Minutes

Minutes

Prepared by Dan Pedersen

March 3, 2009

County Commissioners’ Hearing Room B-102, County Annex Bldg., Coupeville

PRESENT: Chair Ian Jefferds, Lenny Corin, John Dean, Judy Feldman, Joe Hillers, Phyllis Kind, Lynae Slinden, Dick Toft, Ken Urstad, Benye Weber, Executive Director Rex Porter, Communications Manager, Dan Pedersen.  ABSENT: Hi Bronson (in Hawaii), Leal Dickson (unknown), Matt Kukuk (unknown).

VISITORS:

Scott Ashworth, Oak Harbor (speaker), of Service, Education, Adventure (SEA).

Chris Burt (speaker), educator and skipper, south Whidbey, SEA.

Susie Richards, Freeland (speaker), teacher, SEA.

Florian Grainer, PhD (speaker), Langley, cinematographer and diver.   

Scott Chase, Camano Island, Island County Shore Stewards.

Peg Urstad, Greenbank, WSU Beach Watchers Advisory Council

Nancy Waddell, Clinton, Administrator, Whidbey Watershed Stewards.

Sarah Schmidt, Coupeville, MRC Contractor – signage and Cornet Bay projects

Kara Bloch, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group.

CALL TO ORDER: 3:30 pm.  QUORUM: Declared.  AGENDA: Adopted. Motion by Weber, second by Kind, adopted without objection. MINUTES of Feb. 17, 2009: Approved. Motion by Weber, second by Urstad, adopted without objection.

CORRESPONDENCE:

Citizen Science Workshop, April 10-11. Jefferds reminded members he had circulated an e-mail recently inviting participation in an April 10-11 workshop called, “Exploring the Spectrum of Citizen Science.” The workshop is sponsored by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, the Centers for Ocean Science and Education, and Sea Grant. Porter and Kind both said they couldn’t assess the workshop’s value until they see an agenda. Frances Wood e-mail. Porter shared an e-mail from Frances Wood, coordinator of the Whidbey Island Pigeon Guillemot study, which is co-sponsored by the MRC and Audubon. Wood thanked us for underwriting her registration and said she presented a poster of the study’s recent research and conclusions.  She added that she was able to make valuable contacts and learn more about other seabird surveys in the greater Salish Sea.

SPEAKERS:

Service, Education, Adventure (SEA) Program

Scott Ashworth, Susie Richards, Chris Burt, Florian Grainer

www.serviceeducationadventure.org

Scott Ashworth said the concept for SEA grew out of a Coupeville / Cedar School boat expedition in 2006. He went along to assist as a parent who had donated the use of his vessel.  He had so much fun he got talking with educators, Chris Burt and Susie Richards, about forming a non-profit organization to provide more of these marine educational experiences to school kids.

Chris Burt explained that he and Richards both are certified school teachers, and this initiative originated in the classroom as part of an effort to make education more meaningful. He said school kids often are very passive learners, sitting and taking in information, but sometimes they really don’t want to do that. “So we are always trying to make things more meaningful, more active, and help them become contributors to the community.” He said about 14 years ago the South Whidbey School District started offering boat trips, creating opportunities to take kids into the environment and to such places as the San Juan National Historic parks.

Susie Richards said she is a born-and-raised island girl who grew up at Shore Meadows. “I have a real passion for getting kids out on the water and seeing their academics put to use in that very meaningful way.”

Florian Grainer, PhD, is a marine biologist who has been creating wildlife documentaries for 18 years. Grainer said he moved to the island about three years ago, buying a house at Beverly Beach and starting to explore the waters in front of it. He became affiliated with the SEA program as a diver who shows the kids exactly what he is finding underneath the boat and in the waters around them. Grainer shared excerpts of a 20-minute video he shot in Holmes Harbor last summer, showing the eelgrass habitat and the diversity of creatures on the bottom right off Baby Island.

Grainer and Richards emphasized it makes a big impression on students to see live video of the marine life in the water right at their feet. Richards said she became interested in SEA because of her experiences as a teacher at the middle school level. “A lot of kids say, ‘Why do I have to learn this? What’s the point?’ To be able to take them out and have them meet real people like Florian changes their lives in terms of getting those people engaged and excited about learning again.”

Burt commented there is a need to make learning meaningful, but school districts cannot afford to go out and buy a pre-packaged program. “So we’ve had to make it up ourselves, but it’s also pretty complex because school districts of course go by state law and we have to get the academic learning priorities in there, and have to go by very stringent risk management rules. All of that gets built in.”

Burt said the program grew over time on South Whidbey. Then Coupeville also became interested and the program kept growing. “Little by little we became known for our ability to put these together and ask the tough questions we know that administrators and school board members are going to ask.” He said they now work with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction as consultants around the state. The SEA program works as consultants and trainers helping other communities develop service learning programs in their districts.  For 17 years the program has been doing continuous vessel trips on South Whidbey with various boats.

Richards explained that service learning is a teaching methodology in which a student’s academic work is linked to a real issue in the community. “They’re given an opportunity to take what they’re learning and see it applied in a real setting that benefits the community.” She said more than 30 percent of the nation’s schools are using service learning because they’re seeing amazing gains academically. “Attendance rates rise. Kids are actually excited about coming to school, and overall engagement rises. And what’s exciting to us is that kids actually get to see what their skills are. So many kids don’t get to find out what they’re good at in a traditional classroom setting. It’s only when other opportunities are presented to them in the real world that they begin to see their own skills.”