Warren Kagarise spent the night and could share with us their very real experiences with volunteer servers and trying to stay warm while sleeping. Next week, will you be giving suggestions on how we can support residents in addition to bringing meals? Do they need more blankets, air mattresses, white socks or what?
Thank you!
Susan Evans
Issaquah
Issaquah Highlands
Plans for village on the hill wasn’t integrated into old growth preservation
I read this week’s Issaquah Press articles about Issaquah Highlands and came away with an idea I didn’t totally expect.
The Issaquah Highlands development was conceived at a time when the Growth Management Act caused communities to plan for significant growth and Issaquah just wanted to “preserve that old town charm.” The answer was an urban village on the hill — a sort of standalone little community that would have easy access to Interstate 90 and wouldn’t cause the valley floor to change its character in undesirable ways.
From the developer’s perspective, the urban village was a dream come true. They could control everything and create the perfect little community where the “live, work, play” vision could actually happen. But they learned you can’t have work places if you have no workers and nobody wants to open a store if there are not enough customers.
And, let’s not forget Microsoft playing Redmond against Issaquah to meet their needs for more office space. But, there were lots of folks who needed to live somewhere and so the residential development took off. Issaquah has more than met its growth targets for years into the future.
The problem is that old town Issaquah didn’t plan to integrate its growth as part of the “special place where people care” and Issaquah Highlands always planned to stand alone on the hill. It’s an “us” and “them” thing when what is missing is the “we.”
Hank Thomas
Issaquah
School levies
Successful ballot issues were result of important community partnerships
On behalf of the Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, I would like to thank the community for the approval of all of our school levies. The students will directly benefit from your investment. The success of our campaign was based on a community wide effort to get out the vote and educate the community on the needs of our school district. The strategic partnerships between VIS, PTA, Teacher’s Union, senior citizens and the Chamber of Commerce were critical to the outcome.
VIS could not have run the campaign without the vast number of volunteers that contributed numerous hours on behalf of our students. Our thanks to all who contributed to our accomplishment; we are grateful for your support. It was rewarding to have the community validate the efforts with a clear message that they value our schools and are willing to support the next generation.
Alison Meryweather, Kelly Munn and Floyd Rogers
Volunteers for Issaquah co-chairs
Math books
Adoption process involves community and school board, not courts
I was dismayed at the ruling of King County Superior Court Judge Julie K. Spector which labeled the Seattle School Board’s math text book adoption as arbitrary and capricious, and ordered the school board to reconsider its decision.
It is the statutory responsibility of the local school board, and not the courts, the state Board of Education, or the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to decide which textbooks are appropriate for the schools in its community. The process for recommending instructional materials is prescribed in law and requires the involvement of an Instructional Materials Committee and the opportunity for parents to offer their opinions, a process that could hardly be called arbitrary and capricious.
Choosing textbooks in mathematics is complicated business. Local school boards must consider many factors: the ability of the instructional materials to address the standards and grade level expectations as set forth by the state of Washington; the ability of the text book to ensure that all students have a balanced and rigorous mathematics experience, the availability of supplementary materials to reach all learners, alignment with materials used in other grade spans, their cost and the reliability of the publisher to fulfill its contract with the district. To add to the complexity, significant disagreements on approaches to teaching math exist among math educators, academicians and those using math on a daily basis in their careers.
It is very difficult to find appropriate materials to match our Washington state standards without the use of supplementary materials. Washington represents a very small portion of the national text book market. I have hope, however, that in the future this matching of standards and text books will be easier. Our state has joined 49 other states in signing a memorandum of understanding to establish common core standards for math and English language arts.
This common core should attract more text book companies to provide instructional materials aligned with state and national standards, which are mathematically sound and can address the diverse learning styles and needs of students. These choices will provide local school boards more options to choose from as they meet their statutory obligation to make the best decisions on behalf of the children in their communities.
Connie Fletcher
Issaquah member of the state Board of Education
Pledge of Allegiance
With the way education is taught today, reaction to the pledge is no surprise
I am proud of America and the Pledge of Allegiance as well as supporting Lynn Stuter comments in the Feb. 10 Press issue. I am thankful for those that do support the American flag and the associated pledge that is recited in the presence of the Old Glory.
If one takes the Pledge seriously, at each occasion where it is repeated, then they will have an interest in what is happening to America today. As an 81-year-old proud American, I have seen all kinds of people that do things today that were not tolerated years ago.
We had desks in school where we kept all our books, etc., and did not need to lock anything up. No homework, so the backbreaking back packs were not needed, the nonunion teachers were getting the message across! In fact, with this type of education I worked as a lead engineer on the engine systems design of S-1C first stage for the Saturn/Apollo moon rocket in New Orleans that put those guys on the moon. Now this administration has changed NASA from going into space to staying on the ground!
There were seven rows of six desks in my classes, that is 42 in a class, folks. We did all our own work at the desk or chalk board. Now they have the eight kids around a common table, doing what? American history was a requirement to graduate. We did not need to lock up our house when we left home. When we parked the car it was never locked, even downtown. We also recited the pledge each day of school, and prayers were allowed in school as well as at school functions. The school principal gave a prayer during the Dec. 8, 1941, school assembly to listen to the speech on the radio by President Roosevelt.
Ken Sessler
Issaquah
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