Happy coincidence over the Baima House Page 4
Winter sports roundup for Liberty, Hazen Page 10
VOL. 18, NO. 3
Friday, March 4, 2016
No change to Issaquah bell times for 2016-17 By David Hayes dhayes@newcastle-news.com After nearly three months of weighing public input on a proposed change to school bell times, Superintendent Ron Thiele announced Monday the Issaquah School District would stand pat — for now.
In an open letter to the school district, Thiele said the community was unable to reach a consensus, for or against the change. As a result, the 201617 school year will start unchanged from this year. “Instead, I will work with our administrative team to develop
a new proposal for community consideration that moves us closer to the recommended start times for secondary students with less impact to the elementary schedule,” Thiele wrote. In the fall of 2015, the administration considered making changes to the schedule in the wake of studies by the American
Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed high school students performed better with additional hours of sleep. To accommodate a schedule that would aid teenagers’ sleep cycles, a proposal would have moved secondary school start times about 95 minutes later to 9
a.m., resulting in a 3:55 p.m. dismissal. The plan would also have moved all 15 elementary schools to a consistent 8 a.m. start time, with a 2:25 p.m. dismissal. Essentially, the proposal would have inverted the bell times between elementary and See TIMES, Page 12
City of Newcastle enacts moratorium in response to Energize Eastside By Lynn Thompson The Seattle Times
Greg Farrar / gfarrar@newcastle-news.com
Vera Risdon Middle School was supposed to open for the 2016-17 school year, but the Renton School District announced Feb. 11 the opening will be delayed a year.
Renton School District: Opening of new middle school delayed By Christina Corrales-Toy ccorrales-toy@newcastle-news.com
district officials are still working with the company to pinpoint the causes for the delay. Matheson mentioned a worker shortage in the The newly named Vera Risdon Middle School construction industry and the region’s wettest seais no longer on time. son on record as possible contributing factors. The Renton School District announced Feb. “We’re still trying to nail it down, but with a 11 that the Newcastle middle school would be large construction project like this, there could delayed by a year. It was scheduled to open fall be a lot of little things that shift the timeline just 2016. slightly,” he said. “We’re extremely disappointed. We know that That’s little consolation for disappointed parthere’s a need for that school,” said district spokes- ents scrambling for answers. man Randy Matheson. “They’ve given us no details. We want to hear Porter Brothers, the construction contractor, something tangible,” said Newcastle resident informed the district that it is unable to complete Connie Nap, who has children at McKnight the school as planned. Weeks after the announcement, Matheson said See DELAYED, Page 2
Puget Sound Energy chose the name “Energize Eastside” for its proposal to build 18 miles of new high-voltage power lines from Renton to Redmond, but the biggest jolt delivered so far has been to residents in five cities along the proposed route. The utility says it needs the new 230-kilovolt transmission lines to meet the growing energy needs of anticipated office towers, workers and residents. Officials project that energy demand could outstrip supply at peak periods by 2018, resulting in rolling blackouts, if the system’s capacity isn’t expanded. The new lines could be installed along the same corridor as the utility’s existing 115-kilovolt lines. But critics, including a citizens group that has retained its own energy expert and a land-use attorney, say the utility’s estimates of need are overblown. They wonder if new technologies and increased conservation might meet some of the coming demand for more power.
And they question the safety of installing hundreds of taller, metal poles above existing underground petroleum pipelines. “Safety is my biggest concern. They’re going to be digging around aging pipelines that run past three schools and several parks,” said Christina Aron-Sycz, a member of the group Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy (CENSE). Two weeks ago, the city of Newcastle slapped a moratorium on permit applications for See ENERGIZE, Page 2
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