Continually visualizing the “big picture” while supervising the academic infrastructure to meet the needs of the individual students is the on-going charge for the Orcas Island School District school principals. Tom Gobeske oversees the K-6 elementary school program while Barbara Kline cares for the Orcas Island Middle School, High School, OASIS, and Waldron Island schools. They are both visible in their schools and strive to know their students. Both have many years of teaching and principal experience, although Kline has been with the district for about 20 years and Gobeske has just completed his first year at Orcas Elementary.
The recently established San Juan County Veterans’ Advisory Board (VAB) has completed its initial planning and is pleased to announce the availability of San Juan County’s Veteran’s Assistance Fund (VAF).
The following Letter to the Editor articulates the position of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington regarding the Border Patrol’s questioning of passengers at the Anacortes ferry terminal.
When Sharron Mierau began her work as the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Administrative Secretary in 1987, the district did not own a computer. Board minutes were typed on a typewriter and the monthly enrollment reports were done by hand. Mierau is now the Human Resources Officer, and along with business and district office co-workers Sara Morgan, Ben Thomas, and Amber Johnson, she finds that a computer is essential to the organization and execution of daily work.
The Orcas Island Prevention Partnership (OIPP) is continuing its “Spotlight on the Positive” campaign for the parents of Orcas 6th-12th graders.
Their reasons for not completing high school until now are as varied as their futures undoubtedly will be – from needing to work for a living, to international travel interrupting senior year, to hospitalization, to personal family matters, to “not being able to get it together.”
It is not being overly-dramatic to say that, with the closing of the Coldwell Banker Orcas Island (CBOI) office, an era has ended: the era when the real estate business flourished on Orcas Island, when prominent Realtors and Brokers such as Wally Gudgell, Stu Stevens and Rusty Post started their careers with Pat Pomeroy and Coldwell Banker Orcas Island.
If you are the individual who kidnapped the small flock of pink flamingos from my property on Olga Road, just past the south park entrance, you may not have realized that you flocked yourself.
The birds were there to support a very important cause, Breast Cancer.
Since the war for independence from Great Britain 232 years ago, almost 1.5 million Americans have died in wars and skirmishes: the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Iraq War. Spread over the life of the United States, that’s equal to 6,465 military deaths a year.
Dear Senators Murray, Cantwell, and Representative Larsen,
We are at a crossroads as a school district and a community. Through declining enrollment, cost increases, state underfunding and, yes, past instances of spending beyond our means, our school district is facing record shortfalls. We cannot easily change inflationary factors, nor can we effect legislative changes overnight. We can, however, work on enhancing enrollment through outreach to our friends and neighbors. And we can work on ways to more efficiently provide the programs and opportunities we want our kids to enjoy. I believe our current School Board is committed to “righting the ship” responsibly and creatively.
By now I trust all Orcas residents have had a chance to pick up one of the Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 Visitor’s Guides. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to do so. The content may surprise you.
Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day has its origins in May of 1866 in Waterloo, New York, where its citizens honored the Union war dead with flowers and flags placed at gravesites. First resisted by the South, the holiday gradually became a national “Decoration Day,” and, finally, our national official “Memorial Day” in 1967, with its traditional date of May 30 changed, in 1971, to the last Monday in May.
While the federal and state governments fund Basic Education and “Title I” elements of public school programs, Orcas Island School District (OISD) has known for about a month now that their budget faces a projected $667,000 shortfall for the 2008-2009 school year.
Democrats in seven more states and two territories will vote or caucus in primaries by June 3. On Aug. 19, San Juan County residents will vote for candidates for three County Council positions, for Superior Court judge and for state legislature. On Nov. 4, we’ll make our final choice for those positions and for president.
We were recently subjected to a pleasant and gratifying experience at the hands of a United States government agency, specifically, the Border Patrol in Anacortes, as we disembarked from a domestic sailing of the WSF arriving from my home island, Shaw Island.
The Executive Board of the Orcas Education Association, on behalf of our membership, would like to express our concern about the Reduced Education Program Resolution passed by the school board on Wednesday, April 30. Our position is that budget cuts need to be kept as far away from the classroom as possible. The proposed drastic reduction of 21.6 percent of the certified teaching staff , as well as the cut of one principal are untenable.
The Economic Stimulus checks will start flowing to Orcas residents sometime in the next few weeks. Individuals earning up to $75,000 will receive $600 and couples earning up to $150,000 per year will receive $1200. The theory is that these checks will have a trickle charge effect on the economy. The hope is that you will spend your check when it hits your account. Multiply this spending by millions and this increase spending should jump start the lagging economy.
As the coverage in the Sounder stated, and the editorial reiterated, “with a $667,000 deficit, everyone is going to be hurt.”
A public petition and much outrage was expressed following the Fire Comissioners’ decision in January to formalize the salary of a Battalion Chief/Assistant Chief at $90,000 a year.
Why is the Orcas Island School district facing a $667,000 projected deficit for the coming school year?
Hardy souls clean up park
Now that I am back from my travels of the past two months, many of my Pittsburgh friends are asking about the places I’ve been and the experiences I have had. Berlin, Munich, San Diego all get their fair share of comment, but then when it comes to Orcas Island, the storytelling begins. New stories, new experiences, and above all: transforming ones. Ironically, it’s always the “others” who hear the stories, but I thought maybe you also might be interested to know how very much the week spent on Orcas meant to me.
It snowed Saturday April 19 on Lopez. That may have been appropriate for the day of the Conservation Summit which brought together at least a dozen local environmental groups and about 85 interested citizens. The environment and its supporters have been on-the-run in the San Juans lately, ironic in a political climate where supporters of environmental protection will likely make substantial political gains at the state and national level in the fall.
Guest opinion by Andrea and Hugh Hendrick
Time and money: a sense of urgency and restraintWhen Franklin Roosevelt firsttook…
BY GLENN HARRISSpecial to the SounderHaving worked in public education for over…
Trail defenders miss pointThe recent spate of letters about the bicycle trail…
A helping handWorking together to accomplish goals – such as formulating a…
By PATTY PIRNACK-HAMILTON
The Orcas Island Fire District is not a democracy. It is a…
The Fire Department needs to improve communications, especially within the department.
Clarification:The Guest Opinion by Steve Hussey in The Islands' Sounder on March…
