Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, January 24, 2014

Page 1

REPORTER

COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND

NEWSLINE 425-432-1209

BUSINESS | Panera Bread Co. plans store for Maple Valley [page 6]

PASSION FOR SKATING | Kentlake High junior Hannah Tashiro pursues her passion FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 for figure skating [11]

A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING

Tahoma moving to new tests, standards

Grant to benefit Tahoma program

BY KATHERINE SMITH

BY KATHERINE SMITH

ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com

ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com

The Tahoma School District is transitioning to the new Common Core standards this year, including introducing the SMARTER Balanced tests. Dawn Wakeley, assistant superintendent for Tahoma, said that the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction gave the district the option to begin implementing the new standards and new tests this year as part of the field testing phase of implementation and that after much discussion the district decided to go that route. Wakeley explained that this year the district’s students in grades three through eight will take the SMARTER Balanced tests but that 10th grade students will still take the High School Proficiency Exams to fulfill the graduation requirement of pass-

The Tahoma School District school resource officer program will benefit from $25,000 as part of a grant obtained by the King County Sheriff ’s Office. It was announced at the Jan. 13 Maple Valley City Council meeting by City Manager David Johnston that part of the funding was secured for the Tahoma program. Maple Valley Police Chief Michelle Bennett wrote in an email that she will meet with Rob Morrow, the principal of Tahoma Junior High who has been named the next superintendent of Tahoma schools effective upon Mike Maryanski’s retirement this summer, on Friday to discuss how to best use the funds. Bennett also wrote that the funds will pay for officers to act as school resource officers, who

[ more TAHOMA page 7 ]

Finding Mr. Tahoma

Tahoma junior Mickey Bergsma strikes a pose during the runway walk portion of the Mr. Tahoma pageant Jan. 17. The competition featured 15 juniors and seniors competing for the title. The event was Madison Johson and Kelsey Anderson’s senior project. It was a fundraiser for Maple Valley-based nonprofit Wings of Karen. KRIS HILL, The Reporter

Enumclaw School District wrestles with student use of social media BY DENNIS BOX dbox@maplevalleyreporter.com

Social media became the talk of the town during the Dec. 16 meeting of the Enumclaw School Board. A group of eight parents and students spoke to board members concerning a complaint filed by the Farr Law Group involving some students’ Twitter accounts and the school district’s reaction to the complaint. Most of the students were high school athletes. Staff from the Reporter’s sister paper, the Enumclaw Courier-Herald were able to confirm that at least one was not. Students and parents asked pointed questions about the right and responsibility of the school district — which serves Black Diamond — to get involved in student’s speech outside of school hours and off school property. Students and parents also

expressed concerns that someone was following the students on social media and questioned the motivation behind such action. The complaint and the school district’s response brought to light a myriad of issues involving social media that school administrators and parents are struggling with across the state and nation.

THE BEGINNING The story began when Enumclaw-based Farr Law Group filed a complaint June 26 concerning language used by about seven Enumclaw High School students on their Twitter accounts. The Courier-Herald received the documents in question following a public records request. The letter filed by the firm, signed by Megan Farr, was accompanied by a “Discrimi-

[ more GRANT page 7 ]

nation, Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying” form. Also included were screen shots of the students’ personal Twitter accounts from February through NOOB June ROFL 2013. G The letSLAN ter stated OMG a client brought the issue IMO to the GAY firm and YOL O the inDERP dividual wished to :) LOL remain anonymous “for fear of retribution. The complaint is sent through our office to (hopefully) communicate its seriousness, with the hope that the district will treat this appropriately.

“The complaint regards what appears to us a pattern amongst students in your district to use the words ‘faggot’ (or a variation thereof) — along with other offensive remarks, and general profanity. “Given past district initiatives to counter bullying and encourage kindness — we trust the school district will handle this appropriately.”

SCHOOL DISTRICT ACTION The school district sent a letter to the law firm stating, “As you likely know, the District has limited authority to impose student discipline for student behavior that occurs off campus. Nevertheless, our high school [ more SOCIAL page 2 ]


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