On Wednesday West Tisbury selectmen confronted the reality of what an unexpected $1.5 million in repairs needed for the West Tisbury School will do to an otherwise well-balanced town budget.

“This project is a serious challenge to our planning for the future here,” said selectman Richard Knabel at the board’s weekly meeting. Multimillion dollar plans to renovate the town library and relocate and build a new police station are already well underway. “The numbers we’re talking about here are extremely substantial,” Mr. Knabel said.

Rep. Keating’s Assignments

U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, the newest member of Massachusetts’ Congressional delegation, received his committee assignments for the 112th Congress.When he returns to Washington after his district work week, Rep. Keating will begin work on the House’s small business, homeland security and foreign affairs committees.

Handmade Valentines

Make a valentine with your little one — art supplies will be provided — enjoy yummy treats, and check out Kiddo’s new home at 42 Circuit avenue during the store’s Valentine Socials set for Fridays, Feb. 4 and 11, from 10:30 to noon. Those who wish may enter their creation into the Kiddo’s valentine window contest.

Scholars Take Note

The Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard is accepting applications for its 2011 scholarship program. Through the 17 scholarship funds it administers, the endowment is one of the largest providers of financial support for Island students. Last year, 54 scholarships totaling $123,600 were awarded to Vineyard high school seniors as well as college and graduate students.

Super Bowl Swimmers

All set for the history-making sporting event on Sunday? That’s right, Sunday is when the young swimmers who make up the Makos, the swim team at the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard, take on the Marshfield Swim Club team in their first competition swim meet.

The Makos’ inaugural races are scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the facility across from the regional high school. Some swimmers from the high school team, who have already competed in their first home meet, will also participate.

The owners of the Old Parsonage house in West Tisbury have requested permission from the town historic district commission to demolish the 17th century home that sits on State Road overlooking Parsonage Pond.

Off Old Farm Road in Chilmark at the end of a dirt road sits the new house of Dardanella and Sean Slavin and their two small children. Over the past year this house has become a home for the young family but it has also become a laboratory. Here, and in 32 other houses across the Island, General Electric and the Vineyard Energy Project have been testing out the next generation of so-called smart appliances and gauging the response of customers whose energy demands have been tempered by the energy load capacity of utilities.

Had a groundhog stirred from his sleep on Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday morning, he would not have seen his shadow, presaging a short time before spring. Cynthia Riggs was more concerned about the ice out on the landscape and roads on Wednesday morning when she woke up. For her this was a big social day, when a lot of her friends and townspeople were coming for a party.

A very big party.

After a month of wrestling with how to close a $238,000 budget gap, the Oak Bluffs selectmen finally took out their scalpels and began to make the required cuts on Tuesday at a special selectmen’s meeting.

More than six years after it bought 190 acres of Oak Bluffs land to protect it from real estate development, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has produced a management plan for the Southern Woodlands, providing for walkers, bikers, hunters and campers.