The school board will hold a public meeting Tuesday night to discuss Gov. Locke’s proposed cuts in state education funding – and the $450,000-$600,000 bite into local school budgets that will result.
The reduction in revenue will likely mean increased sports and activity fees, more expensive food services, and the termination of “non-essential or lower-priority programs,” board members said in a recent letter to the community.
The budget forum begins at 7 p.m. May 13 in the Bainbridge High School library.
Comments are also welcome online by completing the Board Forum survey at www.bainbridge.wednet.edu/central/it/survey. Information: 842-4714.
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***Two meetings to tackle drugs
The Bainbridge community will address the issue of substance abuse by teens in two upcoming forums.
On Wednesday morning, the Bainbridge High School PTSO sponsors a public meeting to discuss teen drug and alcohol use on the island, 9:30 a.m. in the BHS library.
Assistant Superintendent Bruce Colley and Detective Scott Anderson of Bainbridge Police will discuss ways schools and law enforcement are addressing these problems, and suggest ways parents can help. Information: Dana Berg, PTO president, 842-9024 or veloberg66@msn.com.
Next Saturday, Imagine Bainbridge will hold a meeting entitled, “What’s Wrong with Allowing Underage Drinking in My Home?”, 1:30-3:30 p.m. May 17 at the Bainbridge Island public library.
“(This) forum is for parents, and getting our heads out of the sand, opening our eyes and accepting responsibility as a community to provide a safe and healthy environment for our kids,” meeting organizers said in a news release.
It will be the third forum on teens and substance abuse organized by Imagine Bainbridge, a group concerned parents and students founded by Billie Taylor and Sally Kidder Davis.
At the group’s request, Pegasus Coffee House in Winslow has extended its weekend hours to give teenagers a safe place, drug-free place to socialize.
Imagine Bainbridge is also working on providing confidential safe rides home on the weekend for kids who have been drinking or find themselves in an unsafe situation.
Information: Wendy Danzig, danzig@bainbridge.net or 842-9778.
Copies of the fall 2002 statewide “Healthy Youth Survey” – including information on drug and alcohol use in BI schools – are available at 780-1069.
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***Camp seeks young leaders
Application forms are now available for any young person, ages 13 -17, interested in a scholarship to attend the National Youth Leadership Camp.
The eight-day program motivates and trains participants to assume leadership roles in their communities in order to address social issues and community development.
The high-adventure curriculum emphasizes personal development through a series of physical, social, and artistic challenges.
It also offers training in follow-up strategies for service and leadership back home, such as cross-age tutoring of younger students, care for elders, and environmental improvement projects.
Seven Bainbridge youths – Taylor Allen, Rokeda Brownell, Evan Mayfield, Annika Oechsli, Ben Packard, Joe Reynolds and Kodi Semon – and 11 adult team members attended the National Youth Leadership Camp in Amery, Wis., last summer.
The young leaders lent their skills to the Bainbridge community in a variety of ways, including organizing a “360 Degree Perspective” youth/adult forum on the war in Iraq in late March.
The National Youth Leadership Camp 2003 session will be held Aug. 3 -10 at the Audubon Center of the North Woods in Sandstone, Minn.
Seven island youths will be awarded scholarships to this year’s camp; applications are due May 16.
Contact Dianne Juhl diannej@bainbridgeisland.net for details. For more information about the camp, see www.nylc.org/programs_camp.cfm.
