City of Shoreline hosts Education Summit

Sue Walker, Superintendent of Public Schools

By Devon Vose Rickabaugh

On Wednesday, November 30, 2011, at Shoreline City Hall, the Shoreline City Council hosted a community summit on the “State of Education” in Shoreline.

The two hour Shoreline Educational Summit featured Sue Walker, Superintendent of Shoreline Schools and Lee Lambert, President of Shoreline Community College discussing some of the challenges facing education today in the face of state funding cuts.

Sue Walker stressed that despite the challenge of increased numbers of special needs and other challenging students only 2.3% of students dropped out this year. She said Shoreline schools are among the top 5% in the state with 92-96% of students graduating and over 70% going on to college.

Walker praised Shoreline voters for passing the supplemental levy which would keep ten teachers in their classrooms. But with six million dollars in lost revenue from the state, not made up with federal funds as in the past “We have a crisis waiting to happen. There can be no more cuts to K-12 without losing significant academic support,” she said.

Lee Lambert, President SCC

Lee Lambert emphasized the trends facing Shoreline Community College.

He predicted that with advances in technology, online education will be the primary learning modality rather than face to face in the classroom. Along with increased tuition and using more part time instructors, online learning will help save significant money.

Lambert stressed that with globalization the college needs to provide an environment for students to attain a global citizen mindset where students from around the world learn from each other.

This change will involve more private-public partnerships to prepare students for jobs in science, manufacturing and other areas like partnering with the city of Shoreline. He said the college is already among the top ten in the country in clean technology and automotive technology. Lambert views the future as a challenging opportunity. 

“Nothing is owed to us. America must meet the challenge.”