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February 17, 2012 in City
Schoolteachers thank community for supporting levies
After levies’ success, celebrations include sign-waving at street corners to thank voters
Central Valley High School teachers, from left, Kathy Wolrehammer, Leanne Donley, Jenne Hatcher and Krista Larson show gratitude to passing motorists at Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road on Thursday morning. District employees covered all four corners to thank voters for passing the school levy on Tuesday.
(Full-size photo)
Central Valley School District employees waved brightly lettered signs reading “Thank you” at passing motorists in Spokane Valley on Thursday to show appreciation to voters who helped pass the levy.
“We take the extra effort to stand out on the corner to get people to vote, and I just thought it was important to take the extra effort and stand out there and say thank you,” said Central Valley High School Principal Mike Hittle, who came up with the idea.
The endeavor was a first for Central Valley School District. Employees attached hand-written thank you notes to Vote Yes signs used during the campaign “so people would know what we were thanking them for,” Hittle said.
Spokane Public Schools and Mead School District employees started post-levy sign-waving after the 2003 levy and also have been out at busy intersections before and after school this week, officials said.
District officials throughout the region were nervous leading up to Tuesday’s levy election because of an aggressive anti-levy campaign and residents’ concerns about higher property taxes, so K-12 officials in the three largest districts were especially grateful the local taxes were approved.
“We wanted to thank the community for their continued support, especially in the current environment we’re in,” said Wayne Leonard, Mead School District’s business manager. “We want people to know we don’t take that support for granted.”
Said Hittle, “Quite often, as people, we do things in our normal life or whatever, and we don’t always say thank you. I just thought it was the right thing to do.”
Spokane Public Schools avoids further cuts 
Notapatriot on February 17 at 6:48 a.m.
As well they should. The money train juggernaught rolls on.
wobble506 on February 17 at 7:10 a.m.
So, I can see they are spending our tax dollars wisely already. Its Thursday AM. Why aren’t they in school, teaching the kids they care so much about???
Diana on February 17 at 7:12 a.m.
You’re welcome, teachers! I’m happy to support teachers and kids with my tax dollars.
mauijim on February 17 at 7:37 a.m.
They did it before school Wobble. Have a clue.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 17 at 7:45 a.m.
Haters still have to hate. Face it losers, Spokane OVERWHELMING likes its teachers and its schools, move on to something else to hate as you’ve lost this battle decisively.
dtmelin on February 17 at 7:48 a.m.
Selfishness & hate. What a way to spend your life…
avocet on February 17 at 8:07 a.m.
Ah, there’s Liberal again, hating the haters. So predictable…
Anyhoo, now that most of the levies have passed, maybe the grateful teachers can get to work on doing something about this:
http://youtu.be/MHtDF-z77wk
The_Seer on February 17 at 8:10 a.m.
avocet: Regarding your link: It’s not our job.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 17 at 8:24 a.m.
avocet, yeah I do hate people that think teachers are overpaid and ruining the country.
TheRoo on February 17 at 8:30 a.m.
It makes no difference whether you pay happily or with a measure of disgust, you have no choice.
When teachers (or any other special interest group) want an election, they are asking government to force you to do something you wouldn’t do otherwise.
That’s their definition of “freedom”.
The_Seer on February 17 at 8:35 a.m.
As an educator I didn’t support these levies for several reasons. I believe public education in the U.S. needs major reform and large institutions don’t tend to make major reforms until they are forced to due to budgetary reasons. A prime example is GM. They were a bloated, top heavy operation that was producing a product consumers didn’t trust. They were forced to reorganize by Obama’s Car Czar and just posted their best year ever.
Another reason I didn’t support these levies is because we need to hold our legislators accountable for fully funding education as required by state law. The trend of transferring the costs to localities will result in separate and unequal public schools. Visit Mead High School and Lakeside High School in Nine Mile Falls and take a long look at the differences of opportunities which exists between their student populations, especially with regards to information technology.
soccermomsusie on February 17 at 8:52 a.m.
