Local education briefs

FEDERAL WAY -- Parents upset about a novel with sexual content have spurred Federal Way's school superintendent to remove the book from the ninth-grade reading list.

Superintendent Tom Murphy also decided all reading lists must be submitted to the School Board for approval, and parents must be notified this summer about books to be read in secondary schools next fall.

The uproar started when 15-year-old Brandon Jerome found sexual references in "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress," and showed them to his mother in March.

The 184-page novel by Dai Sijie, which includes a passage about a virgin having sex, is about two youths who find a suitcase full of banned books during China's Cultural Revolution. The 2000 novel was a best seller in France.

Brandon told his mother, Lori Bridges, that a student drew an explicit picture of a boy and girl having sex as part of a class drawing exercise on the book. He attends Todd Beamer High School, one of 36 schools in the 22,000-student suburban district midway between Seattle and Tacoma.

Music programs at three schools honored by Grammy Foundation

SEATTLE -- Three suburban Seattle high schools have been recognized by the national Grammy Foundation for excellence in their music programs.

The schools -- Edmonds-Woodway in Edmonds; Kentwood in Kent; and Inglemoor in Kenmore, in the Northshore School District -- were selected by a screening committee of music educators who reviewed written applications as well as audio recordings. In recognition, each school will receive $1,000 to benefit its music program.

Voters in two districts make decision on tax measures today

EDMONDS -- Voters in two Snohomish County school districts will decide today on school tax proposals.

The Edmonds School District, which operates schools for more than 21,000 students in Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace, is seeking approval of a four-year, $44 million levy to finance technology purchases, earthquake protection, high-school design work and improvements to athletic fields and playgrounds.

The district failed in 2002 and 2003 to pass a technology levy and a $110 million bond issue that included seismic upgrades as well as the rebuilding of Lynnwood and Scriber Lake high schools.

The 8,200-student Snohomish School District is proposing to borrow $141.6 million to build a new high school and elementary school, renovate Snohomish High School and undertake other building projects.

Ex-Tacoma, UW administrator Crew lands job in South Florida

MIAMI -- Rudy Crew was hired yesterday as Miami-Dade County's school superintendent, adding to a resume that includes a turbulent tenure as head of the New York City schools sandwiched between two stops in Washington state.

Crew, who had been courted by districts in St. Louis and Washington, D.C., accepted a five-year contract with a beginning salary of $295,000.

Crew was chancellor of New York City's school system from 1995 to 1999. Before that, he was superintendent in Tacoma in 1993-95, and afterward, he spent 15 months at the University of Washington as the founding director of the Institute for K-12 Leadership.

He left the UW for the Stupski Foundation, a California education-reform think tank.

Add P-I Local headlines to