We began the week by unrolling our expanded mentoring program comprising all three levels of schools. Little, Middles, and Bigs working together as teams provided an exciting and high energy All School Meeting. 

      Later in the week, we celebrated Halloween with an hour-long assembly. Teachers Ms. Diamond and Mr. DiLalla organized many fun-filled activities that featured triads from our expanded mentoring program. 

     If you’ve been in New England for any length of time, this week was probably par for the course as far as the weather goes. Staff had to forego Thursday afternoon professional development for fear of the ferry service cancelling afternoon runs. The realities and challenges we face are numerous regarding logistics and commuting. 

     Our Friday proved to be fairly exciting. The uncertainty of ferry service compounded with power outages and downed trees across the campus driveway, made for an interesting start of the day. Special thanks to School Board member, Nakomis Nelson, for keeping his chainsaw handy when he came to school that morning. He made quick work of cutting the tree into manageable chunks. Other parents and staff cleared the debris and made it possible to continue with having a school day, despite a two-hour delay. The power was out on the entire island for much of the morning. Fortunately, the school had electricity from our generator. We were happy to see more than half our students able to continue with classes and receive a hot lunch. We excused Magnet students and staff from school because of downed power lines on the mainland. Worth noting is that all the staff showed up, anyway. We had a great day despite the storm and the break in routine. 

     While playing four square on the schoolyard, students noticed two large birds riding the wind directly above the school. Framed by a bright blue sky, two mature bald eagles were holding formation, hovering in the powerful wind. One could not ask for a better symbol of Islesboro’s resilience.  

Warmly

Chuck Hamm 

Head of School