The Seer! Awesome. Glad to see you will be returning the money and will be trading in your public-sector, all-teachers-are-millionaires job for a private-sector fast food career. FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!!
These teachers make me sick! But this is who they are - a bunch of thank-you-giving nambie pambies!
And you know who we are! We oppose all taxation and public service. Instead of saying “Thank You,” we were out there ripping out VOTE YES FOR THE LEVY signs, filing public information requests to waste taxpayers’ time and money, sending threats to all who stand in our way, inflating the levy cost, standing with the most moral business man since Mr. Potter - Duane Alton, steeping ourselves in AM radio talk and taking our orders from the Washington Policy Center - just like this fine newspaper.
WHO WOULD NOT WANT TO STAND WITH ME AND ALL THE FINE INDIVIDUALS WHO DO THE DEEDS I JUST MENTIONED!?!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!
PlanB on February 17 at 9:06 a.m.
Seer, I agree. School districts aren’t running their operations efficiently, and the legislature doesn’t take funding education seriously.
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 17 at 9:16 a.m.
I just don’t see the teachers as being the problem. I think one needs to look a little higher, admin etc…, to see where the real problems are.
Teachers are just expendable pawns in this game of corruption.
Just my 2 cents……
PROFINTOX on February 17 at 9:27 a.m.
Seer — yes, GM is an example of being forced to change, but that change did not come from a denial of funds like a no vote on the levy represents. It came from taxpayer money, specifically $52.4 BILLION dollars of taxpayer money. You are using an example of taxpayer money-funded success to support your argument that schools should be denied taxpayer money to force them to change likewise. Not sure that argument works for me though I do not disagree much with the GM bailout (as long as they truly make taxpayers whole in the end).
Soccermomsusie — love your sense of humor. Always adds levity to forums where sometimes people just get mean and nasty.
DDC on February 17 at 9:28 a.m.
More money for the educational status quo is akin to thinking the more pizza you eat, the thinner you will become.
@avocet, I had to stop watching halfway through…I see the same thing on Leno’s “Jaywalking” and in my home with my kids…and my daughter’s an honor student.
The saddest part is, many educators, administrators and union reps, believe it or not, feel the same, but are powerless to do anything about it and are relentlessly persecuted when they speak out.
But we live in a PT Barnum society, educated to believe that the “Pizza Diet” is “possible”.
Lowrider on February 17 at 9:56 a.m.
While I don’t disagree with the fact that there are problems with public schools, and that the funding apparatus for public schools is far from the greatest, the meat axe approach to fixing it is just wrong, and the ones that will feel the pain from that approach are the students.
Someone mentioned Lakeside earlier………….there is a school district that from what I’ve seen, is a model of doing more with less. One of their elementary school principals doubles as the vice principal of the high school for goodness sake. The whole district took pay cuts last year. Their entire district administration is like one guy and a couple of secretarys. And yet, they are 30 votes away from losing their levy. Voting for a 25 percent cut to that district is not “making a statement about education reform”. It’s just short sighted self interest. You want to make a difference? Run for the school board. But fund the schools.
Anyway, Congratulations to the teachers, and their students, and keep doing good work.
Middleman on February 17 at 10:08 a.m.
Wobble….your comment mirrors your intellegence. There were no teachers waving signs at 7:40 when school started. You are smart not to post your real name.
Avocet….adolescent try at supporting your assertion. Teachers were working their tails off before, during and after the levy. And, pass or fail, continue to do so. Step into a classroom and see for yourself. Its so easy to throw stones from the sidelines. Pathetic.
Seer….same ole, same ole from you. I hope the folks in the trenches in the rooms to your left and right know you didn’t support the school and kids you work for. You are pretty bombastic with your comments, so I suppose they do. I bet you are not very popular in your building right about now. Also a typical comment from someone who publicly lashed out at coaches around Jim Paton’s funeral. You don’t support extra-curricular athletics, so its not surpising you are not a educational program supporter. (I could pull that up if you want…unless it was erased by the moderators)
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 17 at 11:02 a.m.
