ART AND ANTIQUE WALK | The annual downtown event gets started at 11 a.m. Saturday [3]
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Dance ALIVE! | Columnist Jaris English visits an Evergreen City Ballet dance class that hopes to fill gaps left in school arts programs. [10]
FRIDAY, AUG. 22, 2014
Renton schools send letters home explaining ‘failing’ NCLB label Federal government decision to not renew Washington state’s waiver will cost Renton schools about $700,000 BY TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com
The Renton School District, along with 27 other Puget Sound area districts, will send out a letter this week explaining the “failing” label that’s been given to them under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. In the letters co-signed by the Puget Sound Educational Service District, superintendents across the region call the label “regressive” and “punitive” and say they are
not reflective of progress in the districts in test scores. The failing mark comes after two years of Washington state operating under a conditional waiver from the accountability requirements of NCLB. The waiver exempted schools from NCLB sanctions, including the requirement to inform parents if test scores failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). However, the federal government refused to renew Washington’s
waiver for the 2014-15 school year. AYP is the annual measure if student achievement on state tests in reading and math. “Renton Superintendent Dr. Merri Rieger joined the other regional district superintendents, in the letter, stating that we are fully committed to each and every student reaching his or her full potential and are proud of the significant academic progress our students are making,” said Randy Matheson, Renton spokesperson in a email. “While not all students have reached proficiency, our use of targeted resources to assist struggling students and schools has made a significant difference.”
It is the goal of NCLB for 100 percent of students to reach proficiency in both subjects by 2014. Nearly every Washington school will fail to meet AYP and be labeled as failing under that standard, state officials at the Puget Sound Educational Service District. “There is no room for improvement or growth,” wrote Peter Daniels, PSESD executive director, in an email. “It’s an all or nothing accountability system; 100 percent of your students’ (including special needs, English language learners and others) must meet proficiency. So if one child is not [ more NCLB page 8 ]
Planning Commission to recommend medical pot ban BY BRIAN BECKLEY bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
Only the ducks were able to swim Monday at Coulon Park after high levels of bacteria were detected in the water. The beach reopened Wednesday after samples from Monday showed the bacteria at acceptable levels. BRIAN BECKLEY, Renton Reporter
Coulon Park beach reopens to swimmers City officials on Wednesday reopened the swimming beach at Gene Coulon Memorial Park after county testing indicated bacteria levels had returned to acceptable standards. The swimming beach was closed Aug. 15 due to high levels of fecal coliform bacteria found during routine test-
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ing at the site. According to King County Public Health spokesperson Hilary Karasz, fecal coliform bacteria is a family of bacteria found in the digestive tracts of most animals, including geese, dogs and humans. The bacteria is always present in the water, but when the numbers reach above a certain level, the county recommends the beach be shut down. It is unknown what caused [ more COULON page 15 ]
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BY BRIAN BECKLEY
bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
With the rules on recreational marijuana retail stores now in place and the moratorium on medical marijuana facilities about to expire, the city is poised to take the next step with a recommendation that all medical-marijuana facilities be banned within the City of Renton. According to senior planner Angie Mathias, the Planning Commission was expected to make the recommendation to the council this week, with review in front of the council’s Planning and Development Committee scheduled for Thursday. The full council will vote on the measure in the upcoming weeks. Planning officials said the recommendation to outlaw medical-marijuana facilities comes because the voter-approved initiative legalizing medical marijuana did not include regulations for cities, especially compared to the recreational marijuana initiative, which created a structure to be out in place. “They established a really nice system (for recreational retail outlets), but medical is functioning independently,” Mathias told the committee. The City Council earlier this year passed new [ more MARIJUANA page 8 ]