Mark your calendar for June 12th! From 3pm – 11pm Downtown Tacoma will be hosting it’s first ever Twilight Criterium Bicycle Race, presented by Michelob Ultra. The race will loop around the north end streets of Pacific Ave and the course adorned with bands, beer gardens, DJs, Prizes, Games, a Kids’ Race and more.

If you’ve never seen criterium racing (aka: “crit”) before, get ready for a thrill as the riders compete on a closed circuit loop for about an hour per event. The race is measured in time (not laps) and the pace is kept at a near sprint the entire time by way of mid-race prizes and points. Spectators can expect to see the pack race by some 30+ times in the night’s main event.

Racing will take place approximately every hour starting at 3pm concluding with the Category 1 (elite/ pro) riders at 7.30pm.

To make it even more exciting, the Tacoma Twilight Criterium will be the final stage in the Cascadia Criterium series – a new month-long Puget Sound series of races in which riders aim to build up points to claim the overall title. The night's final prizes will be awarded at 9pm.

“We wanted to create a new event to bring life to the Downtown area and generate some buzz in the City amidst these pressing economic times.” says Tim Waer of the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission. “Tacoma Bike greeted with open arms to co-host the event. The city is ready for this race. We were very lucky to get on board Tacoma Bike, Dean Burke at Junefish and Race Director Joe Holmes. We hope, with the support of the City and the riders, to prepare the ground for an event for years to come.”

Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission, Tacoma Bike and Junefish join together to bring you a party in Downtown Tacoma like you’ve never seen before. Bring the kids, bring a chair, settle in for the night.

The event is free to spectators. For more information visit: www.tacomatwilight.com. Join the race on Facebook for the latest updates.

More Information

For the next few weeks, NorthwestDispatch.com will be experimenting with a new form of community journalism. Readers will be able to become reporters and commentators by subscribing to the publication. Watch this space for more information.

University of Puget Sound and Northwest Playwrights Alliance are teaming up to present The New Orleans Monologues at Norton Clapp Theatre. The play, directed by University of Puget Sound Professor Geoff Proehl, opens Friday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.

The New Orleans Monologues are the imagined voices of several men and women who suffered the ravages of Hurricane Katrina in vastly different ways. It is a new play by C. Rosalind Bell, a Louisiana native who now lives in Tacoma. Bell has authored five screenplays, two novellas, a novel, and a collection of short stories. She currently is a Puget Sound artist in residence.

The college's theater arts department generally doesn't produce new work," said Proehl, who met Bell a year and a half ago through a University of Puget Sound colleague. "I'm glad we made an exception this time.

"Working closely with the playwright has been a powerful experience," he said. "Rosalind writes from feeling, and that feeling registers because it finds expression across a range of characters, situations, expectations, and imagery."

A cast of about 14 students, faculty, staff, and community members bring to life 20 characters in the play. Elaine, the play's central character, is portrayed by Grace Livingston, University of Puget Sound associate professor of African American studies. Monologues is honest about the difficulties of living, yet offers hope in the midst of loss and pain.

Actor Livingston, playwright Bell, and director Proehl produced an initial reading of the script in September 2006 at the Race and Pedagogy National Conference hosted by University of Puget Sound. The play has continued to evolve and will enjoy a six-show run at Puget Sound; it will be remounted in March 2008 for the Northwest Playwrights Alliance Festival.

During her residency on campus, Bell will discuss playwriting and the issues she raises in Monologues with students in a dozen university courses across disciplines, exploring race and disparity, and asking students to examine not just physical death, but social death. The residency is made possible through funding from the Matthew Norton Clapp Visiting Artists Fund, the Catharine Gould Chism Fund, and African American studies.

Set design for Monologues is overseen by Kurt Walls, with costume designs by Mishka Navarre. The show runs Nov. 9, 10, 16, and 17, at 7:30 p.m., with matinees Nov. 10 and 18, at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at Wheelock Information Center, with remaining tickets available at the door. Cost: $11 general; $7 senior citizen (55+), non-Puget Sound student, and Puget Sound students, faculty, and staff. For credit card orders, call 253.879.3419.

Through the university's Civic Scholarship Initiative, local school groups are invited to attend performances. Teachers interested in coordinating a trip should contact Geoff Proehl at 253.879.3101. A portion of the proceeds will go to Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and Puget Sound's African American scholarship initiative.

Tacoma Oct. 10, 2007 - Birney Elementary School in Tacoma has been named one of 86 “Schools of Distinction” by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for dramatic improvements in student reading and mathematics over the past several years.

On Wednesday, Oct. 10, Interim Superintendent Arthur O. Jarvis and Birney Principal Scott Rich accepted the award from state Superintendent Terry Bergeson at a special statewide press event in the Seattle area.

Tacoma’s Interim Superintendent Arthur O. Jarvis said, “The ‘School of Distinction’ award is indicative of the wonderful, steady progress in student achievement that Birney has been making. It takes hard work, we all know, and it’s impressive to make that kind of growth year by year. It’s like being a tri-athlete: you have to keep going no matter how hard it is. I am very pleased that Terry Bergeson and her staff put together an award like this. It’s a thank you and recognition for all of the hard work our schools do.”

OSPI’s Schools of Distinction represent the top five percent of elementary, middle and high schools whose students have shown outstanding growth in both reading and mathematics skills during a six-year period. This year’s winning schools include 51 elementary schools, 20 middle schools and 15 high schools—out of nearly 2,500 schools in the state.

To be considered for the award, each school had to meet the current year’s state learning targets on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) for students in both reading and mathematics.

Schools that met the reading and mathematics targets were then evaluated for six-year gains on the state’s “Learning Improvement Index.” Because the award is based on improvement across a six-year period, only results from grades four, seven and 10 were used, as those are the only grade levels with six years of trend data.

Independent research and analysis to establish criteria for the awards and to identify the schools with the greatest improvement was conducted by Greg Lobdell of the Center for Educational Effectiveness in Redmond.

Birney Principal Scott Rich said, “Birney has tremendous staff members with little turnover and they have worked together well for a long time. Four years ago, we received a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) grant which provided a lot of focused professional development. We developed standards and learned to look at data and student work to inform our instruction. This effective teaming, combined with best instructional practices, made a difference for Birney.”

Birney also uses the Comprehensive Analysis of Student Learning (CASL) model where grade-level teams meet on regular basis using classroom-based assessment to continually check in on how students are doing in class. The teams look at student work to see what is working and what is not, and then develop ways to fix what is not working. Rich said, “We take students where they are and move forward from there.”

“We are focused on math and provide a lot of extras,” said Rich. “For example, we have after-school math clubs for students in third, fourth and fifth grades. Birney also held a math camp in August for students from second through fifth grades. We are good partners with our parents and community.”

The Werlin program has also provided wonderful tutoring support in reading for our students. And, we hold celebrations of learning to teach parents and community members what their children are learning,” the Birney principal pointed out. “We are lucky to have amazing kids at Birney. They really want to be here and are inspired to learn and do their best. We also have lot of caring adults here to help our students.”

School leaders from each of the winning schools were presented with awards and a large banner reading “School of Distinction—2007 State Superintendent’s Learning Improvement Award.”

Additional information on the award program, and a list of all Schools of Distinction, can be found on the OSPI Web site at www.k12.wa.us. To learn more about Birney Elementary School, visit the Tacoma Public Schools Web site at www.tacomaschools.org.