Issaquah School District uses scorecard to track progress
February 22, 2011
Every day, teachers grade students on their work and class participation. Now, Issaquah School District administrators are grading the district with an annual progress report called a scorecard.
District administrators have worked on designing the scorecard website since spring 2010, and the Issaquah School Board approved the scorecard layout and content at its Jan. 26 meeting. The site — accessible from www.issaquah.wednet.edu — will be launched either this spring or fall.
“We do very extensive and comprehensive monitoring around our ends policies and we thought the scorecard was a good means of doing that,” school board President Jan Woldseth Colbrese said.
The scorecard will measure about 20 milestones using data from standardized tests, the Healthy Youth Survey, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, and community polls administered by the district.
Issaquah woman reclaims life after Interstate 90 crash
February 22, 2011
Rachel McNaul (above), almost fully recovered from being almost killed by another driver in a 2009 accident, is once again able to get behind the wheel and shape her own life. By Greg Farrar
On Dec. 15, 2009, Rachel McNaul left her home in North Bend headed to Bellevue Honda. Near the Preston exit on Interstate 90, what should have been a 30-minute drive turned into a journey that McNaul is still on. A car driving in the wrong direction slammed head-on into her car.
The accident nearly killed the aspiring physical education teacher. McNaul, 24 at the time, suffered 19 broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. The other driver was seriously injured.
One year and 10 surgeries later, McNaul, who now lives in Issaquah, is nearly fully recovered. She still suffers from lingering effects from the accident and is still in physical therapy. But she is determined not to let the accident shape her life.
“Bad choices were made that day on her part,” McNaul said, referring to the other driver, Janet Bumgardner. But “her decisions are not going to get me down.”
Issaquah health fair offers free screenings
February 22, 2011
The ninth annual Issaquah/Sammamish Health & Safety Fair, with a wide array of free health screenings, will be from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at Pickering Farm. Admission is free.
The fair will feature more than 50 health care professionals representing about 35 businesses. My I.D. Club, a service of the King County Police Union, will offer free fingerprinting of children. The Issaquah and Sammamish Citizen Corps councils will have information about emergency preparedness for families and businesses. Eastside Fire & Rescue staff will also be on hand.
Specialists from Issaquah will be available to discuss topics, such as care for Alzheimer’s patients and braces for children. Ask questions about women’s health concerns or weight lifting.
Looking for a new doctor, dentist, chiropractor, personal trainer or acupuncturist? No appointment necessary to meet with these professionals at the Health & Safety Fair.
The health fair is presented by Overlake Medical Clinics — Issaquah and co-sponsored by the city of Issaquah Parks & Recreation Department.
Pickering Farm is north of Interstate 90 between exits 15 and 17, across from Costco.
County hosts Preston meeting about farm flood risk
February 22, 2011
Help is available for farmers interested in building and repairing farm pads — elevated land to store livestock, farm equipment and other essentials during a flood.
King County is hosting a meeting in Preston on Feb. 28 to offer advice and technical help to rural landowners.
The likelihood of flooding is a fact of life for many farmers living and working on the rich bottomlands in King County river valleys. The county has been working for several years to help reduce the impact of flooding by helping farmers build farm pads.
Landowners from flood-prone areas can learn more about farm pads at the meeting from 6-8 p.m. at the Preston Community Center, 8625 310th Ave. S.E. County staffers plan to discuss technical assistance related to design, construction and permitting for farm pads. Landowners who built farm pads also plan to discuss the experience.
Contact Project Manager Claire Dyckman at 206-296-1926 or claire.dyckman@kingcounty.gov to learn more.
PSE natural gas rates could increase April 1
February 22, 2011
Puget Sound Energy, state Utilities and Transportation Commission staff members and others have reached a tentative agreement to allow PSE to increase natural gas rates.
The average residential natural gas customer using 68 therms a month should experience a 2 percent increase, or $1.68, for a revised bill of $84.65. The settlement agreement proposes no change to the $10-per-month basic service charge for residential natural gas customers. PSE had originally asked to increase the fee to $10.62 per month.
The agreement calls for the rates to go into effect April 1, if commissioners approve the proposed pact.
The tentative settlement heads to the three-member regulatory commission. The commission is not bound by the staff recommendation to accept the agreement.
