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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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News >  Voices

It’s back to school time – if not today, then soon enough

Never mind that the maple leaves haven’t begun to turn in Millwood or that zucchini is still coming on strong. It may still be warm enough to swim at Boulder Beach, but summer is over in the West Valley School District. That’s right, classes start today. So if you wear black and orange, put down your game controllers and start packing lunches.
News >  Spokane

Statewide WASL results level off

A little better in some spots, slightly worse in others. But when last year’s WASL scores were released Tuesday, there was none of the dramatic across-the-board improvements that Washington educators have seen in other years.
News >  Spokane

‘Green’ schools buildings fail to deliver, group says

Several “green” schools built in Spokane in recent years fall far short of their goals, an Olympia think tank says. Educators say the group is using premature and misleading data provided by the schools. The Washington Legislature mandated in 2005 that state money be used only to build “high performance” schools – those intended to conserve energy and water, encourage the recycling of building materials, and provide more natural light and outdoor air.
News >  Spokane

‘Green’ schools buildings failing to pay off, group says

lSeveral “green” schools built in Spokane in recent years fall far short of their goals, an Olympia think tank says. Educators say the group is using premature and misleading data provided by the schools. The Washington Legislature mandated in 2005 that state money be used only to build “high performance” schools – those intended to conserve energy and water, encourage the recycling of building materials, and provide more natural light and outdoor air.
News >  Spokane

Accused teacher drops appeal to keep job

A Rogers High School teacher accused of misconduct, including sexually explicit online chats about young boys, has decided to end his fight to keep his job. Peter Perkins’ attorney says the allegations are untrue, but his client has decided to move on. “This has dragged on for a couple of years now. As far as where he’s at in his life, it’s time to move forward,” attorney Larry Kuznetz said.
News >  Spokane

Accused teacher drops effort to keep his job

A Rogers High School teacher accused of misconduct, including sexually explicit online chats about young boys, has decided to end his fight to keep his job. Peter Perkins’ attorney says the allegations are untrue, but his client has decided to move on. “This has dragged on for a couple of years now. As far as where he’s at in his life, it’s time to move forward,” attorney Larry Kuznetz said.
News >  Spokane

Three Spokane schools miss mark

Spokane Public Schools is notifying parents of every student at three schools that the district will bus their kids elsewhere because special education students haven’t made enough progress in reading. Other districts in the region may be in the same position if they have schools that haven’t met state standards and – like those affected in Spokane – receive federal Title I money for serving poor neighborhoods.
News >  Voices

Teenagers join school board

Before they approved a resolution proclaiming September as Voter Education Month, before they banned cyber-bullying, before they adopted a $308 million budget, the board for Spokane Public Schools last week swore in two teens to join them at the table. Rogers senior Kayla Fenci and North Central senior Zachary Zappone are student advisers, meaning they don’t get a vote on business that comes before the board, but are encouraged to give their input.
News >  Spokane

Spokane school board passes budget

All-day kindergarten for more kids, a state-mandated pay raise for teachers and restoration of some of the library services cut last year are among the highlights of a $308.2 million budget passed unanimously Wednesday by the Spokane Public Schools board. There were none of the deep cuts of 2007, when Spokane’s largest district closed an elementary school, laid off some employees and went to part-time librarians in some schools to close a $10.8 million gap.
News >  Spokane

Schools mapping out savings

Burdened with a fleet of buses whose fuel mileage is measured in single digits, school districts are looking for ways to shave the miles they drive. Every time diesel increases a penny it costs taxpayers another $100,000 in fuel for Washington’s public school buses, said Allan Jones, director of pupil transportation at the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. A one-dime increase means an extra $1 million.
News >  Voices

Tips may help with back-to-school shopping

Five tips from online sources for buying back-to-school clothes and classroom supplies: •Livingonadime.com: Don’t buy new clothes if the old ones still fit and aren’t coming apart.
News >  Spokane

