Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 44 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
INSIDE: Into the business of booze, A8
A farewell bid to Bayview School
Jim Larsen / The Record
A family of geese was spared after Honeymoon Lake residents approved the gaggle’s euthanization. The geese were taken during the night May 30.
Goose-nappers grab gaggle before executioners can By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
A gaggle of geese marked for death was goosenapped in a clandestine operation on Honeymoon Lake on Wednesday night. According to several witnesses, a group of people who wanted to save the waterfowl from impending doom rounded them up and carted them off to a safe location. The geese are currently molting and can’t fly, so catching them is relatively easy. But details of the goose heist are slim. The operation was apparently top secret out of concern about the possible legal ramifications of stealing wild geese. “They are in a safe place,” is all lake resident Theresa Delap would say. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the incident. A man who owns a house on the lake called 911 from his home in Bellevue at just after 8 p.m. to report the waterfowl abduction, according to Island County Sheriff Mark Brown. The man claimed that about 15 people were netting geese on the lake and had trespassed on his yard, but the crowd was gone when the deputy arrived. The deputy interviewed witnesses who said the geese were taken away in a dog carrier. One of the goose-nappers claimed to have permission from a federal agency to take the geese, but the deputy found that may not be true. The deputy reported the incident to a Fish and See Goose-nappers, A9
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Students of Bayview School’s graduating class of 2012 assemble around the historic bell in front of the alternative high school. In front are Sydney Mann, Devan Farstad, Megan Scott, Isabella Moreno, Taylor Donahew, Marlee Quintasket, Keanu Regan and Sydney Boyle. Perched near the bell are Jess Barker, Lela Pigott and Christyna da Rosa.
Bayview grads, staff prepare for new chapter BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
BAYVIEW — The old white school building shines a little brighter in June. Summer approaches and so does the Bayview School’s graduation, which will send 14 students into the world Thursday, June 7. The joy of graduation is offset for many by the fact that’s also the date when South Whidbey’s alternative high school will relocate and be renamed Island Academy at the South Whidbey Primary Campus. In effect, the Bayview School class of 2012 is its last. “This building just has so much history,” said Bayview senior Lela Pigott. “I think it’s amazing that on this small island that we have a community that cares enough about its children to make a school like this.” The South Whidbey School District elected to move and reform the school into a kindergarten-12th grade alternative school. The 100-year-old building that started as a grade school and then housed a Skagit Valley College campus, had little technology infrastructure and added 10 minutes to the commute of teachers who split time at Bayview School and other district schools.
Bayview School staff and David Pfeiffer, the school’s director, supported the proposal to move at a recent school board meeting, though students are a bit torn about losing the uniqueness of their campus. “It makes me really sad because, for me, Bayview is this building as well as the people in it,” said Bayview senior Isabella Moreno. “I know that in reality, the people are Bayview.” Hundreds of students have passed through the halls of the 19th Century school house for 17 years. The building had a long history as a school since it opened in 1895. It served eight classes in two rooms for years, but was closed as a public school in 1942. After stints hosting the American Legion and Skagit Valley College, the school district opened an alternative high school. The first “new” Bayview Class of 1995 boasted 47 students. The aim, as with all of the school district’s programs, is to make students career and college ready. Pfeiffer said the small school allows students to be and feel visible to Bayview’s teachers. “The biggest factor in preparing and supporting our students for the work force is to be found in the work our
Bayview School Bayview School will celebrate its graduates with a commencement ceremony at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 7 at Whidbey Institute’s Thomas Berry Hall.
South Whidbey High School A story about the valedictorians and graduation of South Whidbey High School will be in the Wednesday, June 6 issue of the Record. The high school’s ceremony is scheduled for noon Saturday, June 9 in the main gym at South Whidbey High School. teachers do with our students,” Pfeiffer said. “In a smaller school setting, our students are very visible to our teachers, who work with them in a highly individualized manner with a great deal of mentoring and coaching taking place.” More than 30 students were enrolled in 2011-2012, and Pfeiffer said four will return for extra years before graduating. See Bayview, A6