Trio reunites to wrap up album ‘35 years in the making’
February 22, 2011
The Halyards are (from left) Larry Mason, Chris Funk and Eric Tingstad. By Karen Moskowitz
Eric Tingstad, half of the Grammy-winning duo Tingstad and Rumbel, has been quite busy over the past two years collaborating on six albums with other artists.
But it is his latest project that the Sammamish resident is perhaps most excited about. The Halyards’ “Fortune Smiles” represents for Tingstad an artistic reunion with his high school buddies Chris Funk and Larry Mason. The album’s sound is unmistakably Americana, the fastest growing musical genre in popularity, Tingstad said. It’s a sound that is decidedly a far departure from the last time the three played together in the prog-rock band Pegasus in the 1970s.
“You could say this is the CD we started 35 years ago and just now got around to finishing,” Tingstad said.
Funk and Mason had been performing together for years, when after a stint in New York and a return to the Seattle area, they reconnected with Tingstad. He invited them to lay down a couple of songs at his Beaver Lake home recording studio, Cheshire Records.
“We accepted his invitation without any idea it would turn into a new album,” Funk said from his Capitol Hill home. “But we all just fell back into it. It was such a good feeling to be together again that it did result in something wonderful.”
County Council proclaims Black History Month
February 22, 2011
King County Council members on Feb. 14 proclaimed February as Black History Month.
Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, the Issaquah representative on the council and the author of a children’s book about Martin Luther King Jr., praised the decision.
“It is an honor to celebrate the many contributions African Americans have made in our nation’s history,” she said in a statement. “As a former teacher, I appreciate the ongoing efforts of our educators to highlight the accomplishments of African Americans who are meaningful role models for today’s youth.”
Dr. Carter G. Woodson originated the idea of a month dedicated to black history. The historian and educator hoped to raise awareness about the contributions of blacks to civilization.
So, he created Negro History Week to be celebrated in February, the birth month of Abraham Lincoln and former slave and black abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Participants celebrated the initial Negro History Week in 1926. In 1976, as the United States celebrated the bicentennial, Negro History Week became Black History Month, a celebration recognized in the United States and Canada.
EFR agrees to purchase boat
February 22, 2011
At its Feb. 10 meeting, the agency’s board of directors agreed to buy a used boat from the Duvall Fire District for $10,000.
The district is replacing the 1982 Wooldridge Extra Plus 21-foot jet boat with a newer model. EFR Deputy Chief Jeff Griffin said the district has taken excellent care of the old boat and that the 200 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor has plenty of life left in it. Griffin estimated a brand new version of a similar boat would cost the district $40,000 or more.
“This gives us a capability for water rescues and to deal with issues on our lakes and rivers,” EFR board Chairman Ron Pedee said. “It seems to me to be a great capability for the agency at a remarkably affordable price.”
EFR has an inflatable raft for water rescues but no jet boat. The boat will likely be stationed near Carnation, which most often sees water rescue calls due to its propensity for flooding.
Griffin said that water rescues in Lake Sammamish are the responsibility of officials at Lake Sammamish State Park at the south end of the lake. Given the difficultly of quickly moving a rescue boat, Griffin said firefighters making a water rescue on Beaver or Pine lakes will usually ask to borrow a nearby resident’s boat.
The board s also approved spending up to another $5,000 on repainting the boat, installing a radio and doing other necessary modifications.
Liberty uses strong performances to take seventh at 3A state
February 22, 2011
Logan Briggs places second in 200 freestyle, third in 500 freestyle
Logan Briggs, Liberty junior, stands on the podium after winning third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:37.88 at the state 3A swimming championships. By Tim Pfarr
Liberty High School took seventh place at the state swimming championship meet Feb. 19 at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, thanks to strong performances by Logan Briggs, Luke Duschl, Kevin Hays and Tyler Larson.
City upgrades TV equipment
February 22, 2011
City leaders agreed in early February to upgrade equipment for the public access Channel 21.
Cable TV Commission members requested $60,000 to purchase broadcast hardware and software, as well as a dedicated media server. The commission said the upgrades should improve the production quality and functionality. In addition, the equipment should provide integrated programming and production through a single system.
Commissioners presented the request to Council Transportation Committee members in July and August. The committee signed off on the proposal and recommended for the full City Council to allocate $60,000 from the cable TV fund — the account for upgrades to the cable system — to cover the purchases. The council approved the expenditure in a unanimous decision Feb. 7.
