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LOCAL| Mentorship program at Kentwood helps kids make better choices [3]
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011
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WINNER TO STATE | Kentlake football crushes Mariner, 49-7, in district playoff game, waits for Union [13]
Boyce, Ralph earn City Council seats Incumbents Ranninger and Thomas fend off challengers in election BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
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Kent Police arrest East Hill rape suspect BY STEVE HUNTER
The Kent City Council will have two new members in January with Bill Boyce and Dana Ralph cruising to victories in Tuesday’s election. Boyce is easily beating incumbent Debbie Raplee with 58.6 percent of the vote for Position No. 5 through Tuesday night. Ralph leads Michael Sealfon with 62.1 percent of the vote for Position No. 7 to replace Ron Harmon, who decided against running for a third term. Incumbent Deborah Ranniger withstood challenger Bailey Stober as she had 66.8 percent of the vote for Position No. 1. Incumbent Les Thomas had 59.4 percent of the vote against challenger Nancy Skorupa for Position No. 3. Ranniger and Thomas each were reelected to their third, four-year terms. Boyce, a Boeing human resource analyst who has served 17 years on the Kent School Board, plans to resign from his school director position in early 2012.
shunter@kentreporter.com
Bill Boyce, second from right, hugs Dave Mortenson as Boyce finds out he won a seat on the Kent City Council Tuesday night [ more COUNCIL page 8 ] while Pam Mortenson, center, and Harry Williams join the celebration at Boyce’s house. CHARLES CORTES, Kent Reporter
Taking a personal approach to learning BY SARAH KEHOE skehoe@kentreporter.com
Guadalupe Martinez struggled in school until her principal and eighth-grade teacher visited her home. “It changed me,” Martinez said. “I felt bad that at school I didn’t do well. It made me want to do better.” Mill Creek Middle School Principal Antonio Morales started “home visits,” talking to students and parents at their places earlier this summer. The point of the visits are to get parents involved in their child’s education and discuss available learning opportunities at school, Morales
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said. “I want to connect “I want the students to feel they with our parents are important to me,” Morales said. “I and show them want the parents to know I care about what they can do to their child and want them to succeed.” participate in our Last month, several teachers joined school, because we Morales in home visits. The Mill need their support.” Creek staff goes out to homes about Antonio Morales twice a month on the weekends to sit down with parents and students. “I think it is very beneficial to do this because the kids get to see us outside of the classroom and that effort to talk with them shows we care and won’t give up on them,” said Kami Terris, special education teacher. “We want to open up the communication between parents and teachers so the kids can succeed.” Morales believes if parents are following their child’s grades and classroom progress, the child will do better in school.
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Kent Police arrested a 15-yearold boy Monday for investigation of two counts of first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping in connection with attacks on a 17-year-old girl and 19-year-old woman Oct. 29-30 on the East Hill. Officers arrested the boy about noon Monday at Kentwood High School in Covington. The boy is a Kentwood student, according to probable cause documents. He was taken into custody without incident. In the first case, a 19-year-old woman was accosted at about 10 p.m. Oct. 29 in the 12900 block of Kent Kangley Road. The second incident occurred at around 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 in the 26200 block of 116th Avenue Southeast, just north of the Kent Kangley Road. In each case, a boy approached [ more ARREST page 4 ]
“If the parents know what their child is studying and how well they are doing, they will be able to help them with homework and encourage them the right way,” Morales said. David Sanchez was skeptical when Morales knocked on his door. “It was scary,” said Sanchez, a seventh-grade student. “But it was good. I was so glad Mr. Morales was talking about all the school information to me because I had forgotten most of it from the first week.” Morales wants the home visits to inspire parents to volunteer at school. “I want to connect with our parents and show them what they can do to participate in our school, because we need their support,” he said. “The school belongs to the public; it’s not mine. So I want the parents and children to let us know what they need in order to learn.” In addition to student performance, Morales and [ more LEARNING page 11 ]
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