Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper
THE ISSAQUAH PRESS
117th Year, No. 23
Thursday, June 9, 2016
issaquahpress.com
School district pitches new plan for bell times By David Hayes dhayes@isspress.com The Issaquah School District, committed to changing school bell times to accommodate better student sleeping habits, has devised a more moderate proposal than the previous recommendation that resulted in a lack of community consensus.
Unveiled during community meetings over the last three weeks, the new proposal would move high school start times to 8 a.m. and release times to 2:52 p.m. Meanwhile, elementary start times would all be at 9:10 a.m. with release times at 3:35 p.m. The new proposal would take effect in the 2017-18 school year. “The new proposal I consider
more moderate,” Superintendent Ron Thiele told an audience of about 40 parents, teachers and staffers. “First, it doesn’t invert high school and middle school starting with elementary, and elementary schools have a common start time.” He added that transportation logistics remains one of the biggest obstacles to implementing any
change in bell times. Thiele said the district buses more than 9,000 students a day in a district that is the 13th largest in the state but boasts the sixth largest transportation system in the state. The proposed change would cost $610,000 to the district that already spends
ON THE WEB The Issaquah School District has compiled its new bell time proposal, the previous proposal and links to sleep studies online at bit.ly/1NfTOtN.
See TIMES, Page 2
Former Issaquah childcare worker charged with two felonies By Sara Jean Green The Seattle Times A 46-year-old substitute teacher was charged Friday with two felony counts for allegedly downloading and sharing videos showing children being sexually abused, according to King County prosecutors. Sean Christopher Clark, who moved here from California several years ago, was arrested Thursday when Seattle police and federal agents assigned to the local internet Crimes Against Children Task Force served a search warrant at Clark’s Snoqualmie residence, charging papers say. Charged with first-degree dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Clark was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail, court and jail records show. A teacher since 1999, Clark was a substitute teacher in the Snoqualmie Valley, Tahoma, Enumclaw and Kent school districts and typically taught children in kindergarten through fifth grades, the charges say. He also reportedly worked in childcare in Issaquah, according to the Seattle Police Department. “The defendant has immersed himself in the lives of children by choice of profession, a deliberate decision no doubt in light of his admitted deviant sexual interest in children,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Cecelia Gregson wrote in charging papers. In an email to parents on Friday, the Snoqualmie Valley School District confirmed that Clark worked in the district this year. District officials said records show he substituted at Cascade View, North Bend, Opstad and Snoqualmie elementary schools a total of 16 times. “This is a very serious and disturbing allegation. The district shares the concerns that parents See FELONIES, Page 3
Scott Stoddard / sstoddard@isspress.com
The two-tank treatment system to remove perfluorinated chemicals from water is being installed adjacent to the pumphouse for Gilman Wells No. 4 and No. 5.
EPA tightens advisory guidelines for PFOS; city’s treatment system nears completion By Scott Stoddard sstoddard@isspress.com The Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory level for the contaminant that has been detected in Issaquah’s Gilman Well No. 4 has been significantly tightened. The federal agency in May issued a new “lifetime advisory level” for perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, dropping its previous 0.2 parts per billion provisional advisory level to 0.07 parts per billion combined for both PFOS and another perfluorinated chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, known more commonly as PFOA.
The agency said it “develops health advisories to provide information on contaminants that can cause human health effects and are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water. EPA’s health advisories are nonenforceable and nonregulatory and provide technical information to state agencies and other public health officials on health effects, analytical methodologies and treatment technologies associated with drinking water contamination.” In November 2015, the city reported a maximum PFOS detection of 0.106 parts per billion in tap water, a reading that exceeds the new EPA benchmark by more
than 30 percent. The well plagued with PFOS was taken offline in March, and a new water treatment system leased by the City of Issaquah to eradicate perfluorinated chemicals is scheduled to begin operating later this month. The city signed a three-year contract with TIGG LLC of Oakdale, Pa., for a two-tank system that will use coconut-based granular activated carbon to remove PFOS from Gilman Well No. 4, which has been contaminated with the chemical for an undetermined amount of time. The contract covers both the equipment and resupply of the
carbon media. The City Council authorized expenditures totaling $1.13 million in March and April for the treatment system and additional research into the source of the PFOS contamination, which has not been identified. Water from Well No. 4 has historically been blended with water from at least one other well before it reaches the tap of Issaquah water customers. The EPA says exposure to PFOS over certain levels may result in adverse health effects, including developmental effects to fetuses during pregancy or to breast-fed infants.
Search for shooter turns up empty after gunfire rings out in Preston By Christina Corrales-Toy ccorrales-toy@isspress.com The YMCA’s Camp Terry was put on lockdown June 2 as police responded to reports of shots fired in the Preston area. The lockdown was lifted after a more than two-hour search for the source of the semi-automatic gunfire turned up empty in the Southeast 86th Street and 311th Avenue Southeast area. The King County Sheriff’s Office received several calls from residents and counselors who heard multiple gun shots at about 11:15
a.m. It’s unknown what the target of the shooting was, but there were no injuries and all kids were safe in buildings, Sgt. Jason Houck said. There was no indication that the camp or any of the 54 kids and 20 adults there were targets. Camp staffers jumped into action to protect the children after they heard gunfire, said Jennifer Zimmerman, the senior regional director of youth programming for the Sammamish Family YMCA. “We wanted to keep the kids safe,” she said. “That’s our No. 1 priority at the Y.”
When deputies arrived to the wooded area, they heard several more gun shots, Houck said, and were concerned that the rounds were actually coming toward them. They felt concerned enough to call for additional units, including the Guardian One helicopter and about 30 SWAT members. Houck said there were between 30 and 60 shots fired, but no shell casings found. Gloria Schneider was setting up the Raging River Community See PRESTON, Page 2
Scott Stoddard / sstoddard@isspress.com
A Washington State Patrol officer mans a roadblock at Southeast Fall City Road in Preston as authorities search for the person who fired between 30 and 60 semiautomatic rounds in the vicinity of the YMCA’s Camp Terry. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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