From our community partner New Futures at Arbor Heights, taken directly from their website:

Genesis Guardado, New Futures 2010 Scholarship recipient for Arbor Heights

Genesis is a mature, responsible teenager who successfully balances an impressive number of priorities. As a high school junior, she works a part-time job to contribute to her family’s income and is involved in multiple community activities, including New Futures’ youth program, church, sports, and volunteering.

Genesis is highly self-motivated; she is determined to do whatever it takes to graduate from high school, move on to college, pursue a master’s degree, and even a PhD. She speaks openly about going to law school or studying criminal justice, is willing to work to pay her way through school, and has started attending college tours and information sessions on her own.

Genesis is a very caring and compassionate young woman. She volunteers to give youth a voice by participating in meetings with the King County sheriff and local police departments. She also went to Olympia this year to meet with legislators and advocate for greater funding for education and better learning environments for students. She enthusiastically participated in New Futures’ Youth Voices project, to share student insights on how they can best learn and succeed in school. Genesis is a leader in her community whose energy and enthusiasm is contagious to everyone around her.

This was exclusively sent to the CDA from our partners at the Evergreen Pool:

Opening Monday, April 19^th!

We’ve been scrubbing, painting and gardening - we’ve got your pool in shape and ready to go!  All we’re missing is you!

We’ll be open next week for lessons and lap swims - come in or check our still-under-construction website www.evergreenpool.org for details.  Lessons are generally from from 9:00 to 12:00 and 4:00 to 6:00; vertical exercise / water aerobics from 7:00 to 9:00; and lap swims almost all day - let us know what you need, as accommodations can be made while we’re building our schedule.

Remember our Grand Opening with free public swim on May 1^st, and our free public swim for all of those participating in the White Center Spring Clean on May 15^th.

Drop by when you can - we hope you’ll love what we’ve done with the place.

Check out these great photos from our community partner, the Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington (CCAW), at their 2010 Cambodian New Year celebration on April 3. Photos courtesy of Adam Chovanak.

We visited Mysty Beal at the pool today and we’re excited about the re-opening of the pool on Saturday, May 1. Community members (and their kids!) are scrubbing, sweeping and pressure washing the facility, which hopes to attract a lot more members of the community. Culturally competent programs, lessons, even an opportunity to rent out the pool in the future all sounds promising. As a friendly reminder, you can swim for free for two hours after our White Center Spring Clean event on Saturday, May 15. Read what WhiteWater Aquatics Management sent to the CDA by clicking here. Check out the photos we took this afternoon:

The pool will shed its security fence soon!

The supportive "tree" column design was made in the early 1970s. It still looks hip today.

The pool itself is generally shallow (3-4 feet), but there is a deep end in the corner of the pool that measures 10 feet. There are a total of 8 lanes for lap swimming.

The water boiler was inspected just this morning and is looking pretty good. You probably wouldn't want to jump in it, though!

From the HSD website. Stay tuned to the CDA blog on how you can be involved in this community process, and educate yourselves and others on how the budget cuts will affect your family, your neighbors and your community!

Highline Public Schools will be forced to cut its budget for the 2010-11 school year due to a second consecutive year of declining state revenues. The district has already cut $10 million from programs and operations over the past two years, including an $8 million reduction to the current year budget.

The state legislature is still in session working on a plan to fill the budget gap for next fiscal year. Until lawmakers adjourn, the precise impact to Highline’s 2010-11 budget will not be known. However, based on the latest information available, it looks like Highline will have to cut more than $4.5 million in programs, services, and staff.

Over the past several weeks, the school board and school district leaders have developed funding priorities that will help staff identify areas to cut and areas to preserve. The school board has identified three guiding principles:

Support bold and innovative action to improve student achievement;

Align district initiatives with new federal mandates and guidelines while maintaining the district vision of college and career readiness for all students;

Ensure that equity drives practices and policies, leading to increased achievement for students from all backgrounds.

Superintendent Welch is compiling a list of potential cuts with the help of principals and other administrators. As he did last year, the superintendent will name a number of administrative cuts in an effort to reduce the impact on teachers and students in the classroom.

Parents, community members, and students will have an opportunity to prioritize additional budget cuts at two community budget forums. The forums are scheduled for:

Saturday, May 1, 9:00 a.m. Hazel Valley Elementary School
Tuesday, May 4, 6:00 p.m. Mount Rainier High School

In addition, budget cut options will be posted on the district website, and the public will be invited to give their input online at www.hsd401.org.

