Students at Shoultes Elementary in the Marysville School District have taken the initiative to reduce bullying on their playground.
At a recent Marysville School Board meeting, several students outlined what they did during the recently-ended school year to make classmates feel more comfortable. They learned to use “bystander power” when it looked like someone was being picked on, and how to speak firmly.
Wearing blue T-shirts and carrying matching blue clipboards, conflict managers Chelsey O’Neal, Kevin Roberts and James Hawley, all fifth-graders, explained how they helped mediate disputes on the playground by writing plans that are signed by both parties and end in a handshake.
Students in Toni Aldrich’s fourth-grade class also started the Anti-Bullying Association, which requires classmates to pass a written test on how to resolve differing disputes and bullying scenarios.
If students pass, they also must memorize a pledge before being awarded a badge, explained ABA co-founders Sean Hickman and Jake VanderVaate.
“It really did have quite an effect on the playground,” said John Waldrop, the school’s principal. “The kids generated quite a few of their own ideas, which were really good, and they got some guidance to make them work.”
Student video at Bob Marley Museum
Janet Webber, a recent Lynnwood High School graduate, had her documentary film on peace selected for display at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica.
Webber contacted the Bob Marley Foundation to request permission to use some of the reggae musician’s songs.
After learning about the project, the foundation requested a copy of the video for use in the museum.
Design work to begin for two high schools
Architects will soon begin design work on the new Lynnwood and Scriber Lake high schools in the Edmonds School District.
The district has not decided where each school will be built, but preliminary design work can begin without a specific location.
Bassetti Architects of Seattle has been retained at Lynnwood High and Mahlum Architects of Seattle will take on Scriber Lake, a smaller alternative high school.
Preliminary design work is expected to cost $2.9 million for Lynnwood and $600,000 for Scriber.
“We need to identify where it is going to be built and the best method of paying for it, and those are being evaluated,” said Superintendent Nick Brossoit.
Voters approved the design work but not construction costs as part of a four year, $44 million capital improvements levy in May.
Northshore bus fleet gets high marks
The Northshore School District’s bus fleet scored 99.2 percent out of a possible 100 percent during a recent inspection conducted by the State Patrol.
The State Patrol inspected the district’s 133-bus fleet and found one defect – flashers on one bus that were not working.
The district receives advance notice of the inspection, which is one of two during the year where the entire fleet is reviewed. The State Patrol also conducts a surprise inspection of a portion of the fleet during the school year.
Northshore has scored a perfect 100 percent on the last three surprise inspections.
During the 2003-04 school year, the fleet logged 1.8 million miles with no passenger injuries.
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