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Sara Leaming

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News >  Voices

WV district buys land for additional parking

The West Valley School District is purchasing residential property across the street from the high school to be used for a parking lot. The board voted to purchase the home, located on Vista Road, for $105,000 at its regular meeting Wednesday night.
News >  Spokane

A team approach to teaching, learning

By this time last year, East Valley High School administrators had already dealt with 43 discipline problems among freshman students. This year, the school has dealt with half that many.
News >  Voices

Parents angered at loss of bus service

Kaylene Iltz doesn't feel good about sending her two children, ages 5 and 6, out the door to walk to Sunrise Elementary School on east 24th Avenue. "I won't do it," Iltz said. "You can get in a whole lot of trouble in nine-tenths of a mile."
News >  Idaho

Swappin’ sea tales

It didn't matter that Jim Berens of Kingsley, Iowa, and Bernie Visser of Linden, Wash., live thousands of miles apart and had never met. The two World War II veterans, both in their late 70s, carried on Saturday like they had been comrades for years.
News >  Spokane

Student ready to learn again

Things in Karin Steever's classroom at Skyview Elementary School haven't changed much over the years. There are still the same rules posted on the wall: Safety first. Be kind. Do your best.
News >  Voices

WVHS drama club gathering goods for troops

The West Valley High School drama club is looking for a little of the good life to send to troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The students will be in front of the Albertsons store in Millwood, 8851 E. Trent Ave., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today for a drive to gather goods for soldiers and Marines stationed in the Middle East.
News >  Voices

Most WASL scores continue to improve in Valley schools

State test scores for school districts across the Spokane Valley varied this year, but overall most schools continued to show improvement. Students at Ponderosa Elementary School made the greatest leap in math on this year's Washington Assessment of Student Learning, with 79 percent of its fourth-graders meeting state standards, up 28 percent from last year.
News >  Spokane

U-Hi plans appeal of WASL test results

For the second year in a row, University High School has made the list of schools that fail federal standards, because its special education students did not perform well enough on state tests. In Washington, such failure is noted by a school's score on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. WASL results from spring 2004 were released Wednesday.
News >  Idaho

Schools join food fight

Woodland Middle School's snack vending machine is stocked with graham cracker sticks, yogurt-covered pretzels and popcorn. But something else caught 11-year-old Jesse Larrison's eye as he left school after registration Wednesday. He turned to his mom, Julie Larrison, and started pleading, "Can I have 50 cents? Puh-lease? They have Laffy Taffy Smooth!"
News >  Spokane

District adopts budget

West Valley School District became the third Spokane Valley school district to adopt a budget for the upcoming school year free of financial calamity. The West Valley School Board unanimously approved a budget of $36.5 million Wednesday, with reserve funds of $1.9 million. The budget also includes the collection of $5.8 million in bond levy funds in 2005, as approved by voters in May.
News >  Spokane

East Valley budget gets green light

When Superintendent Michael Jones came to East Valley School District three years ago, there was only about $300,000 in the budget for a rainy day. On Tuesday night, he grinned as hard work and due diligence paid off, and the East Valley school board unanimously voted to adopt a nearly $36 million budget with a $2.2 million reserve fund balance.
News >  Spokane

CV School Board approves budget

The belts were tightened months ago, so Central Valley schools can start the year without fear of more budget cuts. The Central Valley School Board unanimously adopted a budget of just over $100 million for the upcoming school year Monday night, with reserve funds of more than $2 million.
News >  Spokane

Deputies prepare for ‘active shooters’

Like the legs of a centipede, lined up one after the other, Spokane County sheriff's deputies charged into a Mead High School biology classroom Wednesday, armed with handguns made of red rubber. It was only a drill, but the deputies treated it as if it were real, scanning the room with guns drawn, weaving in and out of desks looking for an armed suspect.
News >  Voices

Four teens arrested in thefts from Holy Cross Cemetery

Four teenagers were arrested early Monday on charges of stealing a statuette and an unused urn from a north Spokane cemetery, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office reported. Deputy Michael Northway responded to a silent alarm at Holy Cross Cemetery, 7200 N. Wall St., about 2:20 a.m. and found a broken window in the office building, said Cpl. Dave Reagan, sheriff's spokesman. He heard someone going over a nearby fence and spotted several people running along the fence line, Reagan said.
News >  Spokane

Rainfall dampens fire worries

With tinder-dry conditions created by below-normal precipitation for the year, rain pouring over the Inland Northwest on Friday was a welcome sight. "But we could always use more," said Bob Bonner, a National Weather Service technician.
News >  Spokane

Messages left at site of car fire

A fire that destroyed a $55,000 sport utility vehicle at a Liberty Lake car dealership early Tuesday morning may be the work of domestic terrorists, authorities say. "We recovered some messages at the scene that were anti-Bush, anti-war," said Norm Brown, a supervisor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
News >  Spokane

Night Out events help neighbors band together

Downtown bar owner Evelyn Hoffman said she can expect fights outside her downtown business nightly. But Tuesday night, Hoffman and other business owners and residents in the 400 block of West Sprague Avenue were snuffing out the troublemakers with their own kind of hoopla.
News >  Spokane

Glimpse of another life

Lisa Miles-Conrad walked up to the House of Charity in downtown Spokane armed with a brand-new sleeping bag. As she made her way to the front door of the shelter Friday night, a woman sitting on the stoop outside eyed the bedroll and approached her.
News >  Spokane

Police arrest two in stabbing case

Spokane Police arrested two people and are still looking for a third suspect in connection with a stabbing early Monday morning at a North Spokane restaurant. Police are looking for 25-year-old Shawn Cranford for his role in the stabbing at the 3 Dishes Restaurant, 3525 N. Division St., said Dick Cottam, police spokesman.
News >  Spokane

Three injured in crash on Highway 195

Three people were injured Monday in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 195 near Rosalia, Wash., marking the third in a series of collisions on the same stretch of highway within a week. On Monday, a car northbound on the highway drifted over the centerline about 2:45 p.m., and collided with a southbound vehicle just south of the turnoff to Rosalia and State Route 271, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Brad Hudson.