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October 3 - 9, 2024

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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer

IN THIS

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Two downtown Blaine festivals on Oct. 12, page 3

Q&A on Medicare changes, page 6-7

PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230

Blaine football ranked No. 5 in 1A, page 10

Superintendent, Mural festival brings art to downtown Blaine food service director respond to lunch issues By Nolan Baker

s Whatcom County artist Justin Ketah paints a mural on the back of the Blaine Arts Gallery at 922 Peace Portal Drive on September 30. Ketah’s work is one of several murals that artists have added to Blaine in the past week as part of the first OverAll Walls Mural Festival. Other works include murals of eyes on Blaine Elementary School and the Blaine Art Gallery as well as cartoons on the west side of Peace Portal Drive from British artist My Dog Sighs, and a mural of sandpipers on G Street Plaza from Houston-based artist Emily Ding. Photo by Grace McCarthy

Blaine Senior Center president, treasurer resign amid debate, according to members By Nolan Baker

After two weeks of confusion and turmoil at the Blaine Senior Center (BSC), board president Jim West and treasurer Christine Yung, two of three board members voted out from their positions by a September 25 membership vote, have resigned, according to reports from multiple members that were confirmed by executive director Pete Nelson. On September 25, 190 members attended a special meeting to vote on a petition to remove West, Yung and vice president Adele Berman. The day before the special meeting, a September 24 letter signed by West, Ber(See Lunches, page 13) tjohnson;Seattle;Clean Air Heating & Cooling;C33432-154586;10x2-4C (24Fa-B1)man and Yung said the board did not recReceive up to $1,500 in rebates when you purchase the Ultimate Comfort System™*

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ognize the upcoming meeting and vote to be legitimate, and would be consulting with legal counsel to go over specific provisions in the BSC bylaws. “After these legal consultation are concluded a report will be made to the general membership,” the letter stated. “These discussions with the board’s lawyers will not be limited to the issues noted above and will include other matters of high importance such as maintaining the ongoing integrity of BSC and limiting potential legal exposure.” However, the meeting went ahead as planned. Of the votes cast, 178 voted to remove the three, with eight voting to (See Seniors, page 13)

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INSIDE

After parents alleged the food service department (FSD) was both not providing enough meals and not moving lines fast enough for students at the Blaine middle and high schools, superintendent Christopher Granger dedicated more than half of his monthly town-hall style meeting to address concerns and dispel rumors on September 30. Granger, along with FSD director Brenda Bowles, said that while waits in line were slightly longer than usual at the beginning of the school year, the cafeterias never ran out of food, and wait times in line have reduced. “Obviously we want the students to enjoy being at school. We want them to enjoy the lunch options that we have, within the guidelines that we have to serve, and we want parents to be happy with what their kids are getting,” Granger said. “Nobody in any department is working in the vein of not trying to be responsive to students.” To an audience of roughly a dozen parents, staff and community members, Granger and Bowles provided information on how lunch is served, how funding for lunches works, and showed sample meals that secondary students are offered for lunch. “We can always review what we’re doing and get better,” Granger said. “There’s never been, ‘This is the way it is and it’s never going to be different.’” Currently, both middle school and high school students receive school meals from the middle school cafeteria. The high school cafeteria is used as a central kitchen but not for serving food. Granger said the district reduced the number of FSD staff in response to a declining number of students purchasing school lunches. Student participation in school lunch has dropped steadily since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data provided by the school district. During the 2021-22 school year, when school meals were free due to pandemic-era funding, 52,367 meals were served to high school students. During the 2023-24 school year, just 22,700 meals were served, a drop of nearly 30,000 meals not being reimbursed by the state. With a drop in enrollment, combined

Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . 11, 12 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . 10 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14

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