When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver found students at an English elementary school eating a quarter-ton of chips each week in lunches that cost less to make than those at nearby prisons, he did something completely unexpected. He signed up as a lunch lady — bringing his fame, culinary skill and television production crew. In the four-episode series that followed, the ebullient Mr. Oliver faced student revolts, cafeterias losing money, and parents smuggling junk food over school fences.

Edgartown wastewater authorities believe a plan to sewer hundreds of homes in the watershed of the Edgartown Great Pond can achieve the 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen pollution required to restore it to health.

A draft report of the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, obtained and published by the Gazette last week, finds the Great Pond’s water quality is significantly affected by heavy nitrogen loading. The biggest single contributor to the problem is household septic systems, the report found.

Better communication between the county commission and a committee appointed to screen applicants for county manager would have helped the search run more smoothly, committee chairman Greg Coogan said this week.

Despite a fallout between the commissioners and the committee earlier this fall, Mr. Coogan said the committee will stand behind the vote the commission is expected to take next week for a new manager.

“We all strongly wish the best for the county,” said Mr. Coogan, reached this week by telephone.

In their ongoing search to fill the county manager seat, vacant since August, county commissioners are doing their homework.

The sole item on the agenda at the county commission meeting Tuesday night was discussion about references and background checks on the three finalists for the position. The finalists are Thomas Bernardo of Chatham, Troy Clarkson of Falmouth and Russell Smith of Aquinnah.

William S.

Edgartown School First

Quarter Honor Roll

The following Edgartown School students received honors for the first quarter:

Eighth Grade High Honors: Korrine Altieri, Eva Faber, Elizabeth Francis, Meghan McHugh.