The San Juan Island School District Board of Directors will hold a regular meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. Items up for discussion or action at Wednesday’s meeting include:

• Superintendent’s report
• Mid-year review of school improvement plans for 2021-2022
• Monthly budget and enrollment report
• Additional director reports
• Review of 2021-2022 Board calendar

The Board will also hold a non-public Executive session at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16 to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of a public employee. Continue Reading

Island rock band Desolation Sound will premiere live versions of songs from their new album “Salish Rock” at a benefit concert on March 12 at the San Juan Community Theatre.

The event starts at 7:30 p.m., the entry fee is pay-what-you-can, and all proceeds will go to the Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center and SJCT.

Desolation Sound is Darvis Taylor, Scott Sluis, Tom Henry, and Daniel Day. You can hear tracks from the band’s previous records on Bandcamp.

Online registration and schedule details for the tenth edition of the San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit are now available. This year’s event takes place on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5.

Held on Lopez Island, the Ag Summit features virtual programming on Friday and in-person workshops and gatherings on Saturday. It includes a keynote address from Rowen White, a Seed Keeper from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and an activist for Indigenous seed sovereignty.

Workshops touch on a broad range of topics, including carbon sequestration, on-farm composting, commercial orcharding, on-farm vet skills, and alternative models for farmland access. There’s also a song and story hour for kids and an outdoor evening social.

The 2022 Ag Summit is supported by WSU San Juan County Extension, San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild, San Juan Islands Conservation District, San Juan County Agricultural Resources Committee, Lopez Community Land Trust, and Lopez Island School District & LIFE Garden Program.

The San Juan County Council will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. Items up for discussion or action at Tuesday’s meeting include:

• Salmon recovery grant
• American Rescue Program Act update
• Approving guild contracts
• Scheduling a public hearing to surplus Sheriff’s Office canine asset
• Approving a resolution authorizing the Treasurer to cancel uncollectible personal property taxes

The meeting will also include a council and legislative update, an update from the County Manager, and an update from the Council Clerk. In addition, the Council will hold two non-public Executive sessions — one to discuss litigation with legal counsel, the other to discuss acquiring or leasing property.

You can view the live stream of the meeting online or attend in person at the Council Legislative Hearing Room. Masks are required for in-person attendance. To make a public comment, sign up prior to 9 a.m. on Feb. 15.

We would like to thank all of you who supported the campaign to renew the EMS levy with your financial help, your letters, your emails, your social media posts and, most of all, your votes.

After such a difficult and contentious campaign it was gratifying that the large majority of you (nearly two to one) cast your votes to renew the levy for the outstanding EMS program we’ve benefitted from for the past 30 years.

Thank you for all your support.

The Committee to Renew EMS
Karin Agosta
Winnie Brumsicle
Everett Clary
Richard Grout
Susan Grout
Trish Lehman
Anna Lisa Lindstrum
Herb Mason
Liz Pillow

The San Juan County Department of Emergency Management reports 48 confirmed or probable new COVID cases on San Juan Island since Feb. 4. The County also reports eight new cases on Orcas Island and eight on Lopez Island. This week’s 64 new cases bring the total case count to 1,112.

The County notes that more than 20 of the cases on San Juan Island are directly connected to the San Juan Island School District community — either students or staff.

The next vaccine clinic offered by San Juan County Health & Community Services takes place this Sunday, Feb. 13 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Fairgrounds.

Together with the Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center, Island Rec is bringing a Special Olympics program to San Juan Island this spring.

A track and field program, which runs from March 7 through June 19, is available at no cost to individuals with intellectual disabilities eight years of age and older. Coaching will be provided by volunteers from the community.

For more information, or to register, contact Jen Henry at Island Rec.

The Friday Harbor Film Festival’s Best of the Fest series presents one feature-length documentary along with one or two shorter documentary films each week in February. The films are streamed on demand. For the week of Feb. 12 to 18, FHFF is showing Mission:Joy and My Invisible Husband.

FHFF shared with the Update a preview of each film.

Continue Reading

The Economic Development Council of San Juan County announced that they will offer free home care aide training later this year. The EDC will also provide financial support for the cost of state certification fees.

According to the EDC:

HCA certification can help people earn a living while helping their neighbors. Working as an HCA can be a steppingstone towards other healthcare careers such as nursing or adult family home management. If you work part-time, seasonally, or freelance, you could gain income stability and flexibility by working as an HCA for a second income. If you work in personal care services, becoming an HCA would allow you to offer additional services.

The EDC has partnered with Cornerstone Healthcare Training to offer the program, which has limited available space. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older and residents of San Juan County. More information is available on the EDC website.

Last week the MV Tillikum headed south to Washington State Ferries’ Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island, where it will remain until early March. The vessel — built in 1959 and refit in 1994 — is in Eagle Harbor for its annual maintenance and inspections.

The larger MV Sealth has replaced the Tillikum on the interisland route.

The San Juan County Master Gardener Foundation’s online plant sale runs through March 11, but many of this year’s choices have already sold out or are close to selling out.

The annual sale started about two weeks ago and includes bundles of bare root shrubs and bulbs, along with locally grown wildflowers produced by the Salish Seeds Project — a partnership between the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank and the San Juan Preservation Trust.

Remaining varieties include Nootka rose, Broadleaf sedum, Great camas (pictured above), and Hooker’s onion.