Evergreen Hospital's 2009 Annual Community Report available only Online this year

UPDATED:  Evergreen Hospital 2009 Annual Report to the Community:    CEO Robert Malte reported in their July 7 Public Meeting that their Annual Report (2009) is only available online this year as a cost saving, "green" measure. 

According to the July Minutes, "a lower-than-desired number of  'online hits' for the Report has been observed and  a card was sent out alerting constituents of the availability of the Report."  Did you get a card in the mail?

As of today, the current "Annual Report to the Community" is not found on the front page of the Evergreen Hospital website.  For your convenience, I found their current 2009 Annual Report and Strategic Plan on this Leadership page.  (upper right corner)   It's both comprehensive and user friendly.

Reported By Bob Yoder

18 Lake Washington District Schools not up to Federal "AYP" standard - Data is confusing.

According to the LWSD, the 2010 Federal Adequate Yearly Progress ("AYP") data confuses the achievement picture because the label is an all or nothing designation.

For example, the District says by most measures, Inglewood Junior High is a high-performing school. Over 83 percent of students meet or exceed the state standard in reading and over 84 percent in math at the seventh grade level.

Yet according to the federal government’s AYP benchmark, Inglewood Junior High is not a success. In fact, Lake Washington School District (LWSD), Inglewood Junior High and 18 other LWSD schools out of 50 schools total are not up to the AYP standard.  The list of schools with categories not up to AYP standard are, as follows: 

· Dickinson Elementary, Step 1, special education math
· Eastlake High School, Step 1, special education math
· Einstein Elementary, Step 2, special education reading; special education, Hispanic and low income math
· Evergreen Junior High, Step 2, Hispanic math
· Family Learning Center, Step 2, All students and white students math
· Inglewood Junior High, Step 2, special education math
· Kamiakin Junior High, Step 3, special education reading; special education, Hispanic and low income math
· Kirkland Junior High, Step 3, special education reading and math
· Lake Washington High School, special education reading; special education and low income math
- Muir Elementary, Step 1, special education reading; special education and low income math
· Redmond High School, Step 2, Hispanic, special education and low income math
· Redmond Junior High, Step 1, Hispanic, special education and low income math
· Rose Hill Junior High, Step 2, special education and low income math
· Twain Elementary, Step 2, special education reading and math

Read entire LWSD Press Release on LWSD schools "in improvement", what it means and why it's confusing.

Posted by Bob Yoder
Source:  LWSD website.

LETTER: Inadequate bus transportation brings 1500+ vehicles to Education Hill each morning

SCHOOL TRAFFIC ON EDUCATION HILL - COMPARABLE TO TRAFFIC AT COSTCO
By Susan Wilkins, LWSD parent and volunteer

It’s great to live on Education Hill during the summer – school is out and kids get to sleep in, the baseball fields are busy, the view of the Cascades is awesome, and morning traffic on Education Hill is nearly non-existent. But the day that school starts, this year on September 1st, is the day that our snarling traffic will return. Obviously, our schools are the source of our traffic, with so many kids being dropped off by their parents and the high school students driving themselves to school. Also, don’t forget that the schools have almost 200 full-time employees. Understanding how many cars are coming and going and which schools are generating traffic can help us figure out how to fix it.

TRAFFIC BY THE NUMBERS (a little boring, but count along….)
Redmond High School has 1440 students and a staff of 120 who start arriving from all directions in their cars shortly before 7:00AM. Only 230 students ride the bus to school, the rest arrive in cars, either by driving and parking or being dropped off by a parent. Redmond High School attracts nearly 900 cars to the neighborhood between 7:00 and 7:30 AM each weekday morning. As a comparison, this exceeds peak hourly traffic at Costco which attracts about 700 cars per hour.*

Redmond Junior High has 850 students and about 70 staff members. During traffic counts in May, nearly 400 cars dropped off students between 7:25 and 7:50 AM. More than HALF the students at RJH arrived at school in private vehicles. RJH also had 5 buses that dropped off 215 students.

Horace Mann Elementary had 470 students and a staff of about 40. On a typical morning 180 cars dropped off students in the parking lot and another 60 dropped off students at various outer streets, a total of 240 vehicles. Mann had one bus that dropped off 12 Redmond Elementary transfer students.

With 3000 students and staff arriving at 3 schools in 1500+ vehicles, we have a huge traffic mess that's not going to be fixed by telling people to “walk to school”.  So, will the school district and the City of Redmond stop telling us that this will solve our traffic problem?  Read More.........

