INSIDE: “Nutcracker” celebrates 20 years ... Island Life, A12
Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 97 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Welcome to my laboratory
Capital projects dominate $11.3 million budget
Middle school class turns high-tech lab
BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
LANGLEY — The Langley City Council unanimously has decided to nearly double the city’s budget for 2013. The expenditures for next year are expected to total more than $11.3 million. Most of the money is attached to capital projects for water, stormwater and street improvements, from road resurfacing and waterline improvements to building a funicular and Sunday bus service between Langley and the Clinton ferry. “This is a fiscal plan,” said Langley Mayor Larry Kwarsick at the council meeting Monday. “It represents our best guess.”
‘It’s an aggresive budget, it’s an aggressive program. And under my administration I will continue to do that.’ — Larry Kwarsick, Langley mayor
If each of the 1,040 residents in Langley were accountable for a fair share of Langley’s 2013 budget, they’d pay about $11,000. Thankfully, the city’s budget included $2.8 million in loans, $3 million in grants and a $700,000 bond. More than $2.3 million was allotted for the street fund, which ballooned from 2012 by $1 million. “It’s an aggressive budget, it’s an aggressive program,” Kwarsick said. “And under my administration I will continue to do that.” Langley’s general fund, which covers the police department, staff, parks and finance, grew by $300,000. Part of the See Langley, A14
LANGLEY — One classroom at Langley Middle School turned its desks into a high-tech lab this week. Seventh-grade students learned about molecules and their charge recently and put those lessons to the test. Students in DeAnn Ross’ class were treated to something new this year — laboratory equipment from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “The kids are really excited,” Ross said. “It changes their thoughts on science. It’s a lot different when they get to experience it this way.” Ross is one of a select group of teachers in Washington. She was certified by the research center this summer through the Science Education Partnership after spending three weeks shadowing a researcher in Seattle. Now, Ross is allowed to use as many as eight different lab kits in her classes. “There are very few districts across the state that have access to this equipment,” Ross said. And South Whidbey is one of them. During a recent lab day, 25 students wore white lab coats with “Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center” or “FHCRC” on the lapel, and used micro pipettes and gel electrophoresis machines. The middle school became a science lab. Students experimented with different solutions, each with a different color indicator, then put into a gel before being connected to a
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Breann Edwards uses a micro pipette to inject a colored solution into the gel electrophoresis machine. Her lab partners Libby Hawkins and Kade Petty wait their turn. power box. The process was more complicated in its directions from the teacher. Student-scientists had to take a micro pipette, draw 15 micro liters of a solution, then inject that into the gel. “This takes precision and accuracy,” Ross told the class. “If you don’t get it perfectly the first time, don’t panic.” As current flowed to nodes inside the electrophoresis, the colored solutions began to move. Some toward the negative node, some toward the positive node, and a couple stayed in the middle
— though the experiment was only observed for 10 minutes before the period ended. The ability to observe and take part in the experiments will go a long way. Ross has seen a marked improvement in her students’ test scores over the years when the test is associated with a lab. “I find in science in particular that students need that hands-on experience to grasp it,” she said. “They begin to connect the different pieces and even the different sciences.” Recently the middle school assigned an iPad to each stu-
dent in the seventh grade, about 110 students. The aim is to have students use them across disciplines — language arts, social studies, math, science and physical education. During the lab, a handful of students used their camera-equipped iPads to record the experiment on video and with still images. Others used it to note their observations, things like: bubbles in the water, a foggy cover to the electrophoresis machine and movement of the solutions. See Lab, A10
Chambers of commerce reel in almost 60 percent of tourism funding BY JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter A special tax collected from lodging industry businesses in Island County will contribute $150,000 toward tourism promotion next year. The Island County Commissioners last week approved yearly grant allotments from the fund. A total of 20 different private and public organizations and another three public agencies on Whidbey and Camano islands are
slated to receive money. As is custom, the bulk of the fund — 59 percent — is going to the county’s six chambers of commerce, located in Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Freeland, Langley, Clinton and on Camano Island. “They usually get the lion’s share ... that’s the backbone of our outreach,” Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said. Commonly referred to as the hotel/motel tax, it’s one of two such taxes that each collect 2 percent from the sales of lodging industry
business. Organizations with focuses on tourism then bid on the money. A committee made up of business leaders and elected officials reviews the grant applications and then makes recommendations to the board on where the money should be allocated. As is required by state law, the commissioners have the final say on how the money is distributed. Also required is that the money only be spent on tourism promotion. According to
Price Johnson, chambers tend to get the largest grants because they operate visitor centers and information kiosks. Although the grant amounts have not always been equal in the past, the committee recommended this year to give the five largest chambers the same amount of money — $21,000. Clinton was awarded $4,500 largely because of its small size but also because See tourism, A10