Record South Whidbey
INSIDE: Magic! Island Life, A10
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 21 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Nickel-an-acre fee starts now on Whidbey Island
St. Patrick’s Kickoff
BY JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Island County property owners will now be required to pay a 5-cent per acre assessment to help fund conservation programs on Whidbey and Camano islands. The new fee was approved in a 2-1 vote Monday at a special meeting of the Island County commissioners. It will be charged on top of an existing flat $5 per parcel fee and in the wake of a February state Supreme Court ruling concerning the legality of such special assessments. “I’m really pleased we’re moving forward,” said Karen Bishop, manager for the Whidbey Island Conservation District. Had the board rejected the measure, Bishop said the $5 fee would also have been scrubbed due to the recent court ruling. The district would have lost that dedicated funding source, approximately $175,000 for Whidbey alone, and would have spent the next year working on a new special assessment proposal. That would have been
Above, Langley resident Kelsey Griswold-Bacigalupi, 8, monitors her mother’s progress as she fills her cup with a popular recipe of soda and lime sherbet at the Langley Community Club’s St. Patrick’s Day potluck. Held on Monday at Brookhaven Hall, the event was attended by about 20 people, including Neil’s Clover Patch restaurant owner and former mayor Neil Colburn, right, and Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson. Justin Burnett / The Record
Justin Burnett /The Record
Karen Bishop, manager for the Whidbey Island Conservation District, addresses the Island County commissioners Monday in a special meeting concerning a new 5-cent per acre assessment. time organization officials could have spent serving land owners, she said. “It would have completely disrupted district operations,” Bishop said. The flat per parcel fee was adopted in 2009 to fund natural resource conservation efforts led by the Whidbey Island and Snohomish County conservaSee fee, A20
Teachers, parents surprised by Boyd’s departure BY Ben watanabe Staff Reporter
Ben Watanabe / The Record
School Board Chairman Steve Scoles looks to the future.
Jamie Boyd’s decision to leave South Whidbey Elementary School left her colleagues and others in the school district stunned. Boyd has been the principal of the elementary school for the past five years. She was hired to consolidate the primary and intermediate campuses and improve the district’s reputation after her predecessor resigned after being charged with first degree theft for stealing
kindergarten funds. “You certainly got us out of a sticky spot and helped the image of the district,” said Board Member Fred O’Neal. Before she was an administrator, Boyd taught special education for seven years in South Whidbey schools. She worked for more than 20 years as an educator, including 19 with the South Whidbey School District. In 2007, she was hired by former Superintendent Fred McCarthy to be principal of a consolidated K-5 school, and was
the only South Whidbey candidate among the three finalists. During her first year, she worked with the teachers union co-presidents to integrate the two staffs. Jan McNeely was the teacher-director at the now-partially occupied primary school, and Val Brown was the teacher-director at the intermediate school, which is now South Whidbey Elementary School. They were shocked by Boyd’s departure. “Many folks including SWEA Leadership were surprised by the
resignation of elementary Principal Jamie Boyd,” said Jan McNeely and Val Brown in a joint statement. “We wish her well on her next journey and look forward to the next chapter of our own journey in this district with someone new.” Boyd’s departure was made official at the school board meeting last Wednesday night. Boyd turned in her letter of resignation to District Superintendent Jo Moccia the previous Monday. Boyd will See boyd, A6