Results of Transportation Gridlock Survey Point Toward Experimenting with Solutions

A final draft of a county initiative to move beyond summer gridlock calls on Island officials to replace talk with action and develop a regional, coordinated plan to target growth and traffic problems on the Island.

Susan Wasserman, a planning consultant and the facilitator of the in-depth study of the Island’s transportation problems, presented the results of Transportation 2000: Moving Beyond Gridlock to the county commissioners this Wednesday along with project assistant Juleann VanBelle. A final draft of the report goes to the printer today.

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Forum on Environmental Mediation Turns to Discussion of Golf Courses

Golf courses dominated the discussion following a lecture on the role of environmental mediation in resolving public policy and site disputes last Tuesday evening. Held at the Wakeman Center in Vineyard Haven, the lecture was sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, The Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

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Menemsha School Plan Wins Support, But Need for Extra Space Is Questions

Designs for the new Menemsha School met with considerable support and some opposition this week at the Chilmark selectmen's meeting.

Charles Rose of Thompson and Rose Architects presented the designs for the new school to the selectmen for the first time Tuesday evening. The designs are ones selected by the Chilmark school building committee last week based on four schemes Mr. Rose presented to them.

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Wampanoags Buy Back Alley's In Business Expansion Up-Island

The Wampanoag Tribe will purchase Back Alley’s in West Tisbury for a price reported to be in the high six figures.

Howard and Susie Ulfelder, longtime owners of the up-Island bakery and deli, have already accepted the tribe’s offer and expect the deal to close in the next few weeks.

The purchase will consolidate tribal ownership of Back Alley’s with its management of Alley’s General Store, which the tribe leases from the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust.

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Charter School Opens for the Year
Julie Dulude

The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School welcomed 30 new students, a new director and three new teachers last Thursday as it opened for its second year of operation.
 
The addition of a new class of eight-year-olds is the primary factor accounting for the school's increase in enrollment. Since last year's 14-year-olds will continue on as the 15-year-old age group, the addition brings the school one step closer to reaching its maximum teaching capacity: 180 students ranging in age from five to 19.

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New Teaching Format at Charter School Is Designed to Offer Balanced Education
Julie Dulude

Students at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School will receive a more balanced education during the new school's second year thanks to a new teaching format adopted by the staff.

Last year, students studied all the core subjects established by the state, but they did so on an intermittent basis. For example, instead of studying all the core subject areas simultaneously and year-round, a student might have taken English and history during the first trimester, math and a language during the second and science during the third.

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