Disqus - Latest Comments for kenttaxpayer

Re: U.S. Sen. Murray issues statement on death of Qasem Soleimani in U.S. airstrikes

kenttaxpayer — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 15:04:23 -0000

I believe all of the democrats are issuing the same statement, in spite of never criticizing the 542 drone strikes that were ordered under the Obama administration, including those with significant civilian casualties. How many of THOSE were authorized by Congress?

Re: Kent teachers plea for better pay

kenttaxpayer — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:04:27 -0000

The number of hires does not yet equal the number of jobs that were lost with Watts' layoffs. There was a major reorganization. Plus a lot of people abandoned ship either out of fear of being laid off or as a protest against the perceived lack of integrity at the district office.

Re: City of Kent collects record $1.2 million from school traffic cameras

kenttaxpayer — Thu, 10 May 2018 23:09:21 -0000

There is a light on 124th near Millennium Elementary that just doesn't make sense. The school is on 270th, which has a speed limit of 25 mph, but 124th has the camera and a speed limit of 20 when there isn't even a crossing guard because so few kids cross 124th. It's a money-making speed trap, not a safety issue - not when you can turn the corner onto the street where the school is located and increase your speed legally.

Re: Stober to run for District 47 State House seat

kenttaxpayer — Tue, 01 May 2018 20:14:15 -0000

It can't be a coincidence or a conspiracy that he has failed to be elected before, has been forced out of his job (read "fired"), and is under investigation for misdeeds in past elections. I appreciate his optimism, but I do not think that any endorsement could convince me to vote for this man until he has a few more years of maturity under his belt.

Re: Unanswered questions about school funds raise concerns

kenttaxpayer — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:06:59 -0000

I agree with almost everything. It would be an issue of equity if we start talking about how some PTAs are able to raise more dollars than other PTAs because of the neighborhood they are in. However, no matter how you look at it, it's a terrible problem and both the past and current administrations are at fault and should be held accountable. I'm not against firing Watts and potentially suing Vargas for negligence. I'm afraid I was not very nobly nitpicking what I see as weak reporting by the newspaper.

Re: Unanswered questions about school funds raise concerns

kenttaxpayer — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 16:54:35 -0000

I've got a couple of questions about this article. First, who is your proofreader? "...the district is often ranked as one of the most diverse schools in the state..." What? Second, why did you not interview a teacher from the Kent School District. I'm not sure that Ms. Deablestein thinks equity is, because it's certainly not asking the PTSAs to fill in for missing funds. So you either misquoted her, or shouldn't have used that quote. Third... I guess this isn't a question. The public meetings were not discussions. They were the presentation of information to attendees with no opportunity to ask questions and get answers. In short, they were a waste of time for anyone doing any real information gathering. Propaganda you could gather. Useful information not so much.

Re: Stober resigns as communications director for King County assessor

kenttaxpayer — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 19:49:12 -0000

I think we were wise not to elect him. Hopefully, he'll be able to move forward from this with grace and maturity.

Re: layoffs-kent-school-district

kenttaxpayer — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 19:25:16 -0000

That is a really good question that a lot of people have been asking. And asking. And asking. The district is not being very open about this. Overspending has been a problem for several years, as we went from a $14M surplus to a $7M deficit in three years. It should have been dealt with BEFORE it became a deficit over years rather than trying to fix it all at once now that it's an emergency and OSPI is threatening to come in. Honestly, we need new leadership in the superintendent's office. He blames it on the previous superintendent, but he didn't do anything to try to correct the situation for over a year and a half. If he was ignorant about the situation, then he wasn't doing his job and should be fired. If he wasn't ignorant about it, then it was malfeasance, and he should be fired. It's so disheartening!

Re: layoffs-kent-school-district

kenttaxpayer — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 08:49:08 -0000

I do appreciate that you are trying to give a reasonable interpretation of the issues, but I am a teacher in district, and we have never been overstaffed. Losing these teachers is going to put many of us (if not all) into overload. It might not have been mismanagement of funds, but it was certainly mismanagement.

Re: layoffs-kent-school-district

kenttaxpayer — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:35:49 -0000

But this wasn't just a one year problem. It was compounded over three years of miscalculations. One year, I can understand. Two subsequent years? Not so much.

Re: layoffs-kent-school-district

kenttaxpayer — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:34:44 -0000

A $30 million miscalculation based on student enrollment projections? If he's not fired for misuse of funds, he should be fired for not being able to do basic math.

Re: City of Kent to sue opioid companies for deceptive practices

kenttaxpayer — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 09:01:28 -0000

This is just ridiculous! This would be like suing Ford because someone drove drunk in an F-150 and caused a fatal accident. If you really do your homework, you'll see that the majority of people who become addicted to heroin through the use of prescription opioids do so through someone else's prescription.

