School Buses
Getting word out when a storm hits
It’s that time of year again when hazardous weather conditions can mean school delays or closures. I thought it would be helpful to go over Vashon Island School District policies regarding these changes in schedules and to reassure you we do realize the impact these changes make on all students and parents.
No decisions are made regarding school delays without someone physically driving the routes. We begin around 3:30 a.m. during stormy weather and work in conjunction with the King County road crews. Since weather patterns on Vashon-Maury Island can vary from a blizzard in Dockton to bare and dry on Wax Orchard, we remind you that if we call for limited transportation, it will be for the entire district. Last year our concern for the safety of your children required us to close school so the students wouldn’t be hurt walking to the bus stops because of dangerous trees and wires. Hazardous conditions combine snow, ice, trees down, and live wires down, power failures and possible flooding due to storms.
In the event of a delay or cancellation, a message will be posted on our phone at the bus garage by 6 a.m. All the schools will have similar messages posted as well as the radio and TV stations who are contacted by 5:30 a.m. Our VISD Web page will have updated information as well.
Our concern is for the safety of all the students on Vashon-Maury Island. Please help us accomplish this by encouraging your students to stand away from the traveled portion of the road and to wait until the bus comes to a complete stop before moving. Buses will stop only on the crest of hills during icy weather and might stop well before your scheduled stop to avoid sliding. With all the training and updated equipment, riding the bus during inclement weather is still the safest way to get your student to school.
— Ann Murray, manager
First Student school bus service
Volunteering
Join CERT for the new year
Tired of your regular New Year’s resolutions? How about one with huge benefits for all? Join CERT! Gain the confidence and skills to protect yourself and your family during a disaster, and then how to help your Vashon community after. The instructors are fabulous, the camaraderie is terrific, the life saving skills invaluable. But the success of CERT lies in numbers — the more Vashon CERT members, the better the outcome in a disaster. Rumor has it that the next class will be in the spring — clear your mental calendar now and put it at the top of your 2008 to- do list.
Contact: Jenna Riggs
Address: 11419 Asta Lane Sw
City: Vashon
Phone: 567-5999
— Jenna Riggs
World threats
Facing hysteria with action
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan drags on, as the United States continues to impede world action to save the climate and as world economies skirt a chasm, we celebrate Christmas
There is a term for this kind of temporary mental illness — mass hysteria — and as a non-community of commuters, we on Vashon are particularly susceptible.
We should do something about it. In prescribing action it would be helpful to know the root cause of inaction, but as time for a cure has run out, it’s time for first aid.
Given overwhelming evidence that any one of the three evils can do us in before hybrid cars can save us, we have to face down the hysteria with action.
For a second opinion on one of the three threats mentioned above, read “Beyond the Point of No Return” by Ross Gelbspan, Grist, Dec. 11. (http://grist.org/).
He holds that harsh climate change cannot be prevented and that the first priority is to gird our communities.
Girding Vashon against war, climate change and economic uncertainty is precisely how we can face down hysteria. This does not abandon effort to effect long-term change, and in fact would be a catalyst. Here’s what girding means for Vashon:
It means Island-wide conversion to solar heat, installation of visible consumption monitors and reversion to commonsense nutrition. It means cooperation in unheard-of ways and means. It means bringing the war into the community council.
It means massive investment of money and effort into preparing Vashon for exorbitant energy prices and drastically reduced dependence upon the ferries.
In conclusion, it is with the context just sketched that issues like the future of the Vashon Health Center and the K-2 plant should be addressed.
— Tom Herring
