The 2010s page is a bit sparse! If you have photos, experiences, and/or memories from this time, please share them!
2010
2011
SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
Tacoma Fire Department:
At 1:14 p.m. ten companies of Tacoma firefighters (five engines, two ladders, two medic units and command staff) responded to a reported fire at Lowell Elementary School.
First arriving companies found flames and smoke showing from a teacher/staff kitchen located in the “primary wing” area of a building on campus. Crews attacked the fire with handlines and contained the fire to the room of origin – preventing it from spreading to the two classrooms housed in the building.
There were no injuries to report and the cause of the fire is currently under investigation. Preliminary indications are that the fire was accidental in nature.
Update: Investigators have determined that unattended cooking spark the blaze and caused an estimated $40,000 damage to the building and its contents.
Source: The News Tribune – Tuesday, September 20, 2011, p. A3
Kitchen fire at Lowell Elementary put out quickly Fire started from cooking oil left on stove after use
Photo caption: Max Dorn, 13, a former Lowell Elementary School student, watches as Tacoma firefighters respond to a small fire inside a staff kitchen at the school Monday afternoon. Because of the schoolteachers strike, no students were in the secondary building when the fire broke out about 1:15 p.m.
Tacoma firefighters doused a small fire that broke out Monday inside a staff kitchen at Lowell Elementary School in the North End.
The fire started just before 1:15 p.m. inside a secondary building at the school at 810 N. 13th St. The blaze is not considered suspicious, Fire Department spokesman Joe Meinecke said.
The fire was contained inside the kitchen, which sustained about $40,000 in damage, Meinecke said.
The fire happened after a staff member left a pan of oil on the stove after cooking french fries for lunch, Tacoma Public Schools spokesman Dan Voelpel said. The staff member is not a teacher.
Classes at the school and others in the School District were cancelled Monday because of the teachers strike. > The building where the fire occurred contains some primary-grade classrooms. They were not damaged.
“We were right there when the glass just exploded,” said Griffin Young, one of several kids on the playground when the fire occurred.
Eighth-grader Grayson Warren saw smoke coming from the building. He heard the alarm sounding and saw a staff member running with a fire extinguisher.
“It got pretty big fast,” said Grayson, who went to Lowell.
Stacey Mulick and Debbie Cafazzo, staff writers
2012
MARCH 20, 2012
Source: The News Tribune – Tuesday, March 20, 2012, p. A3
[CLICK TO SHOW ARTICLE TRANSCRIPT]
Lowell principal Bob Dahl ‘was the best of the best’ He dies at 58: Parents and students remember him as a loving leader who knew each of their names
by Debbie Cafazzo, Staff writer
Lowell Elementary School principal Bob Dahl died Sunday after an illness.
His 15-year tenure at Lowell made him the longest-serving principal at a single school among current Tacoma principals.
Dahl, 58, was a resident of Gig Harbor. Tacoma Public Schools officials sent counselors to the school Monday to help students and staff grieve.
Former Lowell parent Maryanne Bell remembered Dahl as a principal who knew every student and parent by name and who went the extra mile for kids.
“Bob Dahl walked the playground and did traffic guard duty on Yakima (Street) every school day,” said Bell, whose child is now in middle school.
The school district’s Facebook page was filled Monday with tributes like this one from Rachael Griffin Bouma: “I thank Mr. Dahl from the bottom of my heart. He was the best of the best. He lifted every child and person up. He was deeply loved and he will be dearly missed.”
Bell said Dahl went to bat for her son when he was a kindergartner. Six months into the school year, her child was diagnosed with diabetes. At first, she feared she would have to switch him to a school where there was a nurse on staff. But Dahl helped bring a nurse to Lowell.
“He was the kind of principal that knew how to walk within bureaucracy without being a bureaucrat,” Bell said. “They were all his kids – he knew them by name, and he fought for the most vulnerable quietly and with a dignity that was uniquely Mr. Dahl.”
Dahl had been hospitalized with a form of lung disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scarring on the lungs. Its cause is unknown.
Dahl began his career as a Tacoma educator as a fifth-grade teacher at Oakland Elementary in 1983. He also taught fifth grade at DeLong Elementary from 1987 to 1994. He worked as an administrative assistant at Reed Elementary from 1994 to 1995, then as principal of Stanley Elementary from 1995 to 1997.
He became principal at Lowell in 1997.
JULY 23, 2012
Source: The News Tribune – Monday, July 23, 2012, p. A4
[CLICK TO SHOW ARTICLE TRANSCRIPT]
Duke to remain interim principal at Lowell
Bob Duke will return to Lowell Elementary School as interim principal this fall. Duke, a retired principal, stepped in last school year on an interim basis at Lowell during the illness of Principal Bob Dahl, who died in the spring after 15 years at the school.
Despite a recruiting effort, the district could not find a candidate ready to lead Lowell permanently. The district will hire a dean of students to provide administrative assistance to Duke and will continue to keep the permanent principal job posted and open.
2013
APRIL 8, 2013
Source: The News Tribune – Monday, April 8, 2013, p. A3
APRIL 11, 2013
Source: The News Tribune – Thursday, April 11, 2013, pp. A1, A14
JUNE 26, 2013
Source: The News Tribune – Wednesday, June 26, 2013, p. A5
NOVEMBER 11, 2013
Source: The News Tribune – Monday, November 11, 2013, p. A4
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
JULY 13, 2019
Source: The News Tribune – Saturday, July 13, 2019, p. A1
Lowell Elementary School History Project 