The city attorney said, "these companies flooded the market with very, very highly addictive drugs under the guise of prescription medication and that the risk of the drug was not properly disclosed." "Under the guise of prescription meds?" This wasn't a guise. They really were prescription meds, and the warnings that came with them clearly said they could be addictive; in my experience, the doctors were very clear about it as well. And how do you "flood a market" with a controlled substance? Does this mean that the pharmacy shelves were overflowing with the drugs? Using dramatic rhetoric doesn't change the reality, it just tries to persuade people to one way of thinking.

Why are we, as a society, so eager to throw away the concept of personal responsibility and consequences for wrong behavior! I am so disappointed in city council, for whom I usually have great respect. Are we going to sue the doctors who prescribe them as well? Or the pharmacies that dispense them? Or the distribution companies who deliver them? Shouldn't the people who are committing the abuse be the ones to suffer the consequences?

Re: Kent School District plans four Community Conversations in April

kenttaxpayer — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 17:16:23 -0000

Our understanding in the schools is that these sessions are for the School Board to speak and the public to listen, in which case the words "discuss" and "conversation" are misleading. I would love to hear someone from the school board comment that this is NOT the case and that there will be give and take between the speakers and the attendees.

Re: GEM’s new home to help youth, young adults

kenttaxpayer — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:49:04 -0000

What a wonderful addition to the Kent community! Thank you, Kendrick. Keep up the good work.

Re: Kent School District names Kentlake’s Angelidis as Teacher of the Year

kenttaxpayer — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:46:34 -0000

Congratulations to Mr. Angelidis and Kentlake High School! I would love to see more articles highlighting the wonderful things that are happening in our schools.

Re: No voters challenge tightly contested Kent School District measure

kenttaxpayer — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 09:11:53 -0000

Ditto.

Re: Kent School District eliminates 45 positions

kenttaxpayer — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:28:21 -0000

I have heard that since the levy passed, many of these positions have been reinstated. Kent Reporter, would you look into this, please? There are still going to be teacher cuts at the schools; it would be nice to know the truth.

Re: Kent School Board president reacts to failing levy measures

kenttaxpayer — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:22:23 -0000

I would like to see someone up at the district office admit that one of the reasons the levy is failing is because of a lack of confidence in the district's competence. Those other reasons that Maya mentioned are, indeed, true, but they are far from the whole story.

Re: Voters turning down Kent School District levies

kenttaxpayer — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 09:02:33 -0000

KSD, if you want this to pass in April, you have to show us where the cuts are being made at the district office. We know how this is negatively impacting the classroom already this year. What positions are being cut administratively? We haven't heard anything! Where does the buck stop? Please hold people accountable, School Board, as we will be holding you accountable in the next election.

Re: Kent Rotary honors Students of the Month from Kent-Meridian

kenttaxpayer — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 11:48:20 -0000

Kent Reporter, his name is "Ghislain." Congratulations, Ghislain and Chloe!

Re: Bill that would reduce car tab rates passes the state House

kenttaxpayer — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 11:45:32 -0000

Sound Transit has more authority than is justified based on the number of people in King County who take public transportation. They have proven themselves to be poor stewards of funding and regularly overspend tax money in a way that benefits a small, small percentage of the taxpayers.

Re: King County officials respond to latest Trump, DOJ threat

kenttaxpayer — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:07:49 -0000

"...actively receiving threats." Biased much?

Re: Kent School District seeks approval of two levies

kenttaxpayer — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:36:51 -0000

A "rhetorical device" is what is said or how it is said.

"Holding kids hostage," while seeming descriptive of how the district promotes the levy, is still the strongest argument to pass the levy. I think that one or two years of having a less than optimal education (large, large classes; overworked teachers; no extracurricular activities; smaller choice in electives) is not going to hurt the vast majority of students. However, the high-school students might face more decisive impacts if those problems change their transcript enough that they won't be able to get into college, and while it might be argued that it might have been otherwise in the past, they would still be competing for those college slots with kids from other districts with better educational resumes. There needs to be some way to force the district to make cuts at the admin level rather than the classroom level (which they argue they are doing, but it's clearly not true) before we agree to support the levy.

Re: Kent School District seeks approval of two levies

kenttaxpayer — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 17:52:01 -0000

As a rhetorical tool, it's actually quite persuasive when people who don't generally agree on an issue see eye-to-eye on something as important as this. However, I understand that you prefer to preach rather than discuss, and so I will leave you to your preaching. Here I am, just expressing my opinion.

Re: Kent School District seeks approval of two levies

kenttaxpayer — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 11:47:06 -0000

Some of those people were needed; they were teachers. That being said, there is a lot of fat up at the district office that could be cut without hurting the classrooms. You are absolutely right that we need to be asking questions. The district admin needs to be held accountable for this glaring mismanagement of funds. Unfortunately, if the levy doesn't pass, it is the kids who are going to suffer, with no cap in class size and important programs being cut.