@Middleman
Any idea what time of the day the picture was actually taken?
Perhaps the SR could divulge that information?
Then if there are any to complain, I am sure they will.
I think it was a good thing for them to do. A very positive thing to do!
reservedparking on February 17 at 11:12 a.m.
It was before the start of school. CV has late starts on Wednesday & Thursday. They were there before school, not after it started. Facts are amazing tools - if you use them.
I’m often reminded in these comment threads of the old adage ‘better to keep your mouth shut & be thought a fool, versus opening your mouth and removing all doubt’.
The_Seer on February 17 at 11:20 a.m.
middleman: I work for a private school since the beginning of this school year. I surrendered tenure and salary to get out of the miasma of the public school system where activity is mistaken for achievement. My daughter has never been enrolled in a public school. My money is where my mouth is, believe it. The school I work for now sent every graduate from last year’s class on to higher education. Every graduate. District 81 is lucky to graduate 2/3 of their students let alone have them enter college.
I am a huge supporter of athletics. Just not when I’m forced to pay for them.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Middleman on February 17 at 11:43 a.m.
Thank you for being honest. At least we know where you are coming from.
David Bray on February 17 at 11:52 a.m.
TO: liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 17 at 8:24 a.m……..
My, my, my……you do clam up when a teacher like Seer, who is obviously a well educated and objective thinker, tells it like it is about public schools.
Unfortunately, subjective and ignorant people who refuse to research the facts, will always be in line to play the heartstrings of well-meaning people to continue to fund failure.
FYI: there’s a huge difference between a “teacher” and a person who teaches. I’d bet money you can’t tell the difference….or even know there is one.
Ashree_Simon on February 17 at 12:22 p.m.
To: David
What I don’t understand is how a “well educated and objective thinker” like teacher Seer is always posting his comments here during school hours. If he’s really a teacher, shouldn’t he be teaching?
soccermomsusie on February 17 at 12:28 p.m.
DDC! Great point! It’s like spending more money on a car or a house and expecting that the car or house will be better than a less expensive one. RIDICULOUS!!!!
TheSeer, I am sorry that you lost your job in public education. Sometimes those performance standards cut both ways. Too bad. You would have been the one to “arrange” the next debate at Ferris.
TheSeer you bring up a good point about public vs. private schools too.
It is amazing to me that a private school, which can pick and choose its students, does better than a public school, in that the law forces a public school to take every student - from the wheelchair bound cerebral palsy kid to the kleptomaniacal, fetal-alcohol-syndromed serial arsonist. It is weird that public schools do worse. I just don’t get it.
I think it would be a neat science fair project to show how it is that schools who can select their student do better than schools that have to take any ragamuffin. I would like it explained to me because I sure don’t get it. Maybe that’s why Northwest Christian didn’t take me, that and the inability of my parents to pay and that I’ve always been ethanol powered.
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!
avocet on February 17 at 2:52 p.m.
Middleman: I simply provided a link to a YouTube video. That’s hardly “adolescent” or “pathetic.” Why so defensive?
And as a taxpayer, I have every right to “throw stones” when I’m not happy with they way my money is being spent. You must be a teacher, the way to you refer to those who PAY for this broken system as being on the “sidelines.”
greyhound2 on February 17 at 4:19 p.m.
Just because the levy passed, don’t expect any changes in low test scores and high drop out rates. There is no correlation in public schools between amounts invested and results achieved. A lot of the problem, however, is the students themselves. Nobody owes students an education, they only owe the students an opportunity to get themselves an education, which is easily available and often ignored.
PROFINTOX on February 17 at 4:24 p.m.
