This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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I tagged along yesterday for the Tacoma School Board's tour of the new Science And Math Institute (SAMI) at Point Defiance Park and was impressed.
It's not fancy – just a series of recycled portables set up in a gravel lot near the park's go-carts and batting cages. The desks are salvaged, the cabinetry built by district staffers. The computers at least look new.
Come September, the place will be packed with 140 kids who make up SAMI's inaugural class. The school kicks off the year next week with a two-night stay at Black Lake Camp in Thurston County.
The district's latest experiment has a lot to offer a student: the chance to attend class in the great outdoors, the opportunity to hone in-demand math and science skills and the advantage of entering high school at a place where no one is the "new kid."
One other benefit: SAMI's longer day (class runs from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. most days) allows for extended and more frequent vacations. There's a one-week break in October, a full week in November, three weeks at Christmas, one week in February and a two-week spring break. The schedule almost resembles a year-round school's.
Jack Wilson, Metro Parks executive director, said to me as we were leaving, "Who wouldn't want to go to high school at the Point?" It was hard to argue with him, especially on such a sunny August afternoon.
But the district does face a hurdle: Point Defiance is not a central location by any stretch. Ensuring demographic and geographic diversity (which district officials say the first class has) will depend on good recruitment and good transportation.
Recently, SAMI teachers met their students in their neighborhoods and rode public transit with them to the park. One trip took two hours (albeit in part because of a mix-up). Carpools could help, but in neighborhoods where all the parents work, they might not be an option.
