June 2009

A trio of plaintiffs has challenged Seattle Public Schools' recent adoption of the Discovering series of high school math texts.

The three Seattle citizens—a parent of a Seattle schools student, a grandparent, and a University of Washington professor of atmospheric sciences, contend that the textbooks will fail to adequately reduce the achievement gap between Caucasians and non-Caucasians, and between wealthy and poorer students. This failure will result from lack of "explicit instruction," according to the plaintiffs.

An appeal of the Seattle School Board's controversial decision on May 6 to adopt the Discovering series of high school math texts was filed in King County Superior Court on June 5. Plaintiffs are DaZanne Porter, a mother of an 8th grade student in Seattle Public Schools, Martha McLaren, retired Seattle math teacher and grandparent of a Seattle Public Schools fourth grader, and Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington.

Early Monday, 911 received reports of shots fired in the 4100 block of 47th Avenue Southwest. One person reported seeing two males in front of the home with flashlights, possibly trying to make entry. Officers arrived to find an 18 year old and his 17-year-old female friend. He claimed that two men had tried to kick in the front door (but failed) and that he had heard a gunshot outside. But officers quickly determined that the shot had come from inside the home. Not only that, but the bullet had pierced the wall of the neighbor's house and was found lying on the floor beneath the neighbor's bed. The young man changed his story when the police said they knew the shot had come from inside, saying that, oh, perhaps the intruders had gotten inside and fired a shot. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of discharging a weapon and for possession and concealment of the same.

On Wednesday morning at 11, an intoxicated man first refused to leave the lobby of a Junction business and then passed out there. Officers stopped by to pick him up and discovered that he was wanted on a $15,000 King County felony warrant. The 31-year-old was booked into King County Jail.

The King County Food and Fitness Initiative is developing a community action plan that will determine specific tactics to support areas like Delridge and White Center. The Initiative aims to incorporate healthy living in schools, create safe spaces for activities and create healthy retail outlets in communities.

Strategy design teams are meeting to get more specific on tactics, activities and timeline and are looking for public input. Join the Food Education Empowerment and Sustainability Team (F.E.E.S.T.) for a Potluck on June 24 at 5:30 p.m. at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way S.W.

Anyone interested in becoming more involved in the planning or design effort to influence policy and practice so that everyone can be active and have access to affordable, healthy, locally grown food or to help build thriving, safe communities, can contact maggie.anderson@kingcounty.gov or call (206) 205-3186.

Snacks! Ballard Bodega made its grand opening this morning in a time when many local businesses are shuttering.

With shelves packed, soft serve ice cream ready to eat and the "to go" hot dog window open for the lunch rush, owner Dante Rivera is as ready as he can be.

“It’ll be a huge learning curve, I’m guessing for the first month,” Rivera said. “The idea is to keep people somewhat happy with free soft serve ice cream the first week.”

Rivera has been selling his Dante’s hot dogs as a street vendor for several years in Ballard and has now found a location at 5219 Ballard Ave. N.W., Ballardites can find it at the end of the parking lot between Bop Street Records and King’s Hardware.

Snacks! will be offering everyday needs and staples in addition to bringing in Ballard market vendors and offering retail space to sell their items, Rivera said.

“Because of the refrigeration, it’s not so much produce, but we’ll have some fruits that aren’t quite as perishable (...) we’ll also have some of the finer pastas, Molly Moon’s Ice Cream and fresh flowers,” he said.

I talk to many folks these days who are looking for ways to manage stress and worries in their lives. With so much change happening in the world and sometimes even personally, it’s normal to feel a bit off-balance.

I really like the thought of having a “toolbox” of stress relievers to help cope with all the ups, downs and uncertainties (and are also good for me). My toolbox includes things like a hot bath, herbal tea, the occasional glass of wine (red, please), walking, meditation and reading inspiring books.

