Letters

Schools

Scriber Lake forum was one-sided

I was dismayed and disappointed by the so-called “community forum” meeting at the Edmonds Homeschool Resource Center on Oct. 26 concerning the plan to move Scriber Lake High School students to the EHRC campus. Contrary to an open and impartial discussion of the situation, the meeting was more of a “whip up angry hysteria” rally — short on facts, but long on innuendo.

Interested parents should note several important points:

• No one from Scriber Lake High School was present to defend that program or answer questions about it.

• No students from Scriber Lake High School were present to defend the unfavorable characterizations made of them.

• The speakers cited the number of police reports at Scriber Lake compared to another school, clearly implying that Scriber Lake High School isn’t safe. This is a classic mistake of assuming cause and effect where none has been proven. The number of police reports that a school has says nothing about the actual frequency of incidents at the school or its safety.

One speaker — going against the obvious anti-Scriber Lake mood in the room — told her story of having lunch with some Scriber Lake High School students. One of those students explained that she felt safer at Scriber Lake High School than at a regular high school. Sadly, this speaker’s story was given short shrift by the audience, which by then had turned openly hostile.

Like apparently everyone else at the meeting, I don’t have all of the facts on Scriber Lake High School. But I can recognize fair and impartial handling of an issue, and that clearly didn’t happen at the meeting. It may be that those who planned this meeting think they represent EHRC parents. They definitely don’t represent me.

DOUG TAYLOR

Edmonds

Mill Creek

Meeting absences must be made public

While attending a recent Mill Creek City Council meeting, I noticed one council member was again absent. When it came time for the council members to vote on excusing their absent peer all of them did, except for Councilman Mike Todd, who abstained.

After the vote, Todd made an excellent suggestion that the topic of what is an excused absence be placed on the agenda of an upcoming Council working session.

After hearing Todd’s suggestion, I was surprised to learn our Council doesn’t have such a policy. Since then I have been advised that there is not a Revised Code of Washington nor a Washington Administrative Code that would help our local representatives define what is an excused absence from a city council meeting.

I strongly support Todd’s suggestion. Our Council should consider having a committee to review the problem and give recommendations to the Council for review and action. This committee could be made up of Mayor Donna Michelson, Todd, the city attorney, city manager, and one Mill Creek citizen at large.

I believe that when a representative is absent from a Council meeting or study group the citizens should be advised on why the person was not at the meeting. Was there a family emergency, vacation, representing our city at another meeting, sick, on military or community disaster leave, or primary job emergency?

The reason for the excused or non-excused absenteeism of a Council member should become part of the official record. This way citizens can make legislators accountable for their time and thank those who do their job of representing us.

Now what City Council person could be against this? Thank you Councilman Todd for your insightful suggestion.

CHUCK WRIGHT

Mill Creek

Environment

There are many ways to prevent pollution

My name is Justin Lawrence. I am a fifth grader at Seaview School. I think it is annoying for someone to throw trash in a public creek.

Also, everyone likes fish, right? Well, by wasting water and using chemicals unwisely, pretty soon there won’t be any for fishermen to brag about.

If you let pet waste go in the street it will probably go into a storm drain and will go straight to the Puget Sound.

If you like plants it will be better for the environment if you plant native plants. Native plants are plants that grew here before people were here. Native plants help clean dirt from creeks like a filter and they can also provide food for some bugs.

Wash your car on the lawn. It will help the Puget Sound by not any soap going in it.The difference between a storm drain and a sewer is that the sewer water goes to a treatment plant and gets treated until it is good enough to go back to the Puget Sound. The storm drain goes straight to Puget Sound. So don’t make Puget Sound polluted by throwing trash in a storm drain.

Don’t bury your oil, because sooner or later it will sink in and go to an underground stream and then go to Puget Sound and kill fish and other underwater wildlife. The correct way to dispose of oil is go to an oil recycler and they will recycle the oil and make other oils.

JUSTIN LAWRENCE

Edmonds