Alison Boggs

Janel Davisson, 9, tries to propel her boat at a summer exploratory camp. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Voters could change the face of school boards in the Spokane Valley when they go to the polls in the fall. Twelve out of 20 school board positions in the Valley will be on the ballot. At nearby Liberty and Orchard Prairie school districts, half the board positions are up for grabs. At Central Valley, Spokane County's second largest school district, four out of five school board positions are open.

A private citizen has begun a trust fund for Central Valley High School's football program with a $1,000 donation. George Van Houten, a Spokane businessman, said other schools in the Greater Spokane League have similar funds, and he doesn't want CV to be at a disadvantage.

Marissa Sprank placed first in a keyboarding competition at the Future Business Leaders of America national convention last week. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Sasha performs for his classmates during the last week of school. He plays two keyboards with his hands and one with his feet, Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

The Central Valley School Board has taken its first tentative step toward replacing Superintendent Dick Sovde. Board members met last Friday with two representatives from the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) to seek advice on how to conduct a search for a new superintendent.

Swim instructor Alan Bly tries to remember the names of all his swimmers at Valley Mission Pool lessons Tuesday. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Dick Sovde is leaving Central Valley School District. File/The Spokesman-Review

Twenty-seven students who dropped out of East Valley High School say they'll come back to a new alternative program proposed by the district. The program fills a niche somewhere between the learning opportunity center - in which students take classes at their own pace - and the alternative high school run by the West Valley School District.

(From Valley Voice, Thursday, June 29, 1995): A story in Saturday's Valley Voice referred to the Valley Food Bank by the wrong name. The phone number was also incorrect. The correct number is 928-7769. Carol Stryker, left, and her children Joanne and David, stop by the Valley Center food bank for groceries. The Strykers and thousands of other families around the region take a financial hit when children come home for the summer and no longer receive meals at school. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Summer is just around the corner and that means that parks will be getting packed. These kids enjoy the playground at Terrace View during Monday's balmy weather. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Having fun in the park, a group of basketball players shoots around at Valley Mission Park during a YMCA day camp for kids. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

The last day of school at Pasadena Park Elementary means writing your name on your classmates and their clothes. Two second-graders, Kristy Howe, left, and Chelsea Bellino autograph Sherrie Gower. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Dick Sovde, superintendent of Central Valley School District, is one of three finalists for the superintendent's job in the Puyallup School District, south of Seattle. Sovde, who has been with CV since 1986, said he's not looking to leave the Valley but said the Puyallup job is attractive.

Mike Van Matre, who taught for 13 years at University High School then served six years as assistant principal at West Valley High School, will complete his tour of Valley school districts when he takes over in August as assistant principal at East Valley High School. Van Matre is not eager to leave West Valley, but said as the sole assistant principal, he "wore too many hats," and spent too much time "putting out fires."

The last ones out of West Valley High are Alison Syron and Mary Schollenberger, who bagged up lost-and-found clothing. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Parents of children at a Spokane Valley elementary school are still drying their eyes over news that the school's principal won't be around next year. "Broadway's really going to suffer a big loss," said Tandie Dahnke, past president of Broadway Elementary School's parent teacher organization. "You should've seen the faces last week. (People's) eyes were red and puffy all day."

The narrow streets of Spokane's historic Browne's Addition were transformed into a giant parking lot Saturday afternoon on the second day of Artfest. Motorists squeezed their cars onto streets lined by other cars and waited for each other to pass before they inched by. "Rainy years are not good," said Spokane artist Gay Waldman, who displayed her tinted photographs and collages for the fifth year in a row. "The sun brings people out."

It's back to square one for advocates of a four-period school day at Freeman High School. The school board decided in May that the alternative scheduling option was not right for the 300-student high school south of the Spokane Valley. The new schedule, in which students would take four longer classes every day instead of seven shorter ones, did not have the support of the community, school board members decided.

An 18-year principal in the Central Valley School District has been reassigned to a teaching position for the 1995-96 school year. Tom Eastman, principal of Ponderosa Elementary, said the decision between him and district administrators was mutual. Eastman is, however, looking for a job as a principal in another school district. "I have mixed feelings," he said about leaving the position. "I've been a principal a long time."

More than 400 students at Trent Elementary in the Spokane Valley missed two school days and will miss another before the melted electrical system in their building is fixed. Students will return to Trent on Tuesday morning, but might be bused to other schools if electricity has not been restored. "The building is in need of updating, so this was kind of a wake-up call," said East Valley School District Superintendent Chuck Stocker.

Watch out world. Here comes the Spokane Valley's class of 1995. Boasting one of the highest numbers of valedictorians in years and a host of community-minded do-gooders, this class is being touted as an overachieving bunch. "There's an abnormal amount of gifted students," said Ken Stacy, a counselor at East Valley High School, where the number of valedictorians jumped from five last year to eight this year. Sixty-three EVHS seniors, as opposed to 35 last year, are eligible for golden cords, signifying a grade point average of 3.4 or above, said Joaun Clark, an adviser at East Valley.

Wendy Leavitt, a new mother and wife, valedictorian of Spokane Valley High and a teller at Spokane Teachers' Credit Union. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

When Marilynn Jensen Mortensen graduated from West Valley High School in 1942, boys from her class were going off to war and not coming back. "We lost a lot of them," said the 71-year-old grandmother. "We had a big flag (in the school gymnasium) with stars for all the boys that were killed. It's something we kind of expected."

Heather Whinnen of University High offers a thoughtful essay about her high school years and her future dreams. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review