I must say, however, while all of those are good things, that what gives me the most solid sense of being present, calm and centered is an ancient Chinese martial art form, Taiji Quan. When the ground feels little less solid, it’s good to find the ability to root.

“Taiji is a vacation from your life”, said Andy Dale, teacher and practitioner of Taiji Quan, among other disciplines, and owner of Xin Qi Shen dojo in Ballard.

I’m not so sure I agree. At least for me, Taiji is very challenging.

Dear Editor,

I read with interest your article on the movie shot at the Nat in 1952. I went to school at Lafayette and Madison with Guy Farmer and Frank Lemon. I would have also been in the class of 1953 at West Seattle if my parents hadn’t moved to California in 1948. As it was I graduated from South San Francisco High School in the class of 1953.

As I recall, Guy’s dad owned a Radio repair store in West Seattle. Both Guy and Frank were buddies of mine. I lost track of both of them years ago.

Bob Williams
Seattle

Dear Editor,

I just wanted to share with you some feedback about the new format of the newspapers. First of all, I enjoy the new smaller format. We save trees and the smaller paper is easier to handle. However, there is a downside to consider and that is it is harder to read because of the smaller font size.

It is especially harder to read the ads at the back of the paper. This is troublesome to me because I really like supporting local businesses and utilize the local papers printed by Robinson Newspapers to find what I need.

Would you consider making the font larger while keeping the smaller format newspaper? I think your readership who has difficulties with reading smaller print would really appreciate seeing the ads return to their regular, easier-to-read size.

Chris Galvin
Seattle

For all young people, high school graduation represents both past achievements and a new beginning, but this year’s graduating class at Chief Sealth High School may be better prepared for their future than previous classes, thanks to the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

The class of 2009 is the first to graduate from Sealth with the opportunity to take challenging IB courses, or even earn a full IB degree.
Because Sealth has been established as an International Baccalaureate World School, it offers a curriculum that is more broad and has an international focus.

Classes like Theory of Knowledge, which requires students analyze the ways they learn, encourage them to tackle new ideas.

“(International Baccalaureate is) designed to be less about facts and more about deep learning and a global perspective,” said principal John Boyd. “For the school as a whole it’s outstanding. It has brought everyone to a higher level.”

Students can take just as many IB courses as they are interested in, or apply for the full IB degree.

Although I knocked on the door of the house named “Rakowski’s Roost” to ask about living across from the carved eagle, I realized right away that Duane and Guant Rakowski deserved their own story. For example, how many people in Ballard have first hand knowledge of the entry to every residence in 98107 and 98117 zip codes?

When I first knocked Guant told me that I should talk to her husband Duane about the eagle, but he was on his way to work. When I returned it was their day to watch grandson Tyler, almost 20 months old. Although Duane took the lead on his reminiscences, Guant would chime in with details and clarification.

Duane has lived in a six-block vicinity of his home on 32nd Avenue Northwest for 54 years, and always on 32nd itself. As a child, he lived nearer the Locks until his parents decided to take a closer look at house that had been vacant for two years to the north.

“This is the house,” they realized in 1962. In 1976 Duane bought the house next door which is where he and Guant raised a daughter and son after their marriage in 1981.

West Seattle High School graduation at Memorial Stadium was a stately ceremony. The soon to be graduates marched onto the field—the young males all in dark blue escorting young females in white, some wearing three inch heels, probably for the first time.

I must revise that statement about the ceremony being stately. One young graduate did a back flip as he exited down the ramp after receiving his diploma. Some girls made their statements displaying green or bright red dyed hair.

As a feminist of many years standing, I wondered why, if high school is the first rung of the academic ladder, that the scene should reflect the sex differences so blatantly if the focus of learning is using the brain and not one’s gender. But tradition is strong.

In my day a young female expected to marry soon out of high school, so the role of the female was to bear children and raise a family. As most graduates lived on farms, young wives worked on the farm sharing the chores with their husbands. .