Sara Leaming

Buck sprinted into the field like a sleek bolt of lightning, chasing circles around a flock of plump sheep and sending them running scared. The young border collie couldn't help himself. He couldn't resist his true calling.

In a room no bigger than a closet inside Opportunity Elementary School, Cheryl Funke helps 5-year-old Toni Basile put on a pair of headphones. In a soothing and quiet voice Funke tells the timid girl what to do.

If there was one thing that Julie Kay Butner treasured most, it was her family. "Her family was her career," said her daughter, Angela Ferger. "Whatever one of us was interested in, she would put 100 percent of her time into just that."

Thirteen-year-old Meghan Varner cast her vote for President George W. Bush. Cindy Wu, also 13, voted for Sen. John Kerry.

It doesn't matter if you're big or small. "Everybody rebounds," Eastern Washington University basketball player Khary Nicholas told a group of kids huddled around him Sunday afternoon.

Enrollment figures for Spokane Valley school districts fluctuated greatly this year. Based on numbers released this month, the most significant increase was in the Central Valley School District, where the student count is up 308 students over last year.

"Holy Cow!" one student shouted from the bleachers at Horizon Middle School. The eighth-grade girl watched Friday as a break-dancer twisted his legs over his head while doing a handstand. He brought his feet back down to the floor, then up again without skipping a beat to the music. Then he flopped onto his back, curled himself into a ball and went into a spin.

It's a four-letter word school districts try not to say very often. Bond. And in the near future that's just what the Central Valley School District might be asking Spokane Valley voters to think about, again. In a work session Wednesday night, school administrators and the board of directors discussed the facility needs of the district over the next six years, and beyond. In a nutshell, many of the district buildings are getting close, or have already outgrown their current space.

A white board in the main office at University High School looks like a complex puzzle made up of red, blue, orange and green magnets. Move one piece of the rainbow, and chaos could erupt.

Between the pinch pots and sturdy mugs, Dane Knudson sat in his art class at Central Valley High School sculpting a clump of clay into a scenic pond. The 16-year-old is taking pottery for the second year in a row, and his skill has greatly improved from last year.

Tawney Nakamura is proof that hard work pays off. Nakamura, a senior at University High School, was awarded a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps college scholarship worth $150,000 Thursday.

A novel that some parents in the Central Valley School District feel contains sexual content too explicit for 10th-graders will remain on the sophomore reading list at both of the district's high schools. The district's Instructional Materials Committee on Wednesday decided the fate of Bernard Malamud's "The Natural," after a parent voiced concern over the book last year.

Greenacres Middle School is rolling out the red carpet. After months of planning, and a few delays, the newly remodeled school is opening its doors for an open house and dedication celebration next Thursday. They're calling the grand opening, "Puttin' on the Ritz." "We're going to walk down a red carpet all dressed up and cut the ribbon," said eighth-grader Makenzie Larson. "It's going to be fun." Larson, the associated student body secretary, and her fellow incoming ASB officers are going to wear sequined flapper-style dresses and tuxes for the celebration for their school's $8.4 million face-lift.