Local News | Levy results show schools matter to voters, officials say | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Levy results show schools matter to voters, officials say | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"Levy results show schools matter to voters, officials say

Area school officials say that final results from the Feb. 9 special election show voters made school issues a priority despite a tough economy."

Area school officials say that final results from the Feb. 9 special election show voters made school issues a priority despite a tough economy.

Voters approved all of the school levies for districts in King and Snohomish counties, according to the official results released Wednesday. Two large bonds also won approval, while two others, in Lake Washington School District and Marysville School District, fell short.

"In these tough times, voters want to see their schools supported and strengthened," said Lisa Macfarlane, of the League of Education Voters. "This was obviously a big win for school kids all across the state."

Two Seattle Public Schools levies easily passed.

A nice way to learn about life

Civil rights is about people being nice to each other. Grown-ups can get caught up in wrangling over laws and statistics, but that simple...

Jerry Large

Seattle Times staff columnist

Civil rights is about people being nice to each other.

Grown-ups can get caught up in wrangling over laws and statistics, but that simple definition from an attorney was prompted by a middle-school boy.

Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, visited Seattle's Washington Middle School on Wednesday to watch students participate in an anti-bullying program.

Perez asked one class what it had learned and a boy said, be nice to people, which prompted Perez's definition of the field he has worked in for most of his career.

His current job is to enforce the country's civil-rights laws, and he is traveling to let people know "the civil-rights division is open for business again" after several low-profile years.

He visited Washington Middle School because he wants to spotlight the role schools play in crafting a more civil society.

Perez told students that too often, "today's bullies become tomorrow's defendants in civil-rights cases."

He said Washington's program could serve as a model for other schools.

All teachers fired at troubled school as talks fall apart

The blue-and-white banner exclaiming "anticipation" on the front of Central Falls High School seems like a cruel joke for an institution...