Dear Friends,

Autumn has certainly come! With the cooler weather and shorter days, I am reminded that the next legislative session is around the corner, or Jan. 14, to be precise.

One legislator described the “assembly days” or the three-day period when we come to Olympia in the autumn for committee and task force work, as the “preseason.” I think that’s right. We receive updates from state agencies, hear about emerging issues and begin to write legislation.

We finished September assembly days just last week. I’d like to update you on several developments we learned about in the Senate Higher Education Committee, which I have the honor of chairing.

UW North Campus Update

You will recall that this year, the Legislature funded a study of where to locate a branch campus of the University of Washington in our region. Its mission is to focus on science, technology, engineering and math fields. Area businesses such as Microsoft and Boeing are clamoring for graduates with these skills. I know our students will rise to the challenge and so the academic plan calls for students to have experiential learning, putting students side-by-side with practitioners in the field.

The work group put together to examine potential sites has been very busy. Working with an architectural firm, and after holding a series of meetings in the Snohomish-Island-Skagit area, the group has narrowed the list of potential sites to four. One is near Lake Stevens. Two are near Everett. Another site, which is really three adjoining parcels, is near Arlington.

The plan now is to collect more community input and come up with a final list of site recommendations for the Legislature. Tomorrow, October 3, a community forum will be held at the Everett Events Center at 7 pm. Please come and share your thoughts. The final plan and list of site recommendations must be completed by Nov. 15. The Legislature will then make the final decision on siting. I’ll keep you posted.

Getting more math and science teachers

We heard from the state agency that sets standards for students attending our schools of education, the Professional Educator Standards Board. This 21-member panel has been working on how we can best prepare math and science teachers.

The board has created a math action plan. It contains tougher knowledge and skills standards that new teachers must master. And it calls for an evidence-based system of evaluating how well our students are learning math.

With our state and country begging for more qualified math and science teachers, I will be watching how well this new plan works.

Campus safety

The tragic events this past spring at Virginia Tech University, where a disturbed student shot 32 people to death before taking his own life, was a grim reminder that violence can occur on college campuses. As a former college professor, I was profoundly shaken by these acts.

The governor and I asked our higher education officials to take a critical look to see how prepared our public colleges and universities are to prevent such an occurrence here.

We heard presentations from representatives of the four-year schools and the community college system. In a nutshell, each has plans in place to both handle violence on campus and to notify the campus community of trouble.

We were reminded of the need to build “redundancy” into campus communications plans, especially in the case of a natural disaster, when the best-laid plans for notification may be thwarted by physical damage.

The community colleges will be requesting money in next year’s budget to “map” their facilities. This would give first responders valuable information on campus layout that could save lives. We may also get requests from our four-year colleges to strengthen their response systems, especially given recent advances in technology.

This is an important issue that I plan on taking up again during the session as the colleges and universities continue to fine tune their plans.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or concerns.

It is my privilege to serve you.

Sincerely,

Paull Shin
State Senator, 21st Legislative District

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