For years, school officials have been lamenting the state's underfunding of transportation.

Without adequate funding from the state, they say, districts must devote more and more of their local levy dollars to get kids to school.

One of their loudest charges: the state doesn't reimburse districts for transporting students whose homes or daycares lie outside a one-mile radius from school. And instead of calculating the actual route mileage, the distance is measured as a direct line from school to home or daycare. Or, in the colloquial, "as the crow flies."

Actually, says Allan Jones with the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state does provide some money to bus kids within the one-mile radius. But not much.

Jones, director of pupil transportation, says the state gives districts some funding based on the total number of kids in kindergarten through through fifth grade within the one-mile radius.

The original intent was to help districts defray the cost of transporting youngsters who faced hazardous walking conditions, even though they lived close to school.

But it's a lower rate than what the state funds for students living outside the one-mile minimum. And the districts don't have to have hazardous walking conditions to get the money. They don't even have to use the money to transport kids within that radius.

Here's how Jones explains it, and the "crow flies" business in an e-mail to The News Tribune.

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Kevin Cavanagh with Pierce County Information Technology points out that the link we published in the printed paper for the weather tracker system left off one symbol.

The correct link is http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/PC/

If you can't bring it up, click here.

On the left side, it's titled "How hot is it?"

It's pretty cool. According to the site, "Eleven weather stations around the county record temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and more. Data is updated every 15 minutes."

A developer looking to build 1,700 homes over the Lipoma Firs Golf Course in Graham has adjusted its plans to address concerns of the local fire district.

Graham Fire and Rescue officials originally opposed the Lipoma Communities development because of worries that the new neighborhood would strain fire district resources. They also feared the Planned Development District would create fire hazards by building homes close together without adding fire safety measures like sprinklers or fire-resistant siding.

The fire district was ready to argue its case before the Pierce County Hearing Examiner Thursday. But before they could appear, fire officials and the developer reached an agreement on their own.

The developer has agreed to pay the fire district $500 for each dwelling unit during the first phase of the project, which consists of 309 homes.

In total, the fire district will receive $154,500 during the course of construction, said Gary Franz, deputy chief of Graham Fire and Rescue.

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The controversial Lipoma Communities plat application will go before the Pierce County Hearings Examiner tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The 1,700-unit development would build over the Lipoma Firs Golf Course in Graham.

Residents of nearby housing communities plan to show up in force to oppose the development, I'm told. They don't want to lose their golf course views.

The county is planning for a big crowd. When I was at the county Planning and Land Services office last week, officials were debating whether they'd need three rooms for Thursday's hearing instead of one, which is customary.

Graham Fire and Rescue originally filed an appeal regarding the county's environmental review of the project. The county gave the project what is called a mitigated determination of non-significance and didn't address the fire district's concerns.

The fire district thought that the developer should be required to provide monetary support for fire service because of how the influx new homes would strain existing fire resources, among other issues.

The fire district withdrew their appeal this week, however. A notice from the fire district's attorney to county officials dated May 26 said that the fire district has entered a voluntary mitigation agreement with the developer. In other words, fire officials and the developer have reached some sort of settlement.

More on this to come. I'll be covering tomorrow morning's hearing, which will take place at the Pierce County Annex building located at 2401 S. 35th Street in Tacoma.

About 1,500 students from various Bethel School District campuses staged walkouts to protest teachers losing their jobs today.

To show their support, they all wore black. One principal called it “Black Friday.”

The school district, facing up to a $12 million shortfall in its $160 million annual budget this year, issued layoff notices to 220 educators early this week. Those numbers are something of a worst-case scenario, however, and it's unlikely so many will actually be out of a job next fall.

Talk and text messages about a protest began to flood through the student body during the week.

The gist of the messages: walkout Friday, wear black.

Shortly before 8 a.m., today, waves of students at Bethel High, Graham-Kapowsin High, Bethel Junior High, Spanaway Lake High and Frontier Middle School walked out of their classrooms, according to the district.

Devin Hannold, a sophomore at Graham-Kapowsin High, was one of them. He said students like their teachers and realize how important they are to be successful.

“It’s easier to get passing grades when you have teachers you like," he said.

The 16-year-old said about 400 students at his school gathered in the Graham-Kapowsin parking lot and began to walk around the school building. They made their way to the football field and walked around the track before marching the school grounds again.

By the time the first lunch bell rang around 10:30 a.m., some teachers came from inside the building and warned that the protesters wouldn’t be able to eat lunch, he said. Some kids then went inside.

Around noon, between 30 and 40 students remained. They were warned that if the protest didn’t stop, they could receive suspensions, Hannold said.

There were still a few people walking to support the teachers by 1 p.m., he said.

At Bethel High, about 500 students walked out.

Principal Wanda Riley said the students left class about 7:45 a.m. and peacefully marched to Art Crate Field, some carrying signs with messages like “Save our teachers.”

Bethel School Board member Joy Cook then came and spoke to the students for about an hour. After that, most students returned to class about 9 a.m.

About 60 students remained protesting outside the school into the afternoon. None who participated are being punished, Riley said.

“They’re still peaceful,” she said. “They’re supporting one another. They just love their teachers.”

Riley added that she didn’t know of any Bethel High teachers who participated in the walkout, though some were present for supervision purposes. Those teachers also wore black.

“We called it ‘Black Friday,’” Riley said. “I don’t know who coordinated it.”

The school district reports that between 400 and 500 students at Bethel Junior High, 50 students at Spanaway Lake High School and about 30 students at Frontier Junior High staged similar walkouts.

“Basically the students all wore black today and they wanted to support their teachers by walking out for a little bit,” district spokeswoman Krista Carlson said.

Carlson said no schools are taking disciplinary actions against the students.

“Our students are entitled to their opinions,” Carlson said.

She added that school officials were expecting the walkouts.

“We knew there were rumblings that this might be happening today," Carlson said. "We were not unaware.”
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News Tribune reporters Brent Champaco and Melissa Santos contributed to this story.

I had a call Monday from Anne Albert and Vicki Sandvig, two friends who are searching for Vicki's lost whippet, Reiner.

Lost pet stories are always sad, and so common that we can't write about most of them. But this one has a twist: Albert and Sandvig are using cyber-tools to look for Reiner.

You can read about it in Wednesday's column, I can only jam so much into 650 words, so here's a bit more of the story.

Whippets are sight hounds, and Reiner took off after a rabbit on Oct. 30. The friends have tried all the traditional ways to look for a lost pet. And I do mean ALL the ways: Calling neighbors, putting posters in stores, schools, churches, public buildings, veterinary clinics, giving fliers to bus drivers, delivery folks, meter readers, and buying ads. And there's a $1,000 reward.

Anne's a member of an on-line group of Italian greyhound fans. When she e-mailed them for tips for the search, they sent her a list.

Here's what Anne has to say about the Web help:

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You know the story. It’s the fodder of dozens of G-rated movies: Farmboy leaves for the city for the first time. He’s nervous. He’s scared. It’s noisy. It’s crowded – more people than he’s ever seen before. He avoids the crowds but slowly lets his guard down. Soon, he realizes he’s no different than anyone else.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Stoli. He’s 4. He’s orange and white. He’s a border collie-Australian shepherd mix. And he made his first trip off his home on a six-acre farm in Eatonville for Saturday’s Most Magnificent Mutt Show in Graham.

Humans had a good time, too.

“This is a great mother-son experience,” said Stoli’s owner, 33-year-old Kerri Miller. She attended the Daffodil Festival event with her son, 7-year-old Wyatt Field. “He loves this dog – it’s his best friend. I thought this would be good for both my son and Stoli.”

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