It's Back-To-School Time Again -- Some Districts Are Delayed By Construction

EASTSIDE

Beginning today and continuing next week, Eastside students return to their classrooms. But construction problems will delay opening day for one elementary school and possibly a high school.

At Bellevue High School, officials may have to postpone next Tuesday's opening up to two days because construction workers remodeling the school discovered four classrooms were not strong enough to meet new earthquake standards and had to bring in more steel beams for reinforcement.

The Snoqualmie Valley School District decided this morning to postpone the Sept. 8 opening at Fall City Elementary by three days due to construction delays. School officials have put together a "SWAT team" to notify parents tonight that school will open on Sept. 13.

Light fixtures and floor coverings still need to be added to some classrooms as part of the school's $7 million remodeling project, administrators said. An office has been set up at nearby Chief Kanim Middle School for parents who need to register, pay fees or talk to staffers from Fall City Elementary.

Snoqualmie Valley school officials say the demand for building projects has created a labor shortage. "The contractors are desperate for workers," said district Superintendent Richard McCullough. "That is what we are hearing at other (construction) sites, too."

Another Snoqualmie Valley school, North Bend Elementary, barely made its construction schedule and will be ready to open Sept 8.

At Bellevue High, school officials will meet tomorrow to decide whether to hold up the first day of school for 1,200 students. "We have composed a letter and got the envelopes ready to go if there is a delay," said Michael Bacigalupi, Bellevue High co-principal.

Bellevue High is under the fourth of eight construction phases that will be completed by the end of next summer, although the repair and remodeling work was not supposed to interfere with the school schedule.

But three weeks ago, workers tore down a wall on the second floor and discovered there was insufficient steel framing for seismic upgrades in four math classrooms.

Like the teachers at Fall City Elementary, some Bellevue High teachers won't be able to set up their classrooms until work is completed. Bellevue school officials said they will move in furniture today and pile it in the middle of the rooms until construction is completed in the math classrooms.

If the start of the school year is delayed, Bellevue officials said they will petition the Legislature for an exemption to the required 180-day schedule.

Snoqualmie Valley officials, however, would consider any delays snow days and hold make-up days later.

More than 80,000 Eastside students will be returning to school over the next two weeks. Nearly half the Eastside districts are either looking for a new superintendent or welcoming a new top administrator. There also will be 27 new principals.

This year, the emphasis in most districts is at the elementary level, where there are efforts to overhaul the curriculum.

Here are some of the highlights for the new year at the various districts:

Riverside School District (Return date, today)

-- Retired Mercer Island Superintendent Richard Giger will serve as interim superintendent until the School Board finds a permanent replacement for Jack Ernst, who left to run a bigger district in Missouri.

-- A practice field at Cedarcrest High built by volunteers will be ready for sports teams to use next year.

Bellevue School District (Return date, next Tuesday):

-- A more challenging science curriculum will be used in elementary schools.

-- Discussions continue on whether to expand the gifted program to include more minority elementary-school pupils.

-- Two Head Start classrooms and a child-care program will be added.

-- A new number-grading system will be used on elementary-school report cards.

-- Five schools will welcome new principals - Laura Keylin, former Sammamish High assistant principal, to Newport High School; Michelle Carroll, former Tillicum Middle School assistant principal, to Highland Middle School; Betty Hannaford, former Newport High assistant principal, to Cherry Crest Elementary; Lila Henderson-Leonard, former principal in the Highline School District, to Enatai Elementary; and Greg Schell, former principal at Cherry Crest Elementary principal, to Somerset Elementary.

Mercer Island (return date, tomorrow)

-- New Superintendent Paula Butterfield, former superintendent in Bozeman, Mont., replaces Richard Giger.

-- Paul Highsmith, former principal of a Pierce County middle school, takes over at Mercer Island High.

Issaquah School District (return date, tomorrow)

-- Nine new principals assigned: Zena Ingles, former Issaquah High assistant principal, promoted to principal; Kevin Davis, former principal at an Arizona high school, to Liberty High; Ed Marcoe, former Issaquah High principal, to Tiger Mountain Community High; and Dan Bubar, former principal in the Lake Washington School District, to Challenger Elementary.

Also Shirley Riley, former school administrator in South America, to Discovery Elementary; Barbara Walton, former elementary principal in the Highline School District, to Endeavour Elementary; Tina Livingston, former principal in Highline, to Issaquah Valley Elementary; Christy Otley, former program assistant at Sunny Hills Elementary, promoted to principal; and Lisa Escobar, former Beaver Lake Middle School assistant principal, to Sunset Elementary.

Lake Washington (return date, tomorrow)

-- The search goes on for a superintendent to replace Ron Barnes, who left for a job in Southern California. Karen Bates, a 27-year district veteran, will serve as interim chief.

-- Three new choice schools open this fall: Aurora at Lake Washington High and Extended Core at Eastlake High, both offering smaller classes for in-depth learning in math, science, language arts and science. Finn Hill Middle School will offer Environmental and Adventure School, integrating classroom lessons with real-life experiences such as tracking salmon runs and visiting nature trails.

-- A new report-card grading system will be tried as an experiment at the elementary-school level.

-- New principals assigned: Mark Robertson, former principal at Franklin High in Seattle, to Lake Washington High; Gayle Cudworth, a teacher at BEST, to Community, Northstar programs and BEST High School; and Jan Olson, retired Issaquah High principal, to serve as interim principal at Evergreen Junior High; and Ron Mahan, former vice principal at Liberty High, to Rose Hill Junior High.

Also Rick Burden, former teacher, to Peter Kirk Elementary; Christy Collins, former principal at Rockwell Elementary, to McAuliffe Elementary; Brad Stolz, former principal at McAuliffe Elementary, to Rockwell Elementary; and Dick Evans and Bruce Burpee, both former principals, to share duties at Audubon Elementary.

Northshore School District (return date, tomorrow)

-- Roy Adler, former principal at a middle school in SeaTac, becomes principal at Canyon Park Junior High.

-- A new math curriculum will emphasize more problem-solving in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Snoqualmie Valley School District (return date, Sept. 8)

-- Two new principals arrive: former Auburn High principal George Llgenfritz takes over at Mount Si High, and Ruth Moen, former elementary-school principal in the Tahoma School District, comes to Chief Kanim Middle school in Fall City.

-- Renovations at North Bend and Fall City elementaries will be finished.