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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013
City Council looks at ways to spend extra funds
HEART, HOME FOR OTHERS
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
For 26 years, woman has been a warm host for foreign exchange students from all walks of life BY ROSS COYLE rcoyle@kentreporter.com
ent resident Sally Goodgion has a rather large “extended family.” More than 50 people, to be precise, from all parts of the globe. They’re not blood related, of course. Some were adopted sons and daughters and the large majority have been hosted foreign exchange students. Host families can have one of the most impactful experiences in a visiting student’s life. When Chinese then-vicepresident Xi Jinping traveled to the U.S. last year, he made a point to visit the Iowa family he spent two days with while on an agricultural research study. Goodgion has hosted students studying abroad since 1987. In the past 26 years she has hosted more than 40 students, ranging from the sons and daughters of affluent families to Bangladeshi teenagers from villages without running water.
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[ more GOODGION page 4 ]
Sally Goodgion sits with the binder that holds memories of all her visiting students. The binder holds more than 40 sets of photographs, letters and information sheets on students she has hosted. ROSS COYLE, Kent Reporter
With extra money in the city budget for the first time in several years, the Kent City Council plans to spend some of it. The council is considering hiring six more police officers, replacing the Wilson Playfields synthetic turf and paying a consultant to help bring more retail businesses, such as a Costco, to town. Council members also might add a city jail corrections officer and an administrative assistant to the police chief. Tom Brubaker, city interim chief administrative officer, told the council Brubaker there’s about $1.9 million extra for next year with revenues exceeding expenses. That extra is on top of the cash set aside in a reserve fund of $4.4 million and a contingency fund of $1.5 million for unanticipated costs. “We have $1.9 million but we have a lot of staffing needs, capital needs and debt,” Brubaker said. Brubaker added that although 2013 has been a good year even with conservative forecasting the city would spend more than its brings in over the next four years. [ more BUDGET page 5 ]
Vargas named state Superintendent of the Year Edward Lee Vargas, Kent School District superintendent, talks to program leaders during a visit by thengubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee in May. REPORTER PHOTO
REPORTER STAFF
Superintendent Edward Lee Vargas of the Kent School District (KSD) was named last Friday the 2014 Superintendent of the Year by the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA). The announcement was made at WASA’s Super-
intendents Component meeting in Bellevue, according to a WASA media release. The program is designed to recognize the outstanding leadership of active, front-line superintendents and pay tribute to those who lead public schools. Vargas will be a finalist for the 2014 National Super-
intendent of the Year award, to be announced at the AASA National Conference on Education in Nashville, Tenn., in February. Upon learning of the award, Vargas said in a prepared statement: “I am very grateful and tremendously honored [ more VARGAS page 2 ]
Developers show interest in par 3 golf course property BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Developers are interested in building a mixed-use project that could feature retail shops, public open spaces, a hotel, apartments and possibly condos [ more PROPERTY page 4 ]