School closures
Question authority before we lose more
At the “risk” of being negative, I must say that the dire fiscal problems of Shoreline School district can be traced to the fact that the community of parents and teachers defer to authority instead of scrutinizing the performance of the men and women of mere titles.
It is the obsequious behavior of too many in Shoreline that allowed Superintendent Welsh and his cronies to be richly rewarded for their corrupt practices and which, to this day, continues to allow those who, went along by being “yes men,” to benefit in the form of higher salary and bonus structures.
Like the phenomenally corrupt Bush administration, the school district administration and school board president Mike Jacobs have as their raison d’etre to protect their private club at the expense of you the taxpayer. The modus operandi is simple: Cast aspersions against critics, smear such people as negative and insinuate that all is well if we just “go along to get along.”
The cheap trick works only if the victim submits.
The tragedy continues; only the seats on the Titanic have changed.
To put it in other words, what can you expect when the parents act like frightened children? Oh, and by the way, remember Mike’s golden rule, you must not offend anyone.
Chuck Leone
Shoreline
With the Tap of a Gavel …
With the tap of a gavel,
our lives have begun to unravel.
Our communities ripped apart,
emotions tugging at our hearts.
Our kids ask us “why?” “where will I
go”, we answer quite simply…
“honey, I just don’t know.”
Three vote “yay”, one says “nay”
one chooses to abstain, how much
sadness can the audience contain?
The gavel is tapped,
our energies sapped…
“wait! – what just happened?”
Can it all be over with one simple click?
For our schools are more than mortar
and bricks, they are the foundation of what makes neighborhoods tick.
Of our efforts we are proud, but we
are crying so loud it hardly seems
fair that a group of five gets to
decide the fate of so many lives.
No one can possibly understand all
that is lost, just to fix a budget at
any cost.
Look at our faces stained with tears,
for in our eyes you’ll see what we fear.
The unknown, the unfamiliar, the
different, and the new; what do you
say to your children when they
hurt as much as you?
Our beloved Sunset, you have given
us so much … we’ll never say
goodbye for good friends never die.
Instead, we’ll say see you later, for
there is no place greater.
Julie Fredrickson
Sunset teacher and mom
School safety
Ruling against cell phones is against safety
Shoreline School District isn’t thinking through their school closures, their boundary changes, their budgets and now our children’s safety.
I was surprised and shocked to read the Orca Bulletin parent newsletter from Miriam Tencate, principal at Highland Terrace on Tuesday, April 16. Her new rule for children at HLT is no cell phones to school. I tried to give Mrs. Tencate the benefit of the doubt; maybe some expensive cell phone was lost, maybe kids were texting each other during class, but I am sure this is another rule of the school district that was not discussed with the students or parents before being shoved down our throats.
The timing of this rule in our bulletin is what made me sick. Don’t Shoreline School District principals and administrators know about the worst massacre in U.S. history taking student lives the day before at Virginia Tech? Most of those students only contact with parents was their personal cell phones? The VTech web site was overloaded, computers froze up. VTech phones were overloaded and their communication systems crashed. The HLT Orca Bulletin goes on to say “all calls to the outside need to be made from office phones.” This isn’t going to work in an emergency, my kid better not run to the office if a gunman enters their school; I teach my kids to run — run — run — period — get out. This phone use rule is only so office staff can screen the intent of the call, which doesn’t provide students with privacy.
Feel free to join me in providing safe communications between your children and their parents and sneak a cell phone in your kid’s backpack (remember to keep them on vibrate, with no sound). In the wake of another school shooting; it’s time to teach your kids to think for themselves — don’t rely on the Shoreline School District to make reasonable choices for your kids. They have proven they are not a reasonable district.
Beth Easterday
Shoreline
Public health
County Councilman to host open house
I invite Enterprise readers to a Town Hall Meeting I am hosting in Shoreline with the new director of our local public health agency, Dr. David Fleming, on Thursday, May 3. The meeting will be from 7-8:30 p.m. at Meridian Park Elementary School, 17077 Meridian Ave. N., Shorelin, with a public reception immediately preceding the program at 6:30 p.m. The meeting promises to be a great opportunity to learn more about King County’s many public health programs. When two public health clinics in North King County — in North Seattle and Bothell — were threatened with closure last year due to budget cuts, I was proud to help create a funding package to keep the clinics open through 2007. However, the long-term financial picture for public health remains unclear. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting — and be sure to bring your questions.
Bob Ferguson
King County Councilmember, District 1
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