Renton Reporter, April 12, 2013

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Tower reprieve | The control tower at Renton Municipal Airport will remain open until mid-June as FAA works on funding options [5]

NEWSLINE: 425.255.3484 FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013

Merri Rieger is new superintendent By TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com

Merri Rieger

Merri Rieger, the Kent School District chief student achievement officer, has been selected to become Renton’s next school superintendent. She will take office in Renton on July 1. Her contract is expected to be voted on at the April 17 School Board meeting. After being chosen for the job, Rieger made

the rounds in the district this week, meeting some staff members. The selection follows last week’s interviews with Rieger, Bremerton Superintendent Lester Herndon and Puyallup schools’ Assistant Superintendent Crystalee Sweeting. “We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Merri Rieger as our new superintendent,” said School Board President Lynn Desmarais, in a district release. “Merri has the depth of experience and sense of vision that make her a perfect fit for the Renton

Small hands, small world, big ideas

School District.” Rieger has served as the assistant superintendent for learning and improvement in Kent, high school principal in the Bremerton School District and dean of students and high school teacher in the Auburn School District. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Washington State University. [ more rieger page 9 ]

City Council clear KCLS de-annex off table for now By Brian Beckley bbeckley@rentonreporter.com

Renton is still part of the King County Library Systemfor now. After a 90-minute Committee of the Whole discussion and nine comments from the public, the Renton City Council on Monday essentially rejected a de-annexation vote, but due to procedural New design coming? issues, the council chose to pull it from The King County Library System is the agenda rather than scheduled to present to the City Council its vote it down. designs for the library over the Cedar River However, the counto the City Council at Monday’s City Council cil was unanimous in Comittee of the Whole meeting. discussion that deCouncil members and the administraannexation from KCLS tion strongly hinted that they expect to was not the right move see a new design that incorporates the full at this time. current footprint. The motion was The Comittee of the Whole meets at brought forward as a 5:30 p.m. Monday in Council Chambers at means of discussion City Hall. The council will review and make to allow the council to a determination on the designs April 29. look at all possible op- The April 22 meeting was canceled. tions regarding KCLS Politics behind vote/page 3 and the rebuilding of Library commentaries/page 6 two libraries in the city. During a presentation at the meeting, the administration advised against de-annexation. “We looked and worked through this issue and I can tell you at this current time the administration doesn’t see ben-

FYI

School brings China, culture to kids By TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com

A Renton bilingual preschool is teaching children Mandarin and bringing diverse families together to create community. Harmony Early Childhood Education Center has been teaching children age 1 to 5 years old Chinese language and culture for seven years

in downtown Renton. You may have noticed the school’s little students as they go on their daily walk around the city in multi-seat strollers or tethered to a hand-leash, walking single-file in two rows. Three-year-old Lucy Muturi is one of the students. Her parents Patrick and Ira Muturi enrolled her in the [ more china page 11 ]

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ABOVE LEFT: Students learn Chinese characters through art. ABOVE: Harmony teacher Jo Shan helps students in the 4- to 5-year-old “Butterfly Room” learn numbers in Mandarin. BELOW: A student writes characters for numbers one to four. tracey compton, Renton Reporter


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