Sara Leaming

A group of Spokane parents and others have organized a petition to save elementary librarians from the chopping block next year. While the group has collected more than 250 signatures in support of keeping full-time librarians in Spokane elementary schools, the effort seems to have come too late.

Thousands of additional high school students in the class of 2008 have passed all three sections of the WASL, preliminary results show, but thousands more face the possibility of no diploma next year. According to WASL results released Friday for high school students only, 13 percent of students have not passed reading and writing portions of the test. Both are required for graduation next year.

By this time of the year, high school students should know what their schedules are going to look like in the fall. That's not the case for some students.

When Shadle Park High School was built in 1957, students and staff buried a time capsule on the school grounds. But when it came time to dig it up last week in preparation for a new era at the northwest Spokane school, everyone had forgotten where it was.

OLYMPIA – A former Spokane Valley private school teacher appeared before education officials here Wednesday in an attempt to clear his record. "I have nothing to hide," said Steve Altmeyer, a former boys basketball coach and teacher at Valley Christian School accused of physically and verbally abusing students.

No bus service will be provided for morning and afternoon kindergarten students in the Central Valley School District on the last day of school this year. The school board voted unanimously at its regular meeting Monday to eliminate transportation for half-day kindergarten students on June 15. Parents will be required to pick up and drop off their children that day.

A custodian at Lakeside High School is suing the Nine Mile Falls School District for making her clean up the bloody mess left after a 16-year-old boy shot himself in the head inside the school in 2004. Debbie Rothwell is seeking unspecified damages for the infliction of emotional and physical distress from the incident during which Skyler Cullitan brought a gun to school and killed himself.

A Spokane teacher is still being paid seven months after he resigned for viewing large amounts of sexually explicit material on his North Central High School computer. According to records obtained Wednesday by The Spokesman-Review, Matthew Wakabayashi resigned from his teaching post in October. He will be paid through the end of the school year. His annual salary is about $53,000.

At least 23 teachers and two administrators in the East Valley School District were notified Tuesday that they may not have a job next year. The state requires schools to provide such notice to certified teaching staff by May 15.

Some Spokane Public Schools students who lack the credits required to graduate will have to pay nearly $200 per class to catch up this summer. And those who can't pay may be out of luck. The state only provides summer school funding for ninth- and 10th-graders who have not met standard on the WASL while students – especially 11th- and 12th-graders – needing credit retrieval programs will have to pay the required fee of $185 per semester course.

Spokane County began asbestos mitigation Thursday at the site of an old Zonolite insulation factory north of the Maple Street Bridge. Asbestos on the property at 1318 N. Maple St., now owned by the county roads department, is from Libby, Mont., a town with an epidemic of lung disease from the mining and processing of vermiculite ore.

The day before ballots hit the mail boxes of Deer Park voters last month, the school superintendent and a swarm of parents, school staff, community members and children hit the streets with campaign signs. And they've been out on the street nearly every day since.

Spokane Public Schools has named its distinguished educators for the 2006-2007 school year. The third-grade team at Balboa Elementary School was honored for its commitment to collaboration and professional development.

Despite growing budget concerns and looming teacher layoffs, some East Valley School District administrators were given big salary increases last year. The increases, ranging from 7 percent to 23 percent, reflect state-funded and required increases in salary and benefits, as well as a competitive bump to keep East Valley salaries in line with what other district officials in the area are making, district officials said.