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february 4, 2015
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Seahawks spirit at Mead Elementary
Klahanie annexation to be on April ballot By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com Come the spring, voters in the Klahanie area should be deciding if they want to become closer neighbors with the folks next door in Sammamish. The Sammamish City Council was expected to vote Feb. 3 to place the proposed annexation of Klahanie on a special election to be held April 28. On Jan. 22, the annexation question cleared a mandatory waiting period imposed by state law and the King County Boundary Review Board, said Lenora Blauman, executive secre-
By Megan Andrews
Students at Margaret Mead Elementary School gathered together Jan. 29 for a “12th Kid” event celebrating the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl appearance. An Eastside Fire & Rescue ladder truck was on hand to make aerial photography possible. The Seahawks lost the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots, 28-24, on Feb. 1. See more photos of the event at www.sammamishreview.com.
Voters will have say on initiative, referendum rights By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com Come April, local residents should have a chance to vote on whether to grant themselves the right to mount initiative or referendum questions. During their annual retreat Jan. 22-24, Sammamish City Council members agreed in principle to put the issue of initiative and referendums up for a public advisory vote. The council was expected to vote at its Feb. 3 meeting to put the issue on the ballot, after Sammamish Review’s deadline. Initiatives allow voters to put specific questions directly on the ballot, effectively bypassing legislators. Referendum questions also are put before voters and are used to halt or repeal legislation adopted by local lawmakers. In both cases, in order to place questions on a ballot, supporters must collect a certain
number of signatures from resident, registered voters, usually a number equal to a percentage of the total ballots cast in the last general election. With the addition of the initiative/referendum question, the next special election in Sammamish should feature two issues. At the Feb. 3 meeting, council also was expected to move to place the annexation of the Klahanie area on the ballot as well. The initiative/referendum question only would appear on ballots for voters within current city boundaries. While the April vote will be a nonbinding advisory vote and Mayor Tom Vance made no promises, he did say he believes the council will go along with whatever voters decide. He added he just couldn’t see any member of the council going against voter wishes. “They did give assurances
they would take the public vote seriously,” said Harry Shedd, a member of the grassroots group Citizens for Sammamish, which has been lobbying council to grant residents initiative and referendum rights. Shedd said his group was ready to move forward with a petition to get the issue on the ballot if the council failed to act. The council has held public meetings and heard presentations regarding the idea of initiative and referendums, but never took any action. Why did that change during the recent retreat? Vance said he couldn’t speak for the rest of council. “I felt like it was time to have the entire community weigh in on it,” he said. “I think it’s wonderful,” Shedd said. “We just wanted to give the people the chance to vote.” Shedd said 85 percent of See VOTERS, Page 2
Skyline girls soar past Eastlake, Page 6
tary for the board. The city filed a notice of intent regarding the annexation with the review board on Dec. 8. Interested parties, including governmental bodies, had 45 days to formally object to the annexation and force a public hearing before the review board. No one stepped forward, according to Blauman and local officials. Now that the review board has approved the question, Mayor Tom Vance said city officials must act by Feb. 9 in order to get the annexation issue on the April special ballot. See KLAHANIE, Page 2
Lake Washington schools shift boundaries next year The Lake Washington School District wrapped up a four-month process Jan. 26 by changing some attendance boundaries. The boundary changes are posted online at www.lwsd.org. District officials believe they were needed in order to deal with expected enrollment growth in existing school buildings. Some schools are at or near capacity, and voters rejected two bond measures last year that would have built several new schools and expanded others. The district’s enrollment has grown by nearly 2,000 students in the past three years to 26,708. The new boundaries will impact 801 current students, all in elementary schools. The changes will go into affect at the start of the 2015-16 school year. “We have this issue because we have more and more students coming to our schools,” school board President Jackie Pendergrass said in a news release. “They deserve to have a place to be educated.” Of the 801 students who are expected to change schools, 114 reside in the Eastlake Learning Community in and around Sammamish. Seventy-nine students will shift into the Elizabeth Blackwell Elementary School attendance area, and 35 will shift from Margaret Mead Elementary
to Christa McAuliffe Elementary. An estimated 35 future students will move from Samantha Smith Elementary to Rachel Carson Elementary after the Mystic Lake development is completed. The district’s boundary committee completed a comprehensive study and analysis process that included multiple opportunities for parent input. It presented its recommendation to Superintendent Traci Pierce, who gave her final plan to the board Jan. 26. “We appreciate the attention and engagement of our parents throughout the process,” Pierce said in the release. “Changing attendance boundaries is a difficult process from everyone’s perspective. “However, we have a responsibility to ensure that we have classrooms for students. We are committed to helping to transition families and students who will be attending new schools in the 2015-16 school year.” Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
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