Bothell/Kenmore Reporter, October 05, 2012

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K E N M O R E˜

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REPORTER

NEWSLINE: 425.483.3732

CHILIFEST| Bothell Chamber to host sixth annual ChiliFest [11]

Assembly | Seahawks players and mascot pay a visit to Westhill Elementary in Bothell [Page 6]

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Denuski leads the way for children’s play

New high school or elementary?

BY LAURIE SPERRY Special to the Reporter

O

Stacey Denuski helps assemble play equipment at Kenmore Elementary. COURTESY PHOTO equipment, Kenmore Elementary would become a school without a playground. PTA member Stacey Denuski signed up to lead the Kenmore Elementary Playground Renovation Committee in 2009. [ more PLAY page 7 ]

Bothell’s Caring Cabin prepares for grand opening Oct. 27 New home looks to raise the bar of senior assisted living in the area BY TIM WATANABE twatanabe@bothell-reporter.com

A year and a half ago, the mother-in-law of Anne Beale Yancey, a Bothell resident, passed away from congestive heart failure. Yancey’s father-in-law had ended up taking care of her, after choosing not to relocate her to a residential adult family home because there was no place that she felt comfortable.

“She had lived in a residential environment her whole life,” said Yancey on her mother-in-law’s wishes to stay at home. “It was extremely taxing on him.” That experience inspired Yancey, who had cared for an ailing aunt as a teenager, to open up the Caring Cabin, located on two pristine acres in Bothell. The 4000 square-foot

Canyon Creek Elementary in Bothell has a larger attendance than three of the six Northshore School District junior high schools at 772 students. LEANNA ALBRECHT, Courtesy of the Northshore School District

Northshore School District weighing options to address overcrowding BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@bothell-reporter.com

The recession had a big impact on development in northeast Bothell. Permits were taken out, plans were drawn up and land was cleared in many areas around Canyon Creek and Canyon Park in 2008. Then nothing but silence as capital dried up and home sales plummeted. But the area is now recovering at an exponential rate. As of spring 2011, the Northshore School District (NSD) predicted more than 3,300 new housing units in various stages of completion. And with development comes

more students to already the NSD, including Bothell overcrowded schools. and Kenmore residents. “We have this area of the Francois said that he district that has understands the very high growth,” district has to said Northshore demonstrate the School District Suneed, but that perintendent Larry might be the easy Francois. “And we part. have schools that Canyon Creek are well beyond Elementary’s atLarry Francois capacity.” tendance is larger The district than three of “We have this area the district’s is looking at of the district putting up a six junior high that has very high schools. It was bond measure in February 2014 to growth and we have built to accombuild a new ele- schools that are well modate 550 kids beyond capacity.” and currently mentary or high Larry Francois school to deal has 772. The with the issue. If district has run passed, it would out of room for mean higher property portables on the Crystal taxes for all residents in Springs Elementary School

site and Fernwood and Kokanee elementaries will exceed 700 students during the next couple years. Overall, the area, including Skyview Elementary, has 200 more kids enrolled in 2012 than in 2011. The district is looking at adding more portables where it is possible, limiting attendance waivers and relocating programs to conserve space in the overcrowded areas of northeast Bothell, but NSD officials are running out of ideas. “When all the other options have been exhausted [ more SCHOOLS page 5 ]

[ more CABIN page 3 ]

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n sunny evenings and summer days, a steady stream of families and children of all ages walk to and from the playground at Kenmore Elementary School. Four years ago, Kenmore Elementary almost became a space without a place to play. It began when vandals damaged the main play structure at the school in 2008. When Northshore School District employees came out to investigate, they discovered the aging playground equipment didn’t meet current building codes. The district wanted to remove the old equipment, but lacked the funds to replace it with new equipment. Unless the PTA could fund and build new play


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