School starts Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Bulb Eater Saves Lake Washington School District Green
New machine helps reduce cost of recycling fluorescent bulbs while capturing harmful mercury
When faced with properly disposing over 1000 fluorescent light bulbs a year, Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has a new tool that saves the environment while saving another kind of green -- cash. Burned out tubes are placed in the district’s new tool, called a “bulb eater.” Within a matter of seconds, a fluorescent tube light is sucked into a 55-gallon drum and crushed, preventing mercury from escaping into the air while saving Lake Washington School District (LWSD) the higher cost to send the bulb out for recycling. More....

Calendar Goes Online
In past years, the district sent out a printed wall calendar in early August to all parents, for use in keeping track of important school dates. Due to budget cuts, the district did not print a calendar this year. However, the one-month pages of the calendar are available on the district Web site for parents to print out. From the home page, click on School Calendar at the top of the page. Look for 2009-2010 Page Per Month Wall Calendar and choose either color or black and white, then print out the pages on your home printer.

Parents who are electronically inclined can use the Tandem Online Calendar, which is also reached from that same page. By subscribing to the Tandem Calendar, parents can set up filters so that events from one or more school plus important district dates appear whenever they log in. Events can be downloaded into many electronic calendar systems, such as Outlook, Cozi, iCal, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar and more.

Budget Cuts Mean Longer Walks to the Bus
Last spring, Lake Washington School District searched for ways to trim the budget without laying off teachers as a result of cuts in state funding. One area targeted for cuts was transportation. Over the summer, the transportation department examined every school bus route and every stop to find ways to make their operation more efficient.

The result? There will be just 1000 stops instead of 1,500 and as a result, more students will walk farther to take the bus. Some buses will stop less frequently on the same routes. Other buses may pick up students at the entrance to a subdivision rather than making several stops inside the subdivision. Buses will drive shorter distances, have less idling time and will have to start and stop less frequently, all adding up to less fuel consumed and more money saved. The district expects these changes to save about $200,000. A byproduct of less gas consumption is fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation operation. More...

One Call Reaches Them All!
Thanks to funding from the technology levy passed by voters in 2006, the district is now using the School Messenger service to make automated phone calls to parents both in an emergency and to improve school/home communication. In case of an emergency, the system can place thousands of phone calls in minutes, delivering a recorded message letting parents know what is happening and what they should do. E-mails and text messages can also be sent along with the phone call. Principals can also use the system to communicate with parents, reminding them when curriculum night is, for example. Food services will use the system to remind parents when their student’s lunch balance is getting low.

Parents should make sure their phone numbers and e-mail address(es) on file with school offices are up to date. Accurate numbers will ensure they receive any emergency calls from the school.

Our Phone Numbers Will Be Changing
The district has outgrown its existing phone system, which is 15 years old. The district is installing a new phone system across the district over the next two years, one school at a time. The new phone system is less expensive to operate, leaving more dollars in the budget to go towards classroom needs. In the process of installing the new phone system, all phone numbers will be changing. Callers will automatically be routed to the new number for the school year. After that, a recording will be in place that will give callers the new number. Phone numbers that have changed in August are:
Kirk Elementary: new number is 936-2590; safe arrival line is 936-2591
Kirkland Junior High: new number is 936-2420; late arrival line is 936-2421
Juanita Elementary: new number is 936-2570
Other schools that are scheduled to get new numbers this fall:

• International Community School/Community School
• Einstein Elementary
• Redmond Elementary
• Franklin Elementary
• Lakeview Elementary
• Rose Hill Elementary

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News from the Schools is compiled by the Lake Washington School District Communications Department. For more information or to submit your school's news, please e-mail Kathryn Reith or Shannon Parthemer.