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Showing posts with label Shoreline School Board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shoreline School Board. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2012

Four Huge Sequoias Cut at Shorecrest HS

Last Thursday, neighbors were shocked to see four enormous Giant Sequoia trees being cut next to the existing Tennis Courts at the northern edge of the Shorecrest Campus.

Four stumps are left after Sequoias
were cut at Shorecrest HS. The remaining five are in backround.

The school is in the early stages of its remodeling project, but the site plan for the Shorecrest remodel does not show any construction being planned for that section of the campus.

The four Giant Sequoias were nearly half of a long row of the conifers which had bordered the tennis courts at the top of the hill at the northern edge of the campus. They appeared to have been the largest of the total 9 trees which had graced this hillside. One had an over 3ft diameter.
Neighborhood forest steward Charlie Brown views
the huge stump left at the scene.
It is very unclear why these trees were cut since the area next to the Theater and Tennis Courts is not shown in the Shoreline School District Site Plans for Shorecrest. Both of the Shoreline HS are being remodeled after voters approved the Bonds in 2006 and 2010. It was not possible to contact the district of course over the holiday weekend. 

There are five sequoias remaining at the crest of the hill where the tennis courts are located. The fencing on one side of the tennis courts has been removed and it appears they are slated for a parking purpose. 

If citizens would like to ask the school board why these trees were cut, the School Board members can be contacted here.

Neighbors did call the City of Shoreline CRT (Customer Response Team), and were told that information would be sought on why the trees were cut.  The SSD did receive permits of course from the City to proceed with their projects. We are not sure whether the cutting of these trees was included in this permit. Further inquiries will be made when City and SSD offices are open Tuesday.

Shoreline City Council can be contacted through the City website. 
At the City council meeting, Jan 9th, the Council is scheduled to discuss the upcoming proposal to create a "tree board" to institute the "Tree City USA" designation. The Council has discussed putting a stronger tree ordinance in place but last year opted to leave only "voluntary" measures in place with regard to attempts to increase the Urban Forest Canopy goals.

Questions about this incident can be directed to the City of Shoreline Customer Response Team which can be contacted here.
Five remaining Sequoia Trees on Shorecrest Campus
The loss of these huge trees seems like an incredible waste and needless given that the site plans for the school remodel show no building will take place there. These trees appeared to have been at least 40 years old. Conifers like these Sequoias, provide numerous well documented benefits and services to the community including but not limited to, shade, air and water quality, carbon sequestration and of course beauty. Sequoias are native to California but do grow in the northwest successfully. The Giant Sequoias
(Sequoiadendrons) located in California are considered to be the largest living things on earth. 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Open Letter to Shoreline School District-You are WAY out of line

My comments from Monday's, August 24th at the Shoreline School Board Meeting.




The unthinkable is about to happen. Please notice your community is about to lose its history!

There were four of our Save Our Shoreline Historical Museum Committee's members who spoke and two others attended. We were also present with about 100 members of the SESPA Union, who are engaged in contract talks with the District and had held an informational picket just before the meeting. Many of their members spoke of their situation, their dedication to their jobs and the students, and their need for decent hourly wages and work days to make ends meet.

The Ronald School was built in 1912 on land donated by Judge JT Ronald. The Shoreline Historical Musuem was created in 1976 by a group of dedicated preservationists, educators and historians in celebration of our Nation's Bicentennial. It has been supported in its work by funding from local, county and state governments and private and public grant funding. The building was Landmarked by King County Historical Preservation board in 2008. It is the oldest public building in Shoreline.

Judge JT Ronald
photo credit-Janet Way

If you would like to contact the School Board click on this link.

__________________________________________________

I'm Janet Way from Shoreline and I'm representing the Committee to Save Our Shoreline Historical Museum. I'm here to speak about YOUR actions. We speak in solidarity with the SESPA Union who is here today.

Today, we submitted a repeat FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, on documents related to Design of Shorewood HS. We were greeted by Superintendent Sue Walker who ultimately told us we could not have these records (as required by State Law) today or tomorrow (even though the original request was on July 8th) because.....
"We have more important things to do today."
We told her we'd be back tomorrow (Wednesday and it turned out we were rebuffed again).

Last time we attended one of your meetings, the Shoreline School Distirct was celebrating an "Agreement in Principle" with the Shoreline Historical Museum. Unfortunately that was premature apparently because, it has become clear that it was not offered in good faith (by the District). It was a very bad joke on the voters because now we see that bullying is now the new normal at SSD.

 The District has gone back on its promise to help the Museum and is now all about CRUSHING it!

Is this the new educational policy for the District? Take a community asset, a Landmarked building that houses our history and CRUSH IT?

Well, when you go to sell your Bonds (for the HS Rebuild projects), this community will be asking why we should invest in such a reprehensible organization, that treats its home community this way.

How can we support an organization that is all about destroying an irreplaceable asset?

We are not going away and will let the community and taxpayers know what you are doing with 23% of local tax dollars and what you are doing with their trust.
Credit- Shoreline Historical Museum
Ronald School built in 1912

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Shoreline Schools Staff Funding in Doubt

A flyer entitled "Bait and Switch" was passed out this weekend at the Shoreline Arts Fest by the SESPA Union. The flyer detailed problems at the Shoreline School District with funding for staff salaries.
Ridgecrest Elementary
photo credit - SSD

The flyer details how many of the school district staff categories such as; school nurses, security monitors, special ed, library staff, playground and lunch supervisors jobs may be threatened, and yet some administrators will be given substantial raises. For instance, Superintendent Walker is slated to receive a $8,276 raise next year. The School Board has already proposed to create new "reserve funds" which will in effect squirrel away much of the funding allowed in the last Levy Votes passed by voters.

Many people are concerned about the way the Shoreline School District has been less than candid to the public about their proposals and actions in the last year.

You can contact the school Board at the following site.
http://www.shorelineschools.org/school_board/

The SESPA (Shoreline Education Support Professionals Association) group has posted their concerns on  the lack of funding for support staff in a blog posting at http://www.sespaunion.blogspot.com/.


Here is the article from the SESPA UNION Blog with chart shown on the flyer:







THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010