School District Weighs Choices

Meetings in West Tisbury, Chilmark Explore Future of Up-Island
Public Education; Costs in Chilmark Are Central

By CHRIS BURRELL

Last night, more than 80 people - parents, teachers, alumni,
selectmen and community members - rallied around the Chilmark
School. Despite declining enrollment and pressure to cut costs in the
Up-Island Regional School District, they vowed they would not close
their school down.

SSA Governing Board Postpones Its Decision On New Security Rules

By JULIA WELLS

Gazette Senior Writer

Under heavy fire from the people of the Vineyard over a new policy
that will bar people from staying in their cars on board ferries, a
fractured Steamship Authority board of governors yesterday postponed any
decision on the policy for one more month.

Signaling its own interest in a case which has attracted attention
around the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC)
agreed this week to hear the Aquinnah court appeal over sovereign
immunity.

Jenney Lane Plan Gains Approval

By MANDY LOCKE

The Jenney Lane project, a cluster of affordable homes slated for a
neighborhood behind Upper Main street, cleared another hurdle this week
with unanimous approval from the Edgartown planning board.

This is the last official step in a review process that began last
July.

While Vineyarders await a legislative vote needed to make the Island
Health Plan (IHP) a reality, some Island health officials are already
worrying about the impact of the new affordable insurance program on
existing Island medical services.

Ray Ellis: Artist Takes Retrospective on the Road

By C.K. WOLFSON

Ray Ellis is quietly celebrating. The artist, who these days wears
the smile of a man whose life has exceeded his expectations, is
embarking on a year of extraordinary professional tribute to the body of
work that defines him.

Up-Island Parents and Educators Ponder District's Shaky Prospects

CHRIS BURRELL

Spencer Booker lives in Aquinnah, and when it came time to decide
where to send his three children for grade school, the choice was
obvious. Proximity was key, so they chose the Chilmark School.

"It was geographical, the closest school to my house," he said. "And
it's a great little school, very intimate, very supportive. All the
teachers know all the students, first name and last. That's the kind of
environment I want to put my kids into for their education."

School District Shows Strains

West Tisbury Finance Committee Pushes for Drastic Measures,
Proposing the Dissolution of Up-Island District

By CHRIS BURRELL

Concerned at the prospect of spiraling educational costs, dwindling
state aid and declining enrollment, the West Tisbury finance committee
is pressing school officials up-Island to consider drastic measures
- among them, shutting down the Chilmark School.

A Soldier's Scrapbook: Kevin Devine Returns from Iraq with
Vivid Combat Memories

By CHRIS BURRELL

Kevin Devine is not sugarcoating anything about his last 11 months
as a soldier in Iraq. The photographs stored on his laptop computer are
proof of that.

"You couldn't use these," the U.S. Army Ranger
tells a reporter Wednesday morning after breakfast at Linda Jean's
in Oak Bluffs as he clicks through some pictures that depict the horror
of war.

Leaders Take Stock with Full Inventory of County Services

By ALEXIS TONTI

Following a year that saw Dukes County officials embroiled in
controversy on several fronts, the county manager and commissioners now
are setting policy to strengthen their ranks internally and to educate
Islanders about county services.

As part of the plan to improve communication, the county
commissioners last week invited four department heads to their regular
meeting to talk about their programs and goals; the remaining eight will
give presentations in the coming months.