Snoqualmie Indian Tribe restoring critical drainage area on Sammamish River

Just take a bike ride down the Sammamish River Trail and you'll see a lot of environmental restoration work on the river banks - even in this economy.   Here's a picture of Neal Jander, restoration ecologist, evaluating a drainage area adjacent to the Woodinville Village project site.   He works for the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. 

Neal, his volunteers, and paid crews have already planted willow trees in the mouth of the drainage to shade out the invasive reed canary grass.  The project is funded by an undisclosed grant to the Tribe.  Today Neal is deciding how to remove the yellow Tansy  plants - by shovel or herbicide.  Tansy are noxious weeds that take over valuable native plants.  Right now, Neal is looking for volunteers to manually remove the weeds; or it he may have to use the herbicide. 

Woodinville Village site

Neal said  "come back in two years and this place will look totally different."  He's planting 100 willow trees to shade out invasive canary grass overtaking the river bank.  The willows will also provide, flood control, stormwater treatment for the Village run-off, and cooler water which spawning salmon love. 

I asked Neal about the high prevalence of weeds growing in the river.  He said the wide variety of aquatic plants are attributable to river boating.  The sod farms are heavily fertilized, indirectly "feeding" the aquatic plants.  The Sammamish River is considered  the major stormwater "pipe" for Redmond's stormwater and contributes additional nutrients and chemicals.  Can you see the plants?

Reported by Bob Yoder

IPhone photos by Yoder
Edited by Reinke

Get the School Year Off to a Good Start

Past Chair Beth Angelo of LWSD PTSA Special Needs Group passed the torch this year to Julie Shalaby.  This is one of many informative pieces from the recent LWSD PTSA Special Needs Yahoo News Group distributed by Julie Shalaby.

Get the School Year Off to a Good Start (Wrightslaw)

10 Tips for a Successful School Year:  Parents and kids are anxious about return to school. Click this link http://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/10tips.sch.yr.htm for 10 tips from Advocate Pat Howey, to help you get off to a good start at the beginning of the new school year.

Parents & Kids: Rise and Shine:  What can you do before your children walk out the door to help them feel they can conquer anything? Making a few simple changes before the bus arrives can have a big impact on how your children handle events at school.

No-nonsense pointers from Jackie Igafo-T'eo:
to help you remove a large portion of the last-minute stress that comes with every weekday morning.  Click here http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/advo.tips.attitude.jigafoteo.htm for “9 ways to boost your child’s attitude before the bus arrives.”

Back to School Tips & Supplies - for Parents
Have you made contact with school staff, including the school nurse? Do you have a baseline picture of your child for the beginning of the school year? Are you prepared to monitor progress? Are you aware of the newest federal regulations about parental consent?

Click here http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/advo.school.tips.krizman.htm for back to school tips by Lisa Krizman, Esq.

Kimball Administration does away with "The August Institute" - Changing culture

new logo

In the August 6 School Board Meeting, Superintendent Kimball announced the "August Institute" was dead.  He jokingly said, anyone saying the words "August Institute" would have to pay $5.00. The Administration and School Board also did away with the thirty-year old District LOGO.  This appears the beginning of a sea change in LWSD culture.

Prior Superintendent Don Saul was a big believer in the Institute.  According to LWSD Communications Director, Kathryn Reith, "the Institute represented the kick-off to the new school year with the intention of   professional development of the district's leadership team".  It occurred two-three weeks prior to the opening of school.    

Ms. Reith wrote:   "The drawback of August Institute was that it could take up to two weeks worth of time just when principals needed time in their building to plan and prepare for the year and hire teachers if needed. Operations staff members were busy preparing school buildings, materials and systems for the return of teachers and other staff."   In short, the Institute interfered with operations. 

Superintendent Kimball said rather than "cram a bunch of information in their heads" in two weeks of August to remember in November, it's better to develop and train the administrators over time throughout the year.

Kimball was pleased to tell the Board and public that 85% of the District's elementary school teachers took summer math training even though it was optional.  He said this kind of commitment was "unheard of".   Read More

TEDxRedmond's Youth Conference - "The Power To Be Students!"

Saturday, 2:30 pm, September 18th, 2010
Microsoft Conference Center, Redmond WA
Theme: Power to the Students!  

All youth Grades 6-10 are invited

http://www.tedxredmond.com/

Or, you may watch TEDxRedmond streamed live online and organize a Meetup (watching the stream with a group of similarly interested people) around it at http://www.meetup.com/TEDxRedmond/  .

