The Vashon Park District failed to get a grading and clearing permit prior to some of its extensive work upgrading the historic Belle Baldwin House at Fern Cove, according to King County officials.
Wendy Braicks, the park district’s executive director, said the lack of a permit was an oversight that the staff quickly addressed. Though called a grading and clearing permit, she noted, the park district’s work on the landscaping around the home has mostly focused on clearing invasive plants from the property.

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The line of second-graders slithered its way out of Carolyn Candy’s classroom door one recent afternoon, dancing the snake dance conga-style.
For the past several years, there’s been room to groove in room 115 — a classroom that boasts xylophones and drums rather than chairs and desks. That’s one of the reasons Candy — who’s retiring this year after six years as Chautauqua Elementary School’s music teacher and 27 years as a teacher there — is hailed by many as innovative, creative and gifted.

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When Keith Putnam designed what is now the main building at Vashon High School some 35 years ago, he included in one of his mock-ups covered walkways connecting the school’s scattered buildings.
“And the school board said, ‘Why should we have covered walks? Let them walk in the rain; it’s good for them,’” he recalled.
Now, that architectural feature — a hodge-podge of buildings that makes the campus both wide open and, in the winter months, a source of colds and discomfort — is seen as one of its greatest liabilities.
Educators say that kids sit in classrooms wet and cold in the winter months, and attendance falls. They say the fact the campus is “porous,” as some have put it, makes it far less secure in this post-Columbine era, where student safety has become paramount.
They also say an ill-fated educational concept of the ’70s, when Putnam designed Building A, has resulted in a building that today is cramped and unworkable.
When Putnam came up with the design — three large octagons connected to a central area — open classrooms were vogue; no walls separated the classrooms, and the building, though not quite big enough even then, could accommodate all the students, he said.
But the open classroom concept did not last long; walls were soon built to give teachers the noise barriers they needed to teach effectively. And today, Building A — the main classroom building at the sprawling campus — is crowded, dark and difficult, teachers and administrators say.
Earlier this month, the school board agreed to offer up to Islanders a couple of different architectural scenarios for a potential bond levy next February. One of them — the option preferred by many teachers and administrators — includes a new 40,000-square-foot structure that would replace Building A as the main classroom facility: a square, two-story building that would have big windows, adequate classroom space and only a couple of entrances.

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A graduation ceremony was held at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue on Saturday, May 31, to celebrate the accomplishments of its newest members. Fifteen firefighters graduated from the recruit academy and were presented certificates by Captain Candy McCullough and Lieutenant Rick Brown.

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A look at what various clubs and organizations on Vashon and Maury Island are up to.

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Quick shots of what’s happening in the Vashon-Maury islands art communities.

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