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School
Directory The Thornton Creek School Directory is a master directory of phone numbers and addresses that is available to families. Telephone numbers are published for all teachers and site council committee chairs. Students are listed with phone numbers on a per classroom basis. Home addresses of all students, with full parent names are listed, followed by a lookup directory of parent last names that differ from the student last name. Tree Planting Project Background On March 4th, 2000, over 100 Thornton Creek community members - adults and children - turned out to plant 36 trees on the school property. These trees were provided by the City of Seattle's Woods Legacy Project, and a $9500 grant was awarded to us by the Department of Neighborhood's Small & Simple Matching Grants to cover the cost of an automatic irrigation system, access to water and fencing to protect the trees. The addition of 36 deciduous trees to the playground and fields at Thornton Creek has brought shade and shelter to a highly exposed area, provides increased bird habitat, and allows us to witness seasonal changes and beautiful fall color. Adopt a Tree Program Part of our agreement with both the school district and the City of Seattle is to provide all necessary care to the trees for the first two years (through June 2002). This care includes weeding and mulching every tree as needed, monitoring the irrigation, and ensuring that the fencing is safe and functional. As stewards of these trees, we have labeled the species of each tree in order to further educate ourselves and others. In order to provide care for these trees, Thornton Creek families have been invited to 'adopt' one or more trees, and at least twice a year (fall and late spring) weed and mulch their trees. Wood chips and a compost pile are provided on site, and families accomplish the tree care at their convenience. Laminated written instructions are available. Caring for a tree provides a wonderful opportunity for families to learn about tree stewardship and work together in community service. Irrigation System Except forÝthe two magnolia trees at the northwest corner of the school building, all other trees planted during this project will be automatically irrigated with a subsurface, battery-operated drip-emitter system. Dave Smith, of Supreme Landscaping Services, installed the hardpipe in early February 1999 and returned after the planting event to lay drip-emitters at each tree.Ý Because of extensive asphalt and concrete surrounding the existing water meter in the school building, it was cheaper for us to install new water service, located at the water main just outside the fence to the west of the school property. The District's Resource Conservation Specialist recommended automatic irrigation in order to lower water costs and increase survival rates of the trees.  S ite Plan Trees were planted inside the fence along the western and northern perimeters of the play field as well as on five of the nine berms near the play structures. South of the property, outside the fence, three dying trees were replaced. At the north end of the school building, two dead trees were replaced. On the western border of the ball fields, between the two backstops, 11 trees were planted: 8 of them were planted sixty feet apart, and ten feet inside the fence; in the center of the west perimeter and outside the limit of both baseball outfields, a small cluster of 3 trees were planted 12 - 15 feet apart, no more than 13 feet off the fence, designating the separation between the two fields and providing a small oasis in the midst of an otherwise exposed site. On the northern border, west of the berms and east of the backstop, 8 trees were planted, 10 feet inside the fence and 40 feet apart. There were no trees planted behind either backstop. Two species of trees, Acer rubrum 'Scarsen' ('Scarlet Sentinel' Maple) and Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyckii Purple' ('Dawyck Purple' Beech), were the two primary trees placed inside the fence on the north and west perimeter. These columnar trees were selected so as not to interfere with ball games or the fence, and will be pruned up (standard form) to maximize visibility, security and safety. The cluster of 3 trees planted in the center of the row of columnar trees on the west perimeter were Betula jacquemontii ('Jacquemontii' Birch), a stunning white-barked birch which contrasts nicely with the foliage of purple beech. These species will provide multi-season interest and color contrast, as well as being durable once well-established. Five large spreading deciduous trees were planted on every other berm. There were two alternating species of trees, three Quercus rubra (Northern red oak) and two Ginko biloba "Autumn Gold" for contrasting fall color, large spreading form, longevity and beauty. The trees will be automatically irrigated to significantly increase survival rates. Trees were also protected from damage from children and maintenance crews by installing 5' high welded mesh fences at the time of planting, as well as 5' mulch wells around each tree. Volunteers will keep all tree wells weeded for the first two years. All trees will be standard form trees (one trunk, no low branches) for safety and visibility considerations. Three damaged maple trees outside the fence on the southern perimeter probably won't survive, according to our arborist. Three new 'Red Sunset' maple trees Ýwill be planted here, also with irrigation and fencing. Two dead cherry trees at the northwest corner of the school building are being removed by the school district. We will be replacing these with two deciduous magnolias, Magnolia X Loebneri "Leonard Messel." These two trees will need to be hand watered for the first few years. Water Quality Updated on Jan 30, 2006 The School District's water remediation effort at Thornton Creek is largely complete. Water should be turned on at the school sometime this week. Bottled water will not be supplied except at rooms 13 and 14 where the pipes were so bad, filters would not work. Remediation work consisted of installing new fountains and water filters in most drinking fountains throughout the school. This will provide good quality water as long as the filters are working properly. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee and no way to tell if the filters are working from one day to the next. Also, adding to this uncertainty, filters are scheduled to be replaced no more than once every 6 months, and very little testing will be done in the meantime. One should also note that not all water sources have been remediated. For example, most classrooms have a sink. Each sink has a drinking fountain and a faucet. Drinking fountains have been replaced and filters installed at each sink. But the faucets have not been repaired or replaced in any way. So, while you may choose to drink from a fountain, DO NOT FILL YOUR WATER BOTTLE OR DRINK FROM A FAUCET. Personally, I will be sending my kids to school with filled water bottles, I will be instructing them not to drink any water that comes out of school pipes, filtered or not. Also be aware that the following important sinks have not been remediated: teacher's lounge, nurse's office, and kitchen. The school will be tested again in three years. Given the high levels of lead and iron and copper found from initial testing, and given the minimal amount of remediation being performed district-wide, and given the fact that the iron testing protocol is completely inadequate to determine the condition of pipes and the quality of water, I have suggested that older schools with galvanized pipes (such as Thornton Creek) be tested every year. I have also recommended changes to the iron testing protocol that will be truly comprehensive. I have further suggested that any school that does not meet the district requirements for clean, healthy water be placed back on bottled water until complete pipe replacement can be performed. The Water Quality Oversight Committee is currently discussing these issues. This committee has no power over the remediation process, but can make recommendations to the district and the Board of Directors. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. (Ed Schwartz at edhehde@comcast.net) Yearbook The year we (Room 17 parents Geeta Sharma and Kate Smith) are trying to make the year book a project for the students of the 4th and 5th graders of Rick's and Libby's class. The original idea was to make it a 5th grade project but Rick and Libby did not feel like fracturing their group in that way, so all the children are involved. We have divided the children into groups and will give them cameras and send them during pre-determined times to take photographs of major school events as well as everyday school life. The children can also give small articles on interviews, observations of the happenings around the school and other stuff that might catch their fancy. At the end of the year we hope the teachers will be able guide us in our efforts to sift through and filter everything collected and come up with a year book! Our hope is that this effort that we are putting in will be taken up by some interested parents each year and repeated and will in time become almost like a right of passage for the fifth graders and a beautiful right of farewell for the parents who have enjoyed being a part of the ae2 community. We are very grateful to Rick and Libby who have responded so enthusiastically to our idea even though it has meant additional work for them. We hope that in time we will be able to set up systems by which this job does not tax the teachers and instead can be almost completely handled by the parents. Contact: Geeta Sharma back to top |