“It comes down to the public trust,” said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, who helped spearhead legislation to address the problem. “The public has to trust that we hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Meanwhile, labor groups say such cases are the exception and not the rule and that the arbitration is the most effective way to give employees and their employers due process during disputes.
Arbitration is the process that happens when a union decides to file a grievance on behalf of one of its members and the union and the employer cannot agree on a settlement.
The arbitrator reviews the group’s collective bargaining agreement and other documents and listens to arguments presented by each side before reaching a decision. In a small number of cases, the decision can be appealed to a court, but most of the decisions are binding.
For Conditt, the experience not only inspired a passion for history. It informed the teaching style she’s developed over the years, moving her students away from textbooks and closer to primary source material, embracing new technology in the classroom and leading activities that put them in the mindset of the figures they study.
“It really puts the kids in the position of decision makers, and it allows them to understand history better when they’re playing the same role as people who experienced it,” she said. “Anytime we can make history come alive for kids, they’re going to engage on a way different level.”
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- Third-grade Camas math teacher is a finalist for presidential award.
Community group dedicates POW/MIA monument
Each stone is unique and storied, and each was shown meticulous care and dedication. Just like each member of the military who was honored and remembered on Saturday.
Project manager Kelly Punteney, who oversaw construction of a new POW/MIA monument in east Vancouver, said momentum and partnerships had come together to get the stone memorial built in “the right place, the right time and the right spirit.”
The Community Military Appreciation Committee masterminded the monument, which was dedicated before a crowd of hundreds. Committee co-chair Larry Smith, an Army veteran and a Vancouver city councilman, emceed the proceedings and reminded everyone that CMAC includes many veterans but is in fact a civic nonprofit organization that’s open to all. Learn more at http://www.cmac11.com.
The monument commands attention in a prominent spot just before the entrance to the Armed Forces Reserve Center, which opened in 2011 at 15005 N.E. 65th St. Punteney said that location would help the monument fulfill its mission: reminding our community about American soldiers who were imprisoned by the enemy, and remembering the ones who never came home.
According to the Department of Defense, there are 83,189 American military personnel currently “unaccounted for.” That includes more than 1,600 from Vietnam, nearly 8,000 from Korea and 73,536 from World War II.
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33 new citizens take oath
After spending 19 years in a refugee camp, Anita Sarki has a place to call home.
“I was born in Bhutan, but I don’t feel Bhutanese,” said Sarki.
Members of that community were declared to be illegal immigrants two decades ago. Along with thousands of others from the Nepali ethnic group, “We had to leave,” she said.
“I spent most of my life in a refugee camp in Nepal,” Sarki said. “I came here in 2008.”
- Read the complete story here.
Vancouver councilors get close look at roads
With big decisions ahead on how to improve and maintain Vancouver’s single largest asset — its streets — members of the city council met Friday morning at City Hall.
Instead of staying and listening to a PowerPoint presentation from employees, however, the group boarded a C-Tran bus for a four-hour tour.
Nobody said a word to Gerald “Rick” Halle. But later, some of the elections workers said they were uncomfortable.
Turns out, there’s nothing the county can do.
In the future, if observers show up with sidearms, a staff member will ask them to voluntarily put their firearm in a newly purchased gun safe.
If the observers don’t want to park their guns in the safe, “they will still be welcome to carry out their responsibility,” wrote Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey.
- Read the complete story here.