THE NEWSPAPER AT THE HEART & SOUL OF OUR COMMUNITY
Vol. 126 No. 50
WEEKEND EDITION EDITION JUNE AUGUST 21, 2016 WWW.ARLINGTONTIMES.COM 75¢ WEEKEND 8, 2014 WWW.ARLINGTONTIMES.COM 75¢
Herald THE SUNDAY
An Edition of
Sweeting getting to know Arlington By Kirk Boxleitner
kboxleitner@arlingtontimes.com
Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
Chrys Sweeting is Arlington’s new school superintendent.
ARLINGTON — Chrys Sweetinghas a six-point plan for her first year as superintendent of Arlington’s schools. Sweeting was hired June 13, and deemed the remainder of June her “pre-entry” period, with July through December of this year counting as her “entry” period. By January of 2017, midway through the school year, she expects to provide an update on her progress,
and by June of 2017, she’ll offer a summary of her first full year on the job. “I wanted to lay out the specific structures I would use to get to know the schools and the community through this transition period,” Sweeting said. “I’ve been visiting the schools, touring the district’s boundaries, even looking at nondistrict properties. I’m interested in Trafton, as well as the land the district purchased a while back, as a potential high school site.”
A look at Sweeting’s itinerary shows it’s slotted with entries for “document reviews,” “data analysis,” “media outreach” and “key stakeholder meetings,” the latter of which includes not only the local Rotary and chamber of commerce, but also all the school principals. “I’m asking everyone who they are, what they see as working well, what they would suggest and what advice they might have for me,” Sweeting said. “I’m in
the process of meeting with the assistant principals and department directors, and I’ve already met with the mayor. I’ll be meeting with her on a monthly basis.” Sweeting is also looking forward to meeting with union leadership, and welcomed the opportunity to get together with any other community leaders. “I’m aiming to make every connection I can because this is a piece of SEE SCHOOLS, PAGE 2
Don’t know much about genealogy?
By Kirk Boxleitner
kboxleitner@arlingtontimes.com
ARLINGTON — The first day of the annual Northwest Genealogy Conference drew more than 200 attendees to the Byrnes Performing Arts Center Wednesday, but conference chairwoman Kathy Reece Stuehrenberg expects the event’s total attendance to top out at more than 300 by its final day Aug. 20. Stuehrenberg reported that folks have come from as far as Tennessee and South Carolina, but most hail from other parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and a few Californians. The big draw this year, as in most years, is DNA, with Blaine Bettinger, whom Stuehrenberg described as “one of the foremost nation-
al experts” on the subject, speaking Saturday. “We’re focusing more on family histories and stories this year,” Stuehrenberg said. “People tend to think of genealogy more in terms of names and dates, but we want to help people tell their families’ stories. We’re even offering advice on how to bring the data together, write it up and publish it for others to read.” Although many of the attendees are experienced genealogists, albeit perhaps only as hobbyists, Stuehrenberg noted that Beth Foulk’s opening-day talk on basic genealogy techniques packed the PAC. “My goals are to inspire, enlighten, encourage and give foundational information to allow others to become successful at genealogy, which I hope leads to a lifetime passion for them,” Foulk said. “What I love about genealogy is the discovery of it. I learn great stories and meet great
Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
Teri Scott and Dorothy Wengel share a jovial moment with Judy Lozo of Bothell at the genealogy conference in Arlington. people along the way in my journeys.” “Many of us didn’t start out in genealogy by tak-
ing classes, so even if we’ve done it for a while, we’re still interested in going back and seeing how we should have
done it,” Stuehrenberg said. Not that there’s ever a shortage of new things to learn about genealogy, since
Stuehrenberg estimated that the DNA field yields new SEE HISTORY, PAGE 2