The superintendent will present a budget recommendation to the school board at its May 26 meeting. A public hearing will be held June 23, and final adoption by the school board is scheduled for August 11.

Logos courtesy of their respective organizations to use on the White Center CDA website.

After spending most of your morning and early afternoon at Spring Clean, visit the Evergreen Community Aquatic Center and swim for 2 free hours! Here’s the announcement from our community partner, WhiteWater Aquatics Management:

Drop by the Pool after your hard day’s work!

Join us for a Free Public Swim!

WhiteWater Aquatics Management is pleased to invite you to the re-opened Evergreen Community Aquatic Center after the White Center Spring Clean on May 15^th.  We can’t wait to have you play around in the pool after all the work you’ve done!  Bring the kids to play - we’ll have the pool toys available, and Life Guards and Water Safety Instructors on deck to keep an eye on them.  Check out our new swim programs, jump in the pool, or just cool off on the patio with your friends.  We’ll be glad to meet you again.

Saturday, May 15^th

3:00 to 5:00

“See you…at the Pool!”

Photo courtesy of Sarah Weir, CDA Staff

The Office of the Education Ombudsman (OEO) is now offering Ombudsman Clinics at community sites for families of students in public schools who have questions about the education system, or are experiencing concerns about their children’s education.  Our first clinic was held at the Greenbridge YWCA in partnership with the King County Housing Authority.

After introducing OEO at a community meeting of Somali, Cambodian and Vietnamese residents, a group of Somali families requested an Ombudsman Clinic to express their concerns about their children’s  education.

During the two-hour clinic, one topic was identified as an area of concern for the families, and two parents offered to serve as spokespeople for the group in sharing their concerns with the school district.

The ombudsman later contacted the school district to share the nature of the families concerns and to schedule a meeting for the Somali parents, the school district and the ombudsman to discuss solutions.

The Ombudsman facilitated a successful follow-up meeting with school district personnel and two of the families. They were able to express their concerns, and the district immediately responded by offering several solutions.  A follow-up meeting with all the families is planned so that the families who attended the small meeting can share what progress has been made.

OEO will continue to meet with a variety of community groups and plans to offer Clinics for several of them over the next few months. For more information about the Ombudsman Clinics, click here.  If you are interested in scheduling a community group to meet with an Ombudsman for a Clinic, please contact Cathy Liu Scott at cathyliu.scott@gov.wa.gov.

“The Ways of the Owls” by Manoush Castaneda-Vizcarra
Book Reading & Signing
Thursday, April 1, 2010

2:30pm-3:30pm

Evergreen Campus Library
830 SW 116th St. Seattle 98146

Manoush Genet Castaneda-Vizcarra completed “The Ways of the Owls” at age fourteen and is working on her next novel. She is a student at the Health Sciences & Human Services High School (HS3) on the Evergreen Campus.

“Manoush Castaneda deftly conjures a powerful story vividly told, The Ways of the Owls deals with profound issues of gender oppression and personal freedom that draws the reader into the lives of the young Mexican girl Maximiana and those around her. Maximiana- her strength, courage, and life in Mexico a century ago - will inspire you.” - JOHN GRIFFITH, Associate Professor of English University of Washington

Books for purchase will be available at the event. This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Hosted by Community Schools Collaboration & Evergreen Campus Library

Burien, WA - Four Highline schools will be recognized with the 2009 Washington Achievement Award.  The Award celebrates the state’s top-performing schools and recognizes achievement in several categories: language arts, math, science, gifted education, graduation rate, and overall excellence.

The four Highline schools to receive the award are:

Aviation High School - Science, Overall Excellence

Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment (ACE) - Language Arts

Health Sciences and Human Services High School (HS3) - Language Arts

Marvista Elementary - Science

The Washington Achievement Award was created by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education. This highly selective award is based on schools’ performance according to the newly created School Accountability Index, a comprehensive measurement of how schools in Washington are performing over time. Schools are selected for the award based on their state assessment data for the previous three years.

“The selection process for the Washington Achievement Award is very rigorous, and your staff, students, parents, and community can take real pride in being part of this elite group,” says State Superintendent Randy Dorn.

“These awards show the progress we are making in student achievement,” says Highline Superintendent John Welch. “We have seen that when we raise the bar and hold students to high expectations, they meet and even exceed them.”

The award-winning schools will be recognized at a state awards ceremony in Renton on May 5.