Kim Barker

A plan to move some radio towers from the South Hill is making waves in a rural community 10 miles south of Spokane. Citadel Broadcasting Co. wants to broadcast its signals from the agricultural area, but residents have formed a non-profit organization to stop the move.

Tom Anderson doesn't mind singing his own praises. After all, the Freeman High School choir director started from scratch three years ago. The school hadn't had a choir in 15 years, but word of mouth brought 42 willing students into the class.

Brian Perry Brian Perry sat on a park bench Sunday afternoon and sketched daffodils in a paper tablet. He wanted to draw orchids, but two other people were chatting on the park bench facing those flowers.

Spokane police arrested a man Sunday afternoon after a car chase that ended in a three-vehicle accident in busy North Division traffic. William A. Leverette, 34, of Spokane was in jail Sunday night after his stomach was pumped at Sacred Heart Medical Center earlier that day, police said. He had ingested heroin, police said.

Bob Mortimer sits in his wheelchair on the gym floor at Central Valley High School. Mortimer was injured by a downed powerline while on drugs. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Emery

It's called the Personal Responsibility Act, and it could mean that parents will be responsible for paying more money for school meals. The act, part of the Republican Contract with America being debated in Congress, would reform welfare and roll all federal food programs into a single grant administered by states. In addition, federal school lunch subsidies would be eliminated for students who can afford to pay and money for child nutrition programs would be cut 17 percent.

Central Valley School District students served up a smorgasbord of award-winning artwork, music, literature and photography last weekend. Winners of the 1995 Parent Teacher Association Reflections were honored at an awards ceremony Saturday at Horizon Junior High. The winning artwork also was on display. "The children need the recognition in the arts," said Marilyn Greer, chairwoman of the PTA's Reflections program for the Central Valley School District PTA Council. "It's one of the things that isn't recognized that much in school, compared to sports programs."

Students at Progress Elementary School are having a ball using in-line skates in gym class. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

U-Hi student Sarah Scales

The Central Valley School Board gave final approval to its long-debated guidance policy this week. The policy will require counselors to consult parents in most cases before recommending outside help for students. A community and staff committee spent three months developing the policy and established safeguards for parents, counselors and students. The board spent another four hours Monday night pounding out small details before approving the policy.

The East Valley School District will not try to pass a bond issue this year if the school board follows a recommendation made at its meeting Tuesday. The district has failed its past three bond issue attempts and plans to continue gathering community input before trying a fourth time, Superintendent Chuck Stocker said. A grass-roots campaign at each school will help the district develop a possible bond timeline in time for the board's next meeting, Stocker said.

1. 22 years of controversy Supporters of the Roe vs. Wade decision hold a "Light the Way to choice" rally at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, N 1620 Monroe. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Abortion foes march from Deaconess to a rally outside the U.S. Court House. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Dr. Tom Gilpatrick planned to finish moving 34 boxes of about 4,000 patients' charts from his old office at Deaconess Medical Center today. The 70-year-old doctor closed his practice after providing abortions in Spokane since 1970, when Washington voters approved a referendum making the procedure legal with spousal or parental consent.

1. Eileen Lovell's fourth-graders at Ness Elementary join her on the floor for a math discussion. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Spencer Smith gets one-on-one tutoring from education assistant Peggy Kettleson in a hallway at Ness Elementary. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Standardized test results in social studies were invalidated for about 100 students at Salk Middle School because their teacher prepared them with questions similar to those on the actual test. About 400 eighth-graders at Salk originally took the 40-minute social studies portion of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills on Oct. 7. About 100 students had to retake another form of the test Jan. 4 after teacher Michael Holland told the school that the test may have been compromised, Principal Mary Haugen said.

The Central Valley School Board on Monday gave initial approval to a guidance policy that would require counselors to consult parents in almost all cases before recommending outside help for students. The long-debated policy is slated for final approval Jan. 23. Some parents had objected to the policy proposed in August because they feared they wouldn't be told about their children's non-school problems.

For many kids, recess is a time to hang on the swingset or choose up teams to play kickball. But for some, recess means stress. Some kid has to be the last one picked for the team. Some kid sits by himself because he's too shy. "Some kids don't want to go out at recess," said Sandi Deccio, who has two children at South Pines Elementary. "A lot of times, recess is when trouble happens."

Spelling isn't just the ABC's anymore - at least for the 10 elementary schools in a new spelling program designed to improve Spokane School District 81's low spelling scores. Students in the program concentrate on learning objectives, such as dropping a silent "e" before adding "ed," rather than memorizing a certain list of words.

Test scores increased in 15 of Spokane School District 81's 35 elementary schools. But most junior high and high school scores remained about the same as last year, except for 11thgrade math scores, which jumped between five and 16 points. Some of the increases and drops are more dramatic than others, especially in the elementary schools.