 Below, are two of seventeen TEDxRedmond Sponsored Speakers!

JORDON ROMERO is the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest at age 14

BRIGITTE BERMAN - experienced bullying, spoke on Good
Morning America, testified to Congress, youngest person to
participate in NASA Space Mission.

Attendees should sign up at the TEDxRedmond Attend page (www.tedxredmond.com/attend.html , and arrive at the Microsoft Conference Center at 2:30 PM.

What you'll find at the TEDxRedmond event (read more)  

Sammamish Rowing Association boat house construction underway

Beginning construction on new boat house at Sammamish Rowing Association

King County Parks’ Community Partnerships and Grants Program works the magic yet again, this time with the Sammamish Rowing Association (SRA), which is building a new boathouse along the Sammamish River in Marymoor Park. The official groundbreaking ceremony is Sept. 12 from noon to 3 p.m. at Marymoor Park.

Public benefits of this project go way beyond the SRA’s youth rowing programs – which attract hundreds of kids from throughout the region every year. Part of the boathouse project includes removing some trees plus a whole lot of invasive species from the surrounding area – that’s already taking place. Later on, SRA will plant more than 10,000 native trees and plants in Marymoor Park to make up for the land clearing.

King County Parks Weblog
Photo on King County Weblog

Summertime is slipping by, so get out and King County Parks

Aug. 20: Summertime is slipping by, so get out and enjoy King County Parks – Your Big Backyard:

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer are just around the corner.  Don’t despair. King County Parks is prepared to fill the remainder of August with fantastic live music plus lots of other outdoor activities."

Read More

What's up with the "green bikes" in downtown Redmond?

The city's first green bike rack was placed outside the Library for over three years before they  launched their Bike Rack program big-time two years ago. This one in front of Redmond Physical Therapy and scores of others have since been installed in the downtown.  Have you seen them?  Now you know how they can be used!  Read More for a full explanation.

Lake Washington School District has a new LOGO

new logo

The Chip Kimball administration is redefining Lake Washington School District culture.  It's most visible in their new LOGO.  Do you like it?  

The existing, oval LOGO was thirty years old and according to Kathryn Reith, Communications Director, "it didn't express who we are".

NAMI Newsletter announces new Mental Health Court in Issaquah

Preface:   Councilmember Hank Margeson pushed hard for an Eastside  Mental Health Court during his "Leadership Eastside" training project.  I believe John Marchione also worked on this project.   BY

The Issaquah branch of the new King County District Regional Mental Health Court held its grand opening on July 9th. This Court represents an effort to effectively increase cooperation between the mental health treatment system and the criminal justice system — two systems that have traditionally not worked closely together.

The Mental Health Court aims to reduce recidivism (the repeated or habitual relapse into criminal or antisocial behavior patterns) and improve access to public mental health treatment services for persons
with mental illnesses who find themselves in the criminal justice system. By reaching these goals, the
safety of the general public will be improved. 

READ MORE   about the Mental Health Court and  the latest NAMI-Eastside educational and workshop events.

GO HERE  for the Issaquah Press Online article about the Court and Eastside Leadership's involvement.

Submitted By Clark Graves
National Alliance of the Mentally Ill,  NAMI - Eastside
Photo courtesey of Issaquah Press - Commissioner Kathy Lambert and NAMI'S Mike Rynas in photo.

The Latest Results of the King County Primary Elections

These are the latest King County election results posted at 4:30 p.m. August 18. You can find all election results online.  Results will continue to be updated here until September 1.

State Senator Legislative Dist No. 45

Eric Oemig 48.68%
Andy Hill 51.20%

Lake Washington School District ACT Scores Continue to Rise

Lake Washington School District ACT Scores Continue to Rise

More district students meet college readiness benchmarks than state, national averages

Redmond, Wash. – While national mean scores for college-bound students fell slightly this year, Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students scored higher on three of the four ACT tests (English, Reading and Science) and improved their average composite score. In addition, Lake Washington students continue to show significantly greater college readiness than state and national averages.

The district’s average composite score rose by two tenths from 2009 to reach 25.3, compared to the state average of 23.0 (up .2), and the national average of 21.0, down .1 from 2008. At the same time, the number of LWSD students taking the test remained about the same, rising from 403 in 2009 to 408 in 2010.

Residential Neighborhoods Are Subsidizing Stormwater Costs of Private Developments

UPDATED:  The Redmond Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is many things to many people.  DNR is division of Public Works, the largest department in the city.  Our utility bill pays for DNR's stormwater management costs and if you didn't notice, our rates have increased dramatically over the past few years.

