It’s back-to-school time on our island — which means buses trundling through town and the after-school rush at the library.

It’s also the time of the year when we ask you to donate to the Vashon Schools Foundation.

We’ve had an eventful spring at the Vashon Schools Foundation and in our district. A few months ago, you, our community, came out in force to support our schools during painful budget decisions. You raised nearly $90,000 in donations that are already at work in our schools this year.

It was hard, but the overwhelming community support of our schools helped mitigate the impact on students.

Now, the mood has shifted: enrollment is up, attendance is strong, and the principal was singing in front of the elementary school last week. Middle and high schoolers are focusing on friends and not phones under the schools’ new phone-free policies, and little kindergartners are roaming around with orange luggage tags on their backpacks proclaiming NEW KINDERGARTENER, in case they become misplaced. (The kindergarteners, that is, not the backpacks.)

Our schools are joyful, supportive places, which is what our kids deserve. It is our community that makes them that way. Our state deeply underfunds public education, and it is up to us, the Vashon community, to ensure our children have what they need to learn and thrive. One way you can do that is by donating to the Vashon Schools Foundation. September is our Back to School Campaign, and our goal is to raise $28,000 for our schools.

Donations to the Vashon Schools Foundation fund essentials: this year, your spring contributions helped restore two staff positions, the school nurse and middle school counselor, that were slated for cuts. Your contributions to Vashon Schools Foundation also fund the elements of island kids’ education that make it special and powerful.

In partnership with Artists in Schools, your gifts help kids weave baskets, learn history through puppets, make copper bowls and learn drumming. Through Scientists in Schools, they spot salmon at Shinglemill Creek, inspect owl bones, study birds in the woods and take stream data at Judd Creek. As high schoolers, they have the opportunity to become certified beach naturalists and guide younger children on low tide walks.

These opportunities for hands-on learning are unique to Vashon and at the Vashon Schools Foundation, we are honored to help make them a core part of education in our schools.

One of the other changes this year is that Chautauqua now offers free breakfast and lunch to all students, due to state legislation last year requiring free meals for elementary students where 30% or more of children qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. There are sharp economic divides in this community, and our schools are called to support families with many different needs.

Vashon Schools Foundation also partners with the district to help fund the work of Vashon Youth & Family Services, which offers mental health counseling, support groups and other resources for families, in both Spanish and English.

These programs create the kind of education we want for our students: active, hands-on and rich in new opportunities, while at the same time, buttressed by a caring community that offers the nurturing required for every child to thrive at school. Perhaps that is why the kindergartener luggage tags have stuck with me this year, with their implied expectation that everyone in the school has an eye out for these littles, standing by while they find their way, and ready to shepherd them if they get lost.

This fall, we need you to help us in this shepherding with a gift to the Vashon Schools Foundation. One of the most helpful ways you can be part of this work is by becoming a G.E.M., or Giving Every Month, donor. Monthly donations provide a consistent and predictable source of support, so we can offer reliable funding to our school programs. They’re also a “set it and forget it” way of helping, giving you one fewer thing to remember during the busy year.

We all count on our schools to help our children and our island thrive. Now, it is time to make sure our schools and our kids can count on us. You can donate to the Vashon Schools Foundation at vashonschoolsfoundation.org.

Thank you for your support — and if you see a kindergartner wandering about, please return them to school.

Kennedy Leavens is a co-president of the Vashon Schools Foundation.