A lot of good comments on this thread. Some observations:
First, as I had stated before, much of what determines whether a student is successful or not has to do with both their personal attributes (drive, base intelligence etc… their, wiring if you will) along with family support to encourage their development. I have always been academically inclined (curious to learn) and had a great set of encouraging parents to support me. I did just fine in the public school system and I have had many friends and colleagues over the years in the same situation. Though we attended schools where levies were passed, I do not think this had much to do with our academic successes. And we had our share of friends who did not succeed for the same reasons — they did not have the same attributes (did not care, just wanted to party, parents did little to encourage etc…). Also, we had both great teachers and average/poor teachers. Regardless of having poor teachers, we managed to still learn and succeed in those courses of study by learning, for instance, outside of the classroom. So, there is all this talk of how money supports or does not support this and that. I am not here to say that funds are unimportant — we all know funds are necessary simply to operate and then things build from there. You certainly do need to have access. But most of us who succeeded academically CARED about it — even if we did not like some of the curriculum — we were bright enough to know that performance mattered.
To continue with a second point, it does not then surprise me whatsoever that private schools outperform publics. Obviously they do. They can be selective, as I believe Soccermom pointed out. They can choose to pull in the best students based on some of the attributes I discussed earlier. On top of that they can be more selective regarding the teacher base which serves to take the best advantage of that more selective student base. If everything goes right you truly can end up with synergy. But, I still think it is the student’s personal qualities and support system that are the best factors to success.
I do not believe your really need studies to back up these observations. Sometimes you really can rely on common sense and what one has seen over the years. I realize I have generalized about some things, but I still think these observations are valid.
nslopeofw on February 17 at 5:15 p.m.
Ahhh, the predictable ravings of the SR backed and loved, fake conservative, Soccoermomsuzie. At some point, all will know you are a liberal hack for SR, and you will become irrelevant, until then, keep up the worthless drivel.
oneanddone on February 17 at 6:22 p.m.
Profintox - exactly right but maybe it could have been a little more emphatic. For all who blame teachers for their kids being a lesion on the butt of society, better to look in the mirror. I’m also convinced that 99.99% of all who complain about teachers, their union, and their pay are just simply selfish and demand caviar on a hotdog budget. If you REALLY think public school can’t educate your kid then you do it. It is just glorified baby sitting anyway - right?
Pigrobin on February 17 at 6:53 p.m.
Nslope, so right. I use to think, who could possibly read the drivel coming from the soccermom moniker and then began to wonder what could possibly be the motivation for spending so much time posting nonsense. I gave up and determined it’s someone who has nothing better to do with their life or some SR hack writer. It takes all kinds.
DDC on February 18 at 12:22 a.m.
SMS…I know you percieve yourself as the coy one, but your house analogy does not fly,,as in…there are no other houses to comapre it’s value to. It’s a monopoly and has no other houses to worry about. But I appreciate your scriptive alter ego. You might just try being yourself sometime.
flyerd1 on February 22 at 2:07 p.m.
Regardless of your levy beliefs it should be disconcerting that we seem to have such a biased newspaper: There was a time when news agencies dissected both sides of issues and allowed equal time for each side to represent their arguments. It seems the Spokesman has completely lost it’s way in this regard and forsaken those historical charges that their communities entrusted them with. Rather, they move ever closer to a checkout stand publication with little use. The recent levy controversy is yet another example of extreme bias:
In regard to published articles, guest columns, & letters there were:
33 Pro Levy (including numerous “staff editorials” and “Guest Opinion” columns with NO 200 word limits)…
vs.
3 Anti-Levy (with none of the aforementioned “extra long” columns). Btw, I sent 2 in myself and neither was published. It’s hard to believe that I was the “only” one that had that happen don’t you think?
Interestingly (by pure coincidence I’m sure), 2 of the 3 were posted 2 days before the voting deadline (after most people have typically already voted)…
So, 11x more pro levy and multiple allowed to be greater than the 200 word limit… “News” Bias? The answer seems obvious and should be seen as sad and disturbing “by everyone”.
It’s very naive to think there were simply 11x more pro than anti-levy letters and that most anti-levy letters “just happened” to arrive such that they could only be published “2 days” prior to the voting deadline…