Council recently held a study session on our Utility rates.  Council was pleased with the value DNR brings to sustainability of our environment; however, Councilman Cole complained Redmond has the #1 stormwater rate in the area.  For example, Bellevue's stormwater rate is less than half our rate.

Much of our high rate is attributable to a grandiose plan to build spend  $90,000,000 on two regional stormwater facilities - in Overlake and Downtown.   Commercial and high rise development costs will be significantly less since they will not have to build their own facilities or use their land.   Council, obviously pro-business, decided several years ago that the residential rate-payer would front most of these facilities costs, including the very high cost of  land acquisition.

Free (almost) Greener All-Purpose Cleaner!

This is hilarious....

Free (almost) Greener All-Purpose Cleaner!

By Michael Bergman, Washington State Department of Ecology

LETTER: A View Of Our Awful Traffic On Education Hill

1st Video of traffic in front of Redmond Junior High during school, Tuesday, June 15, 2010

2nd Video of summer traffic in front of Redmond Junior High, Tuesday, August 3, 2010 

A VIEW OF OUR AWFUL TRAFFIC ON EDUCATION HILL, by Susan Wilkins

Many years ago, the main north-south road to the top of Education had only one lane in each direction. Over the years, as more and more houses were added to the neighborhoods, the two lanes couldn’t handle all the cars going up and down the hill so the road was widened to two lanes in each direction.

Fast forward to 2008 and the City of Redmond decided that they once again wanted only one lane of traffic in each direction on 166th Avenue NE with a center turn lane.

Student Innovation Contest - Microsoft rethinks the keyboard

Microsoft rethinks the keyboard:

"Microsoft rethinks the keyboard"

Is there a more efficient way to input text, graphics and images on desktop computers? That's the latest brainstorm from Microsoft Hardware, which has begun showing off a new touch-based LCD 'Adaptive Keyboard' as part of the Student Innovation Contest." Read More.  Watch Video

By Todd Bishop
Tech Flash

Donations to LWSD on Record in the August Board Minutes

Superintendent Kimball reads the Donation List at the beginning of each Regular Board Meeting

$35,311 in Donations were recorded in the August.  The top three donors were:  Inglewood Junior High PTSA ($9377), Mark Twain PTSA ($4735), and Wilder PTSA ($5419).  To see all nine donations and how they are broken down click "Read More"

Puget Sound Energy tries to save the wildlife and wetlands during easement widening.

UPDATED:  Puget Sound Energy's power easement is being widened by 100 feet to make room for a new transmission line.   

As you can see from the long brown strip going up the hill from Bear Creek near Avondale, hundreds of trees were removed to make way for a new power line.  Along some sections, you'll see parts of the trees cut off.   As ugly as it looks, these trees were purposely cut this way to provide habitat for the remaining wildlife and to try to "save:" the wetlands.  Look at the woodpecker eating on the snag.  This snag was nearby in the cooler forest where there is shelter from the sun and protection and food from the forest.

According to Ron Ainslie of King County and Thara Johnson of the City of Redmond, there are seven wetlands in the 3 mile easement project; 36 acres in all.  The trees in these wetlands were manually cut into "snags" to keep heavy equipment off the fragile vegetation.  Two wetlands are high priority, Class 2 wetlands with permanent pools.  Even with these snags the wetlands will dry from the lack of shade and poor water retention.  The city project planner said the forested wetlands will change to drier "scrub-scrub" wetlands providing habitat for different species.

A PSE worker said their biggest concern is Summer and Fall rain storms.  With vegetation and trees removed, the dry, silty soil can easily flood into Bear Creek unless measures are taken.   Silt fences need to go up - black, permeable cloth and burlap rolls.  Have you been out there, yet?   My wife and I saw a Bald Eagle, this Hairy Woodpecker, and a hummingbird when I took these pictures. 

By Bob Yoder
Photos By Yoder

Emergency Response, Map your Neighborhood, and Neighborhood Watch Programs offered by City

Jim Bove says....

The Redmond Police and Fire Departments are pleased to offer an information session on three programs recommended in your neighborhood to make it safer and more prepared for emergencies and disasters. The session is Wednesday, August 25th at 6:00 p.m. at the RPD Training Room (8701 160th Avenue NE) and will focus on the following programs:

   o  Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

   o  Map your Neighborhood

  o   Neighborhood Watch

 Councilmember Dave Carson is a recent CERT graduate.  Read More about these programs.