Sara Leaming

Residents inside the Central Valley School District's boundaries should have received copies of the district's new and improved newsletter in their mailbox this week. The district mailed out 29,000 copies of the Focus, a 12-page section with information about issues, initiatives, and resources and activities in Central Valley schools.

High school athletic directors are concerned about the possibility that Washington's statewide student assessments might be rescheduled right in the middle of state basketball tournaments. Under a law passed last year, the state Legislature asked the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for a feasibility study on how to return the results from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning back to the schools before the end of the school year.

Wearing a black trench coat, dark glasses and a red do-rag wrapped around his head, Richard Santana walked into Mountain View Middle School on Friday oozing trouble. Standing in front of a group of students in grades five through eight, the former third-generation California gang member slowly began peeling off his clothes.

University High School junior Sarah Collins knew her calling early in life. "As soon as I started baby-sitting, I knew I wanted to be a teacher," Collins said. The same applies to 16-year-old Danielle Baziotis. As a child, Baziotis remembers spending hours teaching her lesson plans to stuffed animals or anyone who would play audience.

Liberty Lake and Greenacres students could be on the move in the coming years. Central Valley School District Superintendent Mike Pearson asked the school board at its regular meeting Monday to consider convening a new boundary review committee to examine the boundaries in anticipation of two new schools that could be built in those areas.

Nine people have been selected for the Central Valley School District's Community Facilities Review Committee. The nine members represent the neighborhoods near Central Valley High School, Adams, Liberty Lake and Chester elementary schools, Greenacres and Evergreen middle schools and the district's Summit School, an alternative parent co-op school within the district, said Melanie Rose, district spokeswoman. Two are at large, serving as residents of the district as a whole.

A seventh-grade student has been arrested and expelled for allegedly bringing a loaded handgun to a Mead school and stashing it in a bathroom Tuesday. Another student was also expelled after Mead Middle School Principal Craig Busch acted on an anonymous tip and found the .38-caliber pistol loaded with five live rounds of ammunition. It was wrapped in a cloth and placed behind a toilet tank in the boys' restroom.

Spokane Public Schools is projecting a $17.4 million shortfall in completing three elementary schools and three high school renovations because of spikes in construction costs. Spokane Valley schools and smaller Spokane County districts have also seen challenges from escalating costs.

Dave Smith is trading the paintings of Bev Doolittle that hang on his office walls for construction timelines and documents. And the outgoing superintendent of the West Valley School District will also trade his suit and tie for a construction hard hat. But he won't trade anything for his unwavering support for the education of this community's children. He'll continue to do that for at least three more years. Smith's last day as superintendent was Dec. 17, after serving in that role for more than 15 years. When he returns after the holidays, Smith will take on the task of project manager for several construction projects under way in the school district.

The Central Valley School District has launched a new community-based committee to sort through comments about the district's proposed facilities plan and is seeking volunteers. The district is in the process of meeting with parents, residents and staff to compile suggestions and comments on the district's plan to deal with growth.

When Sheryl Demars moved into her home across the street from Liberty Lake Elementary school, there were no houses to the east of hers. There seemed to be plenty of space for her children at the school nestled in the hills in the east end of the Central Valley School District's boundaries.

Spokane County Sheriff's Deputy Andy Buell pulls up in front of West Valley High School in his marked patrol car and backs into his spot ready for duty each day. As he walked into school one morning this fall, a student pulling out of the school's parking lot hit the gas, the engine in his Honda Civic revving high. Buell stopped in his tracks and turned toward the street, just in time to see the student let off the accelerator and sheepishly wave at the armed, uniformed officer. Busted. "I know him pretty well; he's a nice kid," Buell said, shaking his head at the student. "I'll have to have a little chat with him later."

University High School students Josh Hunt and Brent Grossman might be trying to save the planet from alien invaders or participating in a smash fest after school these days. The 14-year-old freshmen are part of the high school's intramural gaming club, which meets four days a week.

Teachers in the East Valley School District can recoup some of the time they spend grading papers off the clock this year. The school board voted Friday to ratify the contract for certificated staff to include 20 hours of per diem pay yearly for hours worked after the end of the school day. The East Valley Education Association accepted the contract about a week ago.