REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
Friday, June 5, 2015 | Vol. 90, No. 23 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Pot shop to open soon, A5
Kids Club must move Space crunch prompts Bainbridge school district to take back property BY SERAINE PAGE
Bainbridge Island Review
Seraine Page | Bainbridge Island Review
Montessori Country School third-graders Isabell Gacioch and Cadence Godfrey unveil “peace flags” during a special ceremony last week. The students took part in a rededication of a “Peace Pole” where students resolve conflicts.
Peace Pole dedication completes Country School campus BY SERAINE PAGE
Bainbridge Island Review
What does peace look like? At Montessori Country School, it comes in the setting of a grassy area surrounded by towering trees. It’s a quiet area, where the hum of nature extends a warm invite for students to sit on a bench tucked into a serene environment. Once students are seated, a tall, wooden “Voyager Peace Pole” hovers above them as a reminder of grace, patience and tolerance. It’s where they come to make their peace. “The Peace Pole is where kids can go to do self reflection or to resolve conflicts,” Meghan Skotheim, head of Montessori Country School, explained. “It’s a reminder to all of us of patience [and] caring [behaviors].” Thirteen years ago, a couple whose child attended the school donated a large piece of wood from a fallen tree on their property.
Seraine Page | Bainbridge Island Review
Montessori Country School students stand in front of the school’s Peace Pole during a rededication ceremony. The idea for a Peace Pole was born and welcomed by all on campus, Skotheim said. For many students, it is a place of healing, gratitude and self-awareness. Recess fights often end in resolutions after students in a tiff sit together and leave their misunderstandings at the pole. When the pole fell last year due to rot,
students and staff agreed that it felt as though a piece of their elementary campus wasn’t complete. For a whole year, the pole was missing from its prominent spot. Just last week, the pole — refurbished and looking brand-new again — was rededicated on the campus at a celebration attended by parents, students and staff. Students in first through fifth grades gathered in front of their parents to present the new pole. Skotheim offered an introduction of the importance of peace education. “Educating for peace is an integral part of a Montessori education as important as grammar, multiplication and the area of a triangle,” Skotheim told the group. Students unveiled “peace flags” as a backdrop behind the pole. Older students kicked off the ceremony with an informational bit — announcing the word peace in various languages TURN TO PEACE | A19
The only before and after-school program on the island for third through sixth grade is being forced to vacate its current home. Kids Club, which operates out of portable classes owned by the Bainbridge Island School District, has an enrollment of about 100 children. The two portables “We’re working as currently frantically and as utilized by fast as we can.” the club are behind Shelley Long Commodore Bainbridge Island Middle Child Care Centers School on the district’s main campus. Club members and staff must now move for the second time this year due to the district’s need for more space. It’s a stressful issue for staff, parents and children, said Shelley Long, executive director for Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers, which runs Kids Club, among other programs. “We need time to build a vision,” Long said. “We need an interim place so we can safely and effectively place these kids. We are working as frantically and as fast as we can. The board and I are absolutely vested and committed to doing this. We’re looking for a solution.” The news came during the last school board meeting. New state mandates and increasing enrollment numbers for kindergarten students are the factors increasing demand for classrooms, Tamela Van Winkle, capital projects director for TURN TO CLUB | A5
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