The Vashon Island School Board, determined to assess how much voters will pay for new or improved school buildings, have put price tags on three different scenarios that could begin to address the district’s long-standing need to restore its aging facilities.
Owners of the Vashon Health Center and Allstar Fitness, a Seattle-based athletic club, have signed letters saying they’re interested in moving into K2 Commons, should the ambitious development plans a mile south of town come to fruition.
The letters mark the first significant milestones since Islanders Dick Sontgerath and Truman O’Brien announced their far-reaching plans last December to renovate the largest commercial structure on the Island and develop it into a complex of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises.
A piece of history quietly vanished from Vashon last week.
Vashon Island school officials, grappling with one of the district’s worst financial crises in years, said they believe they’ve found a way to balance the budget while restoring the half-time high school counselor position that many say is desperately needed.
A black bear making its way across the southern reaches of Vashon and Maury Island has delighted residents, scared a few, intrigued wildlife experts and underscored the need these wide-ranging animals have for habitat.
Plans for a 4,600-square-foot home and garage on Quartermaster Harbor have stirred neighbors and housing activists on Vashon, many of whom have written to King County arguing that recent restrictions to protect Puget Sound are meant to block such waterfront development.
When he’s a senior next year, Chris Carter noted, many of his classmates will be old enough to help determine the next president of the country or tote a gun in Iraq. But if a proposal put forward by Vashon High School’s administration is approved by the school board, neither he nor his friends will be able to leave campus for a sandwich at Subway.
There’s little question but that James McCrackyn, a 7-year-old Island boy, loves dogs.
For the past decade, Frank Zellerhoff Jr. has been grinding stumps, roots and other land-clearing debris on his five-acre parcel on Cemetery Road, transforming the waste into chips, mulch and compost that he sells to landscapers and other Islanders.
The Vashon Island School District, buffeted by declining enrollment, a state funding formula that is wholly inadequate and a history of overspending, is facing another $246,000 in cuts, according to Superintendent Terry Lindquist.
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King County, the Vashon Park District, the Vashon Aquatic Club and the USA Swimming Foundation are teaming up to make water safety classes available to third and fourth graders at the county pool this summer.
Nick Bordner, 17 and yet to cast his first vote, is headed to the National Democratic Convention in Denver this August to help choose the Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency.
