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Grandparents Day | Look at it as a second chance [6]
Teacher honored | The Hazen High School community recognized retiring band director FRIDAY, AUG. 31, 2012 Ernst Hibbard [3]
Deputy chief retires after surveillance, email probe
Third Avenue maple trees to be replaced The City of Renton will replace 24 red maple street trees along South Third Street between Rainier Avenue South and Burnett Avenue South beginning in early September. The 40-year-old trees have damaged sidewalks and curbs, and new sidewalks and curbs will be installed. Twenty-three “Steeple” trees, a variety of sugar maple, will replace them, planted in larger sidewalk cut-outs to prevent damage to sidewalks and curbs. The trees grow to a medium size when mature. The city will plant them to avoid conflicts with business signs, parking stalls, street lights and overhanging store canopies, according to the city. In addition, 10 street trees will be planted along side streets to replace “Crimson Sentry” Norway maples that have recently died from a leaf disease. One tree will also be planted at the Piazza Park in downtown Renton. Additional plantings include six trees on Shattuck Avenue South, two trees on Whitworth Avenue South and two trees on Morris Avenue South. Sixty-seven street trees were planted in the North Renton neighborhood in April for Arbor Day. That project along with the Third Street project will contribute to reaching a 40 percent canopy cover for the greater downtown area.
XC preview | See how the area’s cross country teams stack up for the upcoming season [16]
Two police sergeants disciplined. BY DEAN A. RADFORD dradford@rentonreporter.com
The City of Renton will replace 23 red maple trees on South Third Street, which have damaged sidewalks and curbs between Rainier Avenue South and Burnett Avenue. The downtown area has the least tree canopy of the city’s nine planning areas. dean a. radford, Renton Reporter
Tim Troxel, who was Renton’s deputy police chief until being placed on paid administrative leave in May, will retire effective Friday. Troxel was placed on leave after what are described as unprofessional email exchanges “These emails came to light through a public disopenly disparage closure request and it was learned he other members of attempted to conduct a surveillance the department and of a Police Department employee. in some cases could Renton Police Chief Kevin be viewed as racist Milosevich’s initial recommendaor biased towards tion, spelled out in a memo to some individuals.” Troxel on June 15, was to fire Troxel. Milosevich wrote that Troxel’s conThe complaint duct violated city and department policies regarding unbecoming conduct, unsatisfactory performance and the use of emails. The emails were exchanged between Troxel and Renton Police Sgt. Todd Frazier who also was disciplined for his role in the email exchange with Troxel and another sergeant. The other sergeant’s name was redacted (obscured) in [ more emails page 7 ]
Demystifying graduation rates By TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com
The diploma is the prize for high school students.
A school district’s graduation rate is often used as the tell-tale sign the district is or is not making progress in educating students.
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In the Renton School District a lot of numbers are cited as the graduation rate, without much explanation as to their significance. The graduation rate most often cited by district officials is 94 percent for the 2010-2011 school year. This, however, is
not the on-time, four-year graduation rate as commonly thought. It’s the rate for students who take longer than four years to graduate. So, why does district tout this number? The answer is complex, especially in [ more graduation page 8 ]
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