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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sara Leaming

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News >  Spokane

EV superintendent accepts Michigan job

East Valley School District Superintendent Michael Jones has accepted the superintendent post at a Michigan school district. The Port Huron School District board of directors voted unanimously Monday night to offer the job to Jones, who has been East Valley's superintendent for four years.
News >  Spokane

Coach, girl allegedly had relations

A West Valley High School softball coach was put on paid administrative leave Friday pending an investigation into allegations he may have had a sexual relationship with a female player. Dana Schmerer, who is also a teacher at North Pines Middle School in the Central Valley School District, is under investigation for first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, said Spokane County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.
News >  Spokane

Horses get home off the range

Three-year-old Caroline Jacobs squealed with excitement when the last herd of mustangs stormed into a pen at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center on Sunday. Jacobs pointed her chubby finger at the gray yearling filly in the pack and clung to the leg of her father, George Jacobs. If she got the horse, she decided, she would name her Happy.
News >  Idaho

Woman still missing after search

North Idaho authorities spent several hours Sunday hunting for a Spokane Valley woman who may have crashed her car near Lake Coeur d'Alene but could not tell law enforcement where she was. Christine K. Arbogast, 44, called her husband just after 4 a.m. Sunday to say she was lost, said Kootenai County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Street.
News >  Idaho

Walking the talk

The dreary skies and pouring rain couldn't dampen the determination of Charlene Coffman and Vicki Hogan. The two women began walking around the track at the Greyhound Park Event Center in Post Falls at 6 p.m. on Friday.
News >  Spokane

Church ends Valley Christian”s lease

A Spokane Valley private school will close its doors after 30 years in its current location amid allegations that the school's head administrator covered up alleged physical abuse by a former boys basketball coach. Elders with Valley Fourth Memorial Church confirmed Friday that they have terminated the lease agreement with Valley Christian School, 2303 S. Bowdish Road. The school building is owned by the church and is adjacent to the church building. The school, which has 380 students in grades K-12, has until Aug. 1 to vacate the premises, church elder Phil Monroe said.
News >  Spokane

Boundary changes proposed for new schools

On the heels of a decision to ask voters to approve a construction bond to build two new schools, the Central Valley School District Tuesday revealed proposed boundary changes to reflect who will attend those schools. On Monday the school board approved a $55.2 million bond proposal to build a new elementary school and a new middle school in the eastern half of the district by 2009. The district plans to take the bond before voters in November.
News >  Spokane

Jones may be only finalist for Michigan job

East Valley School District Superintendent Michael Jones is dusting off his suitcase, and crossing his fingers. Jones, selected in April as one of two candidates for a superintendent post in Port Huron, Mich., may now be the only candidate for the job.
News >  Spokane

CV puts $55 million bond issue on ballot

Voters in the Central Valley School District will be asked to open up their pocketbooks this fall. The school district's Board of Directors voted Monday night to place a $55.2 million bond issue before voters in November to pay for a capital projects plan recommended by district staff. The plan calls for building two new schools and remodeling three others by 2009.
News >  Spokane

Valley schools bursting

Spokane Valley's housing boom is putting the pinch on area schools, which are now asking for a per-house fee to offset the consequences. To get the money, Central Valley School District will need city and county governments to become willing bill collectors. State law prohibits school districts from collecting impact fees directly.
News >  Spokane

EV district student expelled for bring knife to school

A 13-year-old East Valley Middle School student was arrested Thursday for bringing a knife to school Wednesday morning and threatening to "shank" another student with it. The student and another boy allegedly were in a hallway at the school, 4920 N. Progress Road, when the suspect displayed a Spiderco folding knife, said Cpl. Dave Reagan, a Spokane Valley Police spokesman.
News >  Voices

Freeman School District asks construction bond OK

As voters in the Freeman School District began to pull ballots from their mailboxes last week, district officials were holding their breath. The small rural district 10 miles south of Spokane Valley is proposing an $11.7 million construction bond to remodel the high school and elementary school buildings, the third such attempt.
News >  Spokane

Juniors hope WASL redo boosts scores

University High School junior Jillian Wilson passed the WASL she took last year. Now she's taking the grueling test again this month. Wilson is part of a small group of juniors who've decided to retake the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for a variety of reasons. Part of the inspiration is the reality that this year's juniors will be the first to have their WASL scores posted on their high school transcripts.
News >  Voices

Broadway to receive two new classrooms

The Central Valley School District Board of Directors approved two items Monday night, pushing forward a plan to ease crowding in some of the district's schools. The board unanimously approved a request to begin the bidding process for the construction of two classrooms at Broadway Elementary School, and the relocation of three district portables to University High School and Liberty Lake and Greenacres elementary schools.
News >  Voices

First phase of remodel at WVHS set to begin

The West Valley School District on Wednesday awarded Schimmels Construction Development Group Inc. of Spokane the contract for the first phase of the West Valley High School remodel project. Owned by Gary Schimmels, Jr., the company offered a bid of $831,783 – the lowest of five bidders. The amount is about $260,000 less than the $1.1 million the district estimated the first phase of the project would cost.
News >  Voices

Senior projects

If University High School senior Danielle Guimond learned one thing about her future this year, it's that she doesn't want to be a nurse. "I passed out," while visiting a hospital, Guimond, 17, told a classroom full of her peers.
News >  Spokane

School administrator under fire

A Spokane Valley private school is under fire from several parents crusading to have the school's leader fired. According to documents provided to The Spokesman-Review by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wes Evans, the head administrator at Valley Christian School, is the subject of a state investigation for failure to report physical abuse of a student by a teacher.
News >  Voices

Neighbors want abandoned house declared nuisance

A group of neighbors in the Greenacres area is taking action against a woman they say abandoned her home, leaving a health and fire hazard, a magnet for crime and an eyesore. The residents of the Mission Villa manufactured home park claim that Linda Bradley, the owner of the residence at 19705 E. Maxwell Ave., hasn't lived there since 1998.
News >  Voices

Top posts will be changing at several WV schools

The faces monitoring the hallways of several West Valley schools will look different next year. On Wednesday the district announced several principal changes for the 2005-06 school year, including new principals at both West Valley High School and Centennial Middle School.
News >  Spokane

Head of EV schools considering new post

East Valley School District Superintendent Michael Jones is seeking the superintendent post in a Port Huron, Mich., school district. Jones, who has been with East Valley since 2001, is one of two finalists for the job in the Port Huron Area School District, located 50 miles northeast of downtown Detroit.
News >  Spokane

CV schools to add more space

Several Central Valley schools will get additional space next year. The district's board of directors voted Monday to place portable classrooms at University High School and at two elementary schools, instead of busing some elementary students away out of their neighborhoods and placing some U-Hi students in empty space at another elementary.
News >  Voices

Master educator

The magnet on Gerry Manfred's filing cabinet says it all. Surrounded by dozens of pictures revealing the toothy grins of high school seniors, the magnet in the shape of an apple reads: "There is no substitute for a great teacher." As a calculus teacher at University High School, Manfred has been educating and mentoring smiling students for more than a quarter of a century.
News >  Voices

North Pines student finds way to remember father

Jessica Clifford wants her father to be remembered as a man with a big smile and a generous heart. The 14-year-old North Pines Middle School student couldn't think of a better way to do that than to donate her father's death benefit to her school to help pay for the renovation of two dilapidated athletic storage sheds.
News >  Spokane

CV unveils comments from survey

Based on comments collected by the Central Valley School District, parents do not want their children bused away from their neighborhood schools as a way to cope with crowding. But some would support boundary changes, or temporary portable classrooms to deal with the problem.