Rotary Meeting Minutes January 7, 2019
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by President Rick Walter.
Jason Overleese led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
John Pruitt manned the front desk.
Our Greeters were Patty Sims and Monica Fratita
Good crowd tonight in spite of the weather and the football game on TV.
President Rick gave us a bit of humor with a joke.
Visitors and Introductions:
Patty Sims introduced Cheryl Guenther of Jefferson House, a guest of Amy Mutal. Elizabeth Rusnak introduced Nick Handfelt, a Senior at Juanita High, who is our Student of the Month.
Announcements:
Brandon Honcoop gave an International Foundation Minute which turned out to be an award presentation to your humble scribe who has unknowingly attained the status of Paul Harris Fellow Plus 2.
Jason Overleese inducted Kristin Olson, sponsored by John Woodbery, as our newest member.
Dan Bartell announced that our next Rotary First Harvest work party will be March 9. Carpooling will be from the Houghton Park-and-Ride about 8AM.
Patti Smith asked if anyone had done any trash pick-up work on or segment of the Cross Kirkland Corridor in the last six months of 2018. John Pruitt volunteered that he often walks there and does pick up debris.
Joe Getzendanner reported on his ‘Polar Bear Plunge’ which through great personal sacrifice, as in COLD, raised over $1800 for our Warm Coats program.
Dave Aubry reported on progress on our CKC Project. The Kirkland Parks Foundation went life today in their effort to fund the cottonwoods removal and Native Plants portion of the project. Dave will send out an email so everyone can see how it is progressing.
Scott Becker introduced our speaker, Dr Jane Stavem, the new Lake Washington Schools Superintendent. She gave us a short biography – she is from Nebraska and has been a teacher and principal in public schools for many years. She believes her personal strengths are a good fit for the District.
She discussed plans for the future in several areas, centering on educating and graduating kids to prepare them for the future. In 2018 the District set a record, graduating 93.6% of kids. That still means that a number of kids did not graduate and she would like to correct that omission.
The District enrollment has grown by 26% in the past ten years; she discussed solutions to cope with this growth, both common and uncommon solutions.
The meeting was adjourned by President Rick at 7:37PM
Respectfully Submitted
Acting Scribe - David Aubry