Officials to inspect unlicensed dams

Officials compiling a list of unlicensed dams in Washington have spotted 14 in Spokane County that are “potentially hazardous.” That preliminary assessment is based on “a very simple question: Are there homes downstream” that could be damaged if the dam failed, said Doug Johnson, dam safety supervisor for the state Department of Ecology.
News >  Spokane

Schools address high-tech bullying

Gossip G had eighth-graders talking at Cheney Middle School last year, what with her barbs about certain classmates’ hygiene and her speculation about their sexual experiences. “It became like a soap opera for other students,” said Principal Mike Stark. “They were getting online every night to read the latest,” while simultaneously fearing they’d become the subject of one of her anonymous postings on the Bebo social-networking site.
News >  Spokane

Flight practice with extra twists

DAVENPORT, Wash. – Spokane’s airport may call itself international. But lately it’s had stiff competition from strips like the one where Highway 2 travelers expect to see crop dusters. Pilots and crews from Hungary, Ukraine and Canada started arriving last week, assigned the Davenport Airport as their training field for next week’s Advanced World Aerobatics Championship. They get their choice of two runways – one of them paved.
News >  Voices

Public schools get ‘Flunked’

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has produced an hourlong film called “Flunked” that is both an indictment of America’s public schools system and a testament to some public schools that work. Two of the featured schools are from our neck of the woods: Warden (Wash.) High School, where many students come from families where English is still being learned, but 60 percent go to college; and Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, which last year was named a National Charter School of the Year.
News >  Voices

Schools awarded for WASL gains

Five Title I schools in Spokane are among 48 statewide to receive $3,500 apiece from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for showing three years of annual improvements in WASL scores. The improvements were made by the entire student body but also within smaller groups of students like minorities, those still learning English and those in special education. The local schools are: Regal, Holmes, Stevens and Bemiss elementaries, and Shaw Middle School.
News >  Spokane

School’s not for the birds

Spokane may boast that it’s near nature, but pigeons in the building are a little too close – even at a school named for the world’s most famous birdwatcher. The Spokane school district has spent more than $130,000 this summer on anti-pigeon projects at four schools, including Audubon Elementary. The others are Woodridge, Mullan Road and Garfield elementaries.
News >  Voices

Use remainder of summer break prudently

As of today, Spokane kids have 47 summer vacation days left. Here are some suggestions for using that time wisely: Learn: To parallel park, play cribbage, do a cannonball.
News >  Voices

Use remainder of summer break prudently

As of today, Spokane kids have 47 summer vacation days left. Here are some suggestions for using that time wisely: Learn: To parallel park, play cribbage, do a cannonball.
News >  Spokane

Compact benefits military kids

Christopher VanAusdal went to kindergarten in Germany, where the emphasis was on socializing. That put him behind when his Air Force family moved to Arizona, where first-graders were beginning readers. He was just catching on to phonics when they moved to a California school where reading was taught differently.
News >  Spokane

Flames devastate Ugly Duck building

A three-alarm blaze gutted a wood-filled industrial building in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood on Thursday. It was the first big fire in a day that had firefighting crews battling so many blazes one dispatcher said she had lost count.
News >  Spokane

Evolution of public TV

Look at the budget for Spokane Public Schools and you'll see a line item for Spokane Public Television. The same school district that's trying to get kids past the WASL also brings Big Bird and "Antiques Roadshow" to Spokane homes.
News >  Spokane

Farms quit alfalfa for pricier crops

If you think feeding a 175-pound teenager is expensive, try feeding a 1,200-pound horse. Hay prices are at all-time highs and climbing. That has cattlemen culling their herds and equestrians unloading some of their horses.
News >  Spokane

Caring adults are best antidote to gangs

More after-school programs would help. So might requiring students to stay on campus during the academic day, banning cell phones from schools, stricter dress codes and putting cops back in the hallways. But none of that is going to prevent kids from joining gangs absent relationships with caring adults, said participants Monday at a